UNITED KINGDOM: Birmingham's day for the Suffering Church

By John Pontifex

Father Samir Khalil Samir, SJ, who will be the keynote speaker at the Birmingham Oratory Event

The Birmingham Oratory is to be the venue for Aid to the Church in Need’s latest day of prayer and information about suffering Christians.

The Light of the World event will feature keynote addresses by experts on topics and regions of key importance for the Church of today.

Taking place on Sunday, 27^th June, the event will include eye-witness reports on Christians in countries as diverse as Pakistan and Ukraine, as well as an update on the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti.

The event at the Birmingham Oratory in Hagley Road, Edgbaston, opens at 2pm with a keynote address on Christianity and Islam in the Middle East by Father Samir Khalil Samir, SJ.

The Egyptian-born Jesuit, is based in Beirut, Lebanon, and is a professor at the Papal Oriental Institute in Rome. He has written at least 20 books and more than 500 articles, many of them dealing with Islam and Christianity.

Father Samir’s talk comes at a time of increasing concern about the long-term survival of the Church in the Middle East – a priority region for Aid to the Church in Need, at the specific behest of Pope Beneidct XVI.

During his trip to Cyprus earlier this month, Pope Benedict XVI said that the faithful in the Middle East now “endure great hardships”.

He added: “Christians from the rest of the world [need] to offer spiritual support to their brothers and sisters in the Middle East.”

Staying with the theme of relations with Islam, Aid to the Church in Need’s UK head of press and information John Pontifex will report back following his trip to Pakistan earlier this year.

He will outline a number of projects supported by the charity which are aimed at helping the Church to respond to a surge in vocations and increased demand for religious materials such as Aid to the Church in Need’s Child’s Bible – God Speaks to his children.

And the charity’s UK director Neville Kyrke-Smith will discuss his recent trip to Ukraine.

Aid to the Church in Need continues to give key support to Ukraine, a country which boasts more than 1,000 seminarians and where there is increasing demand for Christian education and catechetical materials.

There will also be a report on the Spring 2010 fact-finding mission to Haiti following January’s earthquake there.

Aid to the Church in Need responded with emergency aid and support for 200 or more seminarians whose colleges were destroyed and who need special help to cope with the death of 30 of their classmates.

The talks, which include a break for refreshments, will be followed by Sung Mass at 5.30pm in the Oratory. Father Samir Khalil Samir, SJ will preach.

Event organiser David Jenkins said: “This Aid to the Church in Need event is a wonderful opportunity for us to be inspired by the example of people who stay true to the faith of Christ despite all the trials and tribulations they experience in countries marked by persecution and oppression.”

Appeals for Aid to the Church in Need will be given at Sunday Masses at the Oratory over the weekend, led by Neville Kyrke-Smith and David Jenkins.

Find out more about the Birmingham Oratory Event

Tagged with

• Archdiocese of Birmingham
• Emergency Aid
• Haiti
• Information
• Inter-faith relations
• Israel
• Lebanon
• Mass
• Pakistan
• Palestine
• Ukraine
• United Kingdom

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