Jul 12, 2006 / 22:00 pm
Aid to the Church in Need has released its annual report, which indicates that in 2005 some 1,900 projects in 145 countries received help from the association.
According to the Fides news agency, ACN received $93 million in donations in 2005, mainly from benefactors in France, Germany and Spain.
Most of the projects that received assistance from ACN were building projects (28.8%), followed by pastoral projects such as financing for religious instruction (21.6%) or for seminary training (21.4%).
Mass stipends for helping maintain priests in poor areas represented 13.8% of the assistance, and projects aimed at the distribution of Sacred Scripture represented 5.6%. 4.4% of the recourses went to providing automobiles for pastoral work, 3.8% to Catholic media apostolates, and 2.9% to numerous women’s religious communities.
The report highlighted the assistance provided to the Ukraine for the major seminary in Lviv and the aid given to the Catholic Church in Russia for pastoral work.
In Africa, the countries that received the most assistance were the Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nigeria. In Latin America, Cuba and Haiti received the most aid, while in Asia, the persecuted Church in China received much assistance, as well as areas affected by the 2004 tsunami.
For more information on Aid to the Church in Need see their website at: www.kirche-in-not.org