God Sister Teresa
Neville Kyrke-smith, the national director of the international charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), has been a regular visitor to the monastery for years. He comes to ask for our prayers, to collect our donation and to tell us about the help the charity has given to Christians worldwide. He always leaves us with a feeling of hope: however bad things may be, there is light at the end of the tunnel for some of the Christians who have lost everything.
What strikes me is his courage: he travels to the worst trouble spots on Earth, assesses what needs doing, and finds the helpers and resources to carry out what seems, more often than not, to be impossible. Neville never mentions it but he must often be in a position of considerable personal risk.
He always brings photographs with him, all of which are affecting, not least a picture of a distressed young deacon in a ransacked Catholic church in the Middle East, standing beside a statue of Mary, battered and damaged beyond repair. What should be of concern to us all is the heartless way the faith of others is derided and its symbols wrecked.
Until fairly recently, ACN’S main purpose was pastoral: building churches, and sponsoring seminarians, religious sisters and religious education. The growing phenomenon of persecution, especially in the Middle East, means that lately this pastoral emphasis has been complemented by practical help for those needing emergency aid.
Not the least remarkable of ACN’S achievements is its support for a small school next to its St Antoine’s Dispensary in a Hezbollah district of Beirut. The clinic welcomes mothers and children – Muslims and Christians alike – who have suffered so much and who now receive treatment and help. Above the door is a sign in Arabic: ‘Religion is for God; dispensary is for everyone.’ One can only pray that this is an indication of more peace and harmony to come.
The flexibility of the charity is exemplary: recently, it has become possible for the Christians of Iraq’s Nineveh Plains to look forward to returning to their homeland, reduced to rubble by war, where one of the most urgent needs is housing. Major steps have been taken for the repair of 13,000 Christian homes.
In Britain, the persecution of Christians is far less in the public eye than it should be. A presentation of ACN’S work was given at the House of Lords recently, to a mixed audience of 200, including peers and MPS; the absence of the secular press was glaring.