Subscribe to our news RSS feed 
Aid to the Church in Need UK's Ipadio channel
For the latest from the UK office's project trips, events and pilgrimages
Tagged with
Related country profiles
PAKISTAN: UK solidarity with persecuted Christians
By John Pontifex
Aid to the Church in Need's John Pontifex (right) presenting a few of the benefactors' messages to Bishop Sebastian Shaw of Lahore
A bishop in Pakistan has been presented with heart-felt messages of prayer and support from friends and benefactors of Aid to the Church in Need.
At a meeting at the charity's international headquarters in Germany, Auxiliary Bishop Sebastian Shaw of Lahore received examples of more than 1,500 letters penned in response to a Pakistan prayer campaign organised by Aid to the Church in Need in the UK.
The messages form a key part of the charity’s Pakistan appeal, which has generated the biggest response from any appeal by the charity's UK office in recent times.
Making use of e-newsletters, a Pakistan website campaign, a mailing to benefactors, newspaper advertising and press articles, the campaign highlighted a worsening climate of intimidation against Christians.
More than 5,000 donations were received by Aid to the Church in Need in a campaign whose response was boosted by the generosity of benefactors following on from the summer 2010 Pakistan floods crisis.
With more than £350,000 now collected, the charity is able to push ahead with priority projects.
These include the training of seminarians, the construction of churches, printing Bibles and other catechetical literature, and Mass stipends for poor and persecuted priests.
And there is help for Sisters’ convents and Catholic media – including radio, newspapers and on-line initiatives.
Meantime, Aid to the Church in Need has dispatched four emergency aid packages for Pakistan flood victims.
Key support has been given in worst-affected Sindh Province as well as Multan, in the south of the Punjab Province, Nowshera, near the capital, Islamabad, and Quetta in western Baluchistan Province.
Thanking Aid to the Church in Need for its help, Bishop Shaw said: “All of us in Pakistan are very grateful to Aid to the Church in Need for its support which does so much to strengthen our people in faith.”
The bishop stressed the urgent task of responding – both in the short and long term – to the catastrophic floods that devastated large swathes of the country, prompting Catholic leaders to push ahead with emergency aid programmes, a number of them sponsored by Aid to the Church in Need.
He added: “It is really through the support and prayers of the benefactors that we are able to build churches and publish catechetical materials and so many other things.”
He underlined the “importance of Aid to the Church in Need’s prayers and solidarity” as the Pakistan faithful have grappled with disasters.
These have included attacks on Christians in Gojra, Punjab Province, churches set ablaze in Sukkur, Sindh Province, and a worsening climate of intimidation towards minority groups, especially Christians.
The bishop made his comments at a project-assessment meeting at Aid to the Church in Need International, near Frankfurt, Germany.
During the meeting, Aid to the Church in Need's UK head of press and information, John Pontifex, presented the bishop with examples of messages of prayer and support written by the charity's friends and benefactors.
One of the messages read: “All the ways you [the faithful in Pakistan] are suffering for your faith make me feel very humble. If I am ever put to the test, I pray that I will be able to follow your wonderful example.”
At the end of the campaign, all the messages will be collected up and presented to the Apostolic Nuncio to Pakistan, Archbishop Tito Illana, for distribution to Church leaders all over the country.
Commenting on the success of the appeal, Patricia Hatton, Aid to the Church in Need’s UK Head of Fundraising and Marketing, said: “The response to our campaign for Christians in Pakistan and for flood victims has been unprecedented.
“Not only have benefactors shown their commitment through financial aid but through their touching messages and prayers of hope and solidarity.
“The needs of the Church in Pakistan are complex and many. We are so grateful to all those who turn to Aid to the Church in Need, to deliver aid and on-going support in the most effective way, on their behalf.”
Find out more about Aid to the Church in Need’s Pakistan campaign