{"id":30169,"date":"2018-08-13T10:24:45","date_gmt":"2018-08-13T10:24:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/?p=30169"},"modified":"2018-08-13T10:25:57","modified_gmt":"2018-08-13T10:25:57","slug":"syria-40-reasons-for-hope-john-pontifex-acn-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/08\/13\/syria-40-reasons-for-hope-john-pontifex-acn-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"SYRIA: 40 Reasons for Hope &#8211; John Pontifex \u00a0&#8211; ACN UK"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><h2><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>SYRIA<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>40 Reasons for Hope<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>\u00a0<\/em><strong><em>ACN unveils fresh emergency and pastoral aid plan<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">More than 40 projects offering emergency relief and spiritual support to people in Syria have just been approved by Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The \u00a32.65 million (\u20ac3 million) programme being rolled out in the capital Damascus, Aleppo and other major centres, comes as people desperately try to stave off hunger, homelessness and illness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Church leaders say the crisis has been made worse by the West\u2019s economic sanctions against Syria, with Maronite Archbishop Joseph Tobji of Aleppo claiming the embargos are \u201ckilling the Syrian people in the same way the weapons are\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">ACN\u2019s Syria aid includes emergency projects such as:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">ALEPPO: Basic food, sanitary items such as toothbrushes and washing powder for neediest families supported by ACN project partner Sister Annie Demerjian and her nine volunteers.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">DAMASCUS: Payment of school fees for 1,270 students at the Al Raya School run by the Sisters of Saint Jeanne Antide.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">ALEPPO: Six months\u2019 supply of food baskets for 3,280 families supported by the Syriac Catholic Archdiocese.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">HAMA, HOMS and YABROUD: Basic medicine for elderly people, orphans and handicapped people.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">HOMS: Repair of 97 homes for families wanting to return to the Old City.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Included among the pastoral projects are:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">HOMS, HAMA and YABROUD:\u00a0 Mass stipends for priests ministering to displaced communities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">ALEPPO: Retreat and summer camp in August 2018 for 70 young people aged 18-25.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">LATAKIA: 2,000 copies of books on Christianity (catechisms).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">ALEPPO: Repair of Maronite Cathedral whose nave was hit by a bomb.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Father Andrzej Halemba, ACN Middle East projects coordinator, said the programme prioritised young people and went on to describe projects supporting 1,215 school pupils in Homs as well as 437 university students in the city. He said: \u201cAfter six years of war, tension is very high. Youth have lived for years in an environment of war. In a few years\u2019 time, there will be a dreadful situation for this generation if we don\u2019t look after them now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Underlining the need for help, Archbishop Tobji addressed the European Parliament in Brussels last month and warned of the impact of the West\u2019s sanctions against Syria. He said: \u201cWhy do the children and sick people have to die just for lack of medicines? Why do the unemployed who have lost their jobs have to die of hunger because of the embargo?\u201d The archbishop warned that migration had reduced Syria\u2019s Christian population to a third of its pre-2011 total, with estimates now indicating it is now below 500,000.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Father Halemba said ACN\u2019s Syrian aid programme addresses the migration crisis, creating opportunities for Christians to stay, providing them with all-important food, homes, schooling and medicine as well as pastoral support.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Archbishop Tobji stressed the role of Syria\u2019s Christians as a \u201ccultural bridge\u201d between East and West. He added: \u201cIf the Christians disappear, there will be many problems, both for their own country and for Europe, which is not so many miles away.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h5><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>John Pontifex\u00a0 &#8211; ACN UK<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h5>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SYRIA 40 Reasons for Hope &nbsp; \u00a0ACN unveils fresh emergency and pastoral aid plan \u00a0 More than 40 projects offering emergency relief and spiritual support to people in Syria have just been approved by Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. The \u00a32.65 million (\u20ac3 million) programme being rolled out in the capital Damascus,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30171,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>SYRIA: 40 Reasons for Hope - John Pontifex \u00a0- ACN UK - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/08\/13\/syria-40-reasons-for-hope-john-pontifex-acn-uk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SYRIA: 40 Reasons for Hope - John Pontifex \u00a0- ACN UK - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SYRIA 40 Reasons for Hope &nbsp; \u00a0ACN unveils fresh emergency and pastoral aid plan \u00a0 More than 40 projects offering emergency relief and spiritual support to people in Syria have just been approved by Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. 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