Aid to the Church in Need started in 1947 as “Ostpriesterhilfe” in Tongerlo Abbey, Belgium, when the founder, Father Werenfried van Straaten, launched an aid initiative to help the 14 million people expelled from East Germany and at the same time made an appeal for reconciliation with the “enemies of yesterday”.

In no time the movement changed scope to encompass the oppressed Church behind the Iron Curtain. It also diversified its activities to help seminarians, create chapels on wheels, rebuild churches and build houses for the needy. In 1956, the foundation of a national office in Königstein, Germany, was soon followed by another one in Austria.

From this point, the charity moved on to the refugees in Asia, to South America and to the Eastern-rite Catholic Church of Ukraine. In 1964, the charity was taken over by the Holy See and its international head office moved to Rome. In 1969, the present name of Aid to the Church in Need was adopted. In 1975, while remaining under direct Papal authority, the head office or International Secretariat settled in Königstein, Germany.

Growth continued with the creation of national offices in many Western countries. In 1984, the charity was established as a “Universal Public Association under Papal Jurisdiction”. In early 2012, the charity has been elevated to the status of a pontifical Foundation. It consists of 17 national offices in as many countries, including Canada.

With the downfall of communist systems in Eastern and Central Europe, support was initiated to the Eastern-rite Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches that had long survived underground. In 1992, a wide-ranging new aid program was launched for the re-evangelization of Eastern Europe and the countries of the new Russian Federation.

Aid to the Church in Need has now celebrated its Golden Jubilee, but it keeps growing. In recent years, it has distributed an average of US$70 million to distressed local churches, and its balance sheet totals more than US$3 billion. The founder, who died very recently, contributed as much as his declining health allowed him till his very last days. He also thanked the Lord every day for this phenomenal success: “By human standards, this work is a mystery!” he once said.

To go into more detail on ACN’s history, please consult ACN International’s Web site.

Photo: Osservatore Romano

Photo: Andrzej Polec

Alexey II, Patriarch of Moscow, and Fr Werenfried

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