A brave Catholic seminarian who spent his pastoral placement ministering in India’s remote, cobra-infested jungle has been ordained last Sunday. Then Deacon Santosh Kumar has been ministering in the parish Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Kalapahad, North Andaman, where parishioners regularly walk 6 km through dangerous forests to attend Sunday Mass. But Deacon Kumar and …
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A pastoral centre for the Diocese of Diphu The Diocese of Diphu lies in the state of Assam in the far northeast of India. This is a region of great poverty, where a variety of Indigenous tribes traditionally live. Most of them still adhere to their traditional tribal religions. The number of Catholic faithful in …
Five years after the Easter bombings, thousands of faithful have signed a petition addressed to Cardinal Malcom Ranjith, asking him to open a Cause for Beatification for the 171 Catholics killed in that tragic event. Cover photo: parishioners pray before a statue of the risen Christ, stained with the blood of the martyrs of Easter …
Continue reading “Sri Lanka-A town stands as a witness to the Resurrection after persecution”
A bishop in Pakistan has expressed his disappointment with the authorities for failing to bring to justice those behind one of the country’s worst attacks against Christians – and for not doing enough to help victims. Highlighting the growing fears of his people, Bishop Joseph Indrias Rehmat of Faisalabad said that more than seven …
Continue reading “Pakistan – Still no justice for Jaranwala victims”
Release of ACN Canada’s Magazine Montreal, April 11, 2024 – The first edition of ACN Canada’s Magazine for 2024 is now available! Entitled Nuns, Everyday Heroines, the issue features short portraits of the extraordinary work carried out by nuns around the world. “The word heroines is absolutely fitting,” says Marie-Claude Lalonde, national director of Aid …
With elections only weeks away in the world’s most populated country, local human rights organizations are warning of a rise in intolerance and of attacks on religious freedom. The international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) expresses its deep concern over reports that are emerging from India, pointing to an increase in …
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ACN Success Story: a vehicle for a parish on the island of Sumba Some time ago, Father Jakobus Umbu Warata, the provincial of the Redemptorist Fathers, sought our help for his fellow priests working in the parish of Saint Andrew Ngallu, in the east of the island of Sumba, who were in urgent need of …
The ecumenical Christian broadcaster runs several channels, in three different languages, and reaches millions of people with its satellite transmissions. Christians are a small minority in the Gulf Kingdom of Oman and almost all of them are foreign workers. So when Kurt Johansen, the executive director of Christian broadcaster SAT-7, told his hotel receptionist what …
Continue reading “SAT-7: a lifeline of faith for Christians in Muslim-majority countries”
A vehicle for the Holy Family Sisters in Gojra The Sisters of the Holy Family of Bordeaux first came to Pakistan nearly 50 years ago. Today this congregation, founded in France in the 19th century, has 32 religious sisters working in almost all the Pakistani dioceses. They help the priests in the parishes, support the …
The president of Pakistan’s Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Samson Shukardin, has welcomed a Supreme Court decision to reject a government report into the authorities’ response to the attacks in Jaranwala last August, described by Church leaders as the “worst incident against Christians” in the nation’s history. Speaking to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in …
