This year marks a significant milestone for Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) Malta as the Charity clocks 10 years of its establishment in Malta.
13th May 2014 marked the start of ACN in Malta and It has been ten years of restoring hope and rebuilding the lives of Christians who have lost everything to war, poverty and persecution; of being a beacon and lifeline of hope to Christian families and communities in emergencies.
ACN Malta’s work during the last ten years, prioritised much-needed vital aid for children and young people – ensuring that children do not go to bed hungry but have the food they need to grow as well as safeguarding and rescuing Christian girls from forced conversion and marriage, kidnapping and abuse.
ACN Malta has also supported Maltese and Gozitan missionaries in their challenging missionary work around the world. It has indeed been ten years of fulfilling the mission of ACN – helping persecuted and oppressed Christians around the world.
Over the past decade, ACN Malta has joined efforts with the 23 other national offices of the international Charity to fund over 5,000 projects in more than 140 countries yearly.
At a time when humanitarian and pastoral care are urgently needed due to a global increase in persecution, war, poverty and suffering, the work of ACN Malta is even relevant and desperately needed today.
Notable projects of ACN Malta, some of which are still ongoing include providing emergency aid for Christians in war-torn Ukraine and the Holy Land by responding to the urgent needs of the faithful through our project partners on the ground and providing life saving aid.
ACN Malta supports the church in Ukraine to bring hope and healing to the faithful
With the generous contributions from our benefactors, ACN Malta continues to give help and hope to the faithful in Ukraine, enabling over 600 projects that alleviate the growing suffering, including: Food, clean water, shelter and counselling for traumatised children and their families; Generators to heat church buildings that are being used to shelter displaced families whose homes were destroyed; Mass stipends to support priests who are ministering on the front line.
ACN Malta has also been working with Church partners on the ground to provide Christians in the Holy Land with emergency aid – water, food, medicine, rent and other essentials for struggling families in desperate need.
Worthy of note also, is the ‘Drop of Milk project’ which provides milk for malnourished children in Syria under the age of 10, the training of seminarians in Dunka in India and Portoviejo in Ecuador, providing food and medicines for Christian families denied vital aid in Pakistan at the peak of the corona virus pandemic and continued vital aid for affected families of the August 2020 Beirut explosion in Lebanon.
One of our ongoing projects involves providing vital aid for the holy land’s displaced and traumatised Christians
In addition to projects, ACN Malta is a voice for persecuted Christians, telling their stories through its publications which include a weekly e-newsletter, weekly radio programmes on Radju Marija, weekly page in the Catholic newspaper “Il-Leħen”, weekly television series on UTV, talks and video presentations to parishes, school and groups.
ACN Malta also publishes a bi-monthly e-magazine, Faith Alive, ACN’s two major biennial reports –“Persecuted and Forgotten” and “Religious Freedom in the World”, periodic TV interviews, articles published on Malta’s newspapers, the foundation’s website and social media platforms.
ACN Malta also leads prayer campaigns, organizes retreats and Masses such as ‘One Million Children praying the Rosary’ Campaign which holds every October, Lent and Advent retreats and a yearly Mass for deceased benefactors.
On this important anniversary, ACN Malta acknowledges and thanks all our benefactors, promoters and volunteers for their love, concern and contribution to the vital work of ACN in Malta these past 10 years. We invite persons of goodwill in Malta and Gozo to join hands with us on this life-saving mission.
Why not give an anniversary gift that lasts the whole year by setting up a regular monthly gift? Or mark our 10 years of progress with a single donation today?
Your support will help us stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our persecuted brothers and sisters, giving them the help and hope that they desperately need.
ACN Malta is the Maltese national office of the 75 year old international pontifical foundation – Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International, one of the leading Catholic charities in Malta and the only international Catholic organisation dedicated to helping persecuted and suffering Christians around the world.
To know more about ACN Malta, how to become a volunteer, promoter or benefactor, kindly send an email to info@acnmalta.org or call 2148 7818.
