THE P RTAL
January 2015
Heroes of the Faith.”
I asked him about danger. Neville replied,
“ACN is careful not to expose staff and
volunteers to danger, but some of us
do sometimes go to dangerous places
– but we always have the right to
refuse to travel and have contingency
plans in place. I had to leave a Russian
prison quite fast once, after a death
threat!
Ukrainian icon
“There are times when we all take risks, but I think
of Sister Micheline caring for one thousand five
hundred refugees who have fled from Syria. Yet, it is
so important to be there with such people. It deepens
faith and it challenges our faith. There are so many to
pray for. “Here at ACN we say the Angelus in front of
an icon given me by the Ukrainian Bishop of Ternopil
(see front cover). I remember standing on the site
where now a new seminary is in Ukraine.
“As your readers will know, the Catholic faith was
nearly destroyed under soviet communism and so
many were martyred for their faith. There were three
hundred priests in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic
Church in 1989, with an average age of 70. Now there
are 3,000 priests with an average age of 37. Aid to the
Church in Need has helped every one – and Ukraine
continues to be a priority country for us.
The blood of the martyrs
“When I was in China a few years ago, I was escorted
to a village after visiting a Christian cemetery – you
were not allowed to visit the martyrs buried there
without the authorities’ permission.
“We are in places where priests, sisters and laity
have been stabbed. They died for the faith in 1968.
The blood of the martyrs restores the Church. We
spoke with Archbishop Joe Coutts of Karachi about
the recent atrocity in Pakistan. It happens against
Christians. The local blasphemy laws do not help.
“Archbishop Coutts has impeccable English. He said
to me, ‘I know there is a hard time in the West’. He
referred to the religion of the Cross. Only then did
he say, ‘We are going through a difficult time too. We
have death threats for engaging in dialogue and many
Christians suffer and are falsely accused, as are others
also.’
ZY