OUTREACH - Aid to the Church in Need

STM gives 10% of offerings to the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter for mission and outreach. We do not take up second collections for various other good works but we do call people’s attention to Catholic charities from time to time.  

Through the new year, beginning in Advent, we will be encouraging donations to ACN, a worthy charity which is supporting Christians in the Middle East who are being systematically brutalized, killed and forced out as refugees. There has been very limited press coverage of their suffering. 

It is our hope that many of the 25,000 Syrians reportedly coming to Canada will be from this persecuted minority – our brothers and sisters in Christ who are in great need.

Here is a recent article describing the situation in one Syrian community.  Archbishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh of Homs - Praying for Peace - ACN photo Thousands of Syrian Christians are fleeing  ISIS assault - Friday, November 6, 2015 "We are afraid that ISIS - - which God will hopefully prevent - - will conquer the town. We would lose the center of Christianity in our diocese." By Oliver Maksan NEW YORK—Thousands of Syrian Christians are fleeing after fierce attacks by ISIS on the town of Sadad and its surroundings, reported Syrian Orthodox Archbishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh of Homs. Sadad is some 35 miles south of Homs and 65 miles north east of the Syrian capital of Damascus. The region has been under attack by ISIS since late last month. The prelate told international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that Maheen, a town just four miles from Sadad, has already fallen to the jihadists. He also said that the inhabitants of Sadad and Al-Hafar had fled out of fear that ISIS would advance even further and to escape the heavy fire.  According to the archbishop, almost 15,000 people have since left their homes and sought refuge in Homs, Zaidal and Fairouzeh. He reported that Sadad is still endangered, despite the presence of Syrian government forces. “We are afraid that ISIS—which God will hopefully prevent—will conquer the town. We would lose the center of Christianity in our diocese,” Archbishop Selwanos said. Two years ago jihadist held the town for a brief spell, killing at least 45 Christians, and destroying churches and homes.