The Diocese of Broken Bay is once more supporting RED Wedneday 2024, an initiative of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) to pray for and support Christians around the world who suffer and are persecuted for their faith.
Our Lady of Dolours, Chatswood will be flooded in red light on Wednesday 20 November when Bishop Anthony Randazzo will celebrate Mass at 7.00pm, sharing the bond which unites us all in love and solidarity with our brothers and sisters in so many regions of the world who suffer and are persecuted for their love of Jesus Christ.
Everyone is welcome to the Mass.
Since 2018, ACN Australia has joined global commemorations for RED Wednesday. The Diocese of Broken Bay has participated in recent years with Mass and prayerful support at Our Lady of Dolours, Chatswood.
RED Wednesday is now included on the national Church calendar of events. The initiative has been extended to the whole of November to allow for more awareness and participation.
In support, the façade of Our Lady of Dolours will be bathed in red light from Monday 18 November through to Friday 22 November.
Aid to the Church in Need is the only international charity dedicated to the suffering of Christians wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need.
Almost 340 million Christians around the world – or 1 in every 7 people - cannot freely exercise their faith or live in a country where they suffer some form of persecution and oppression for their love of Jesus Christ.
Religious freedom is disregarded as a basic human right with many facing arbitrary arrest, violence and other human rights violations, injury and even death.
While ACN provides emergency relief, assisting parishes and homes, halls and shelters, to open to desperate families, it is aways struggling to keep up with the growing needs.
However, unlike other charities which exist primarily to provide humanitarian and social relief, Aid to the Church in Need is a spiritual and pastoral charity which strives to keep the flame of faith alive in places where it is at risk of extinction.
Their work receives no funding from the Church or Government; it is only made possible through the generous offering of individual Catholics.
In 2011, Pope Benedict XVI raised the charity to the level of Pontifical Foundation.
Today ACN raises more than $150 million annually in support of Catholic projects in 150 countries. Although more than 7,500 requests are received for assistance, the organisation can only help 5,000.
ACN’s latest global report, Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report on Christians oppressed for their Faith 2022-24, highlights that Christian persecution has significantly worsened in most countries surveyed.
This included China and India, as well as Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, as well as Nicaragua for the first time. Recurring themes in the report included the displacement of Christian communities following attacks by extremist groups and the forced marriage and conversion of Christian women and girls, as well as kidnapping and intimidation of priests and the publication of derogatory content about Christianity in school textbooks.
A full copy of the report can be found here.