ACN Week of Witness for Persecuted Christians
15 November – 1 December 2019
A message from Dr Michael Kinsella, National Director, Aid to the Church in Need (Ireland):
"The ACN Week of Witness is an invitation to Christians across the island of Ireland to stand in solidarity with, and bear witness to the heroic example of, our persecuted brothers and sisters in faith across the world.
ACN Ireland, as a Pontifical Foundation, is part of the Church in a most profound way – to help our Church heal our world. Being present with and for the most vulnerable of God’s people is vital to achieving this, no matter how perilous the environment.
Through the Church’s pastoral care, through the Holy Sacraments, through the heroic witness of Christians martyrs, God’s Grace provides the Church – and the world – with the means of bringing the Light and Love of Christ to places and people where before there was only darkness and hate.
ACN is blessed to have Our Lady of Fatima as Patroness of our work for the suffering and persecuted Church. Our Lady’s prophetic messages of Fatima told of a Church that would suffer greatly in the future: and so it has come to pass that we now find a Church where violent hostility to Christian teaching, culture and even identity has been normalized, if not encouraged, by many governments, corporations and institutions.
The ACN Week of Witness will be held every year from 25 November to 1 December, with many important talks and exhibitions to be held throughout the island of Ireland on the theme of Christian persecution. During the ACN Week of Witness, ACN Ireland, with the gracious and prayerful assistance of dioceses and parishes throughout the country, will hold the Red Wednesday Prayer Vigil. Red Wednesday is an opportunity for the faithful to gather as a community of faithful and pray not only for persecuted Christians – but also for the persecutors of Christians. Thus, throughout the ACN Week of Witness and Red Wednesday, you and your parish can be a vital witness to the beauty and dignity of Christian culture as well as a testament to the reality of the historic and current oppression and martyrdom of Christian peoples globally.
This year, Red Wednesday will be held on 27 November. In support of your efforts to promote Red Wednesday, ACN Ireland will distribute, free of charge, a parish pack of resources to your participating parish priest. Resources are also available on the ACN Ireland website at www.acnireland.org/witness and on the Resources tab of the Diocesan website.
You, through your help and support of ACN Ireland, can help make a world in which Christianity can thrive everywhere. In pursuit of this charism and mission, we at ACN Ireland are so grateful for your prayers and donations to help make this reality, by the Grace of God.
May God, through intercession of Our Blessed Mother, continue to bless and keep you all,
Yours in Christ,
Dr Michael Kinsella, National Director
Aid to the Church in Need (Ireland)"