Mass was celebrated roughly every 23 seconds somewhere around the world in 2019 for the intentions of Aid to the Church in Need’s Benefactors.
ACN sends stipends from its benefactors to help priests where the Church is suffering or in dire need providing financial aid for the priests to enable them carry out their vital pastoral work – and in turn they offer the holy sacrifice of the Mass for the benefactors’ intentions.
According to ACN’s international annual report for 2019, which was released on 17th June 2020, the charity passed on 1,378,635 Mass offerings from its benefactors last year.
Mass stipends represented nearly 16 percent of the all donations worldwide and enabled the charity to assist 40,096 priests – roughly one in every 10 around the world.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, Aid to the Church in Need has stepped up its support for priests through Mass stipends.
Bishop Dennis Kofi Agbenyadzi of Berberati in the Central African Republic said ACN Mass stipends had provided crucial income for priests ministering to the 19 rural parishes in his diocese.
He said: “Thank you very much for your gesture of generosity and sign of solidarity. May the compassion and mercy of the Lord be with you all… especially in this painful and worrying time of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Be assured of that I always pray for you and for all those who help you to provide for the needs of the missionary activities of the Church in Africa.”
