May the Holy Spirit live in the hearts of · Mary, be our Advocate. Amen. My grateful blessing on you all, Father Martin M. Barta Ecclesiastical Assistant May the Holy Spirit live

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How tragic and pointless it is when peoplecannot or will not recognize what is thebeautiful, the good and the true. Does thisnot deprive us of hope, too? How can wetell our children and young people that lifeis worthwhile? That there is any point inenduring the hardships of life, the sacri-fice, the suffering and death? All of us

need the ultimate certainty, the innerstrength which, despite the power of evil,inspires the goodness in our souls. This isbrought about by the Holy Spirit. In thelight of the Cross, the Spirit of Christ re-veals things as they really are, in all theirmeaning. The Cross is the fixed point,around which the world is turned upsidedown, because the Cross reveals God’smercy, and the boundless Spirit of Love.Through the experience of God’s forgive-ness, in His loving embrace, we can be-come spiritually rooted while living in thisearthly world. As the Holy Spirit desiresnot only to enlighten and console us but

At this time of year we are preparing forPentecost. Pentecost is God’s response tothe confusion of language and thoughtthat comes from human pride – as illus-trated by the building of the Tower ofBabel. Only the spirit of love can over-come this confusion. Thegreat crises that we are in-creasingly witnessing in theworld today are essentially awar of the spirit – the spirit oftruth versus the spirit of false-hood. But the meaning of lifecan only be found in the spirit of truth.

A university professor once told me thata student had asked him about the studentriots of 1968. After the professor had de-scribed the period of the unrest and itscultural and religious consequences, theyoung man said to him, “Your generationmay well have lost its religion, but mygeneration has lost its contact with real-ity. We don’t know how to assess thevalue of the simplest things. We cannotaffirm what is good in this world with anycertainty and we no longer see the poten-tial for goodness, even in ourselves.”

also to lead us into a new age with a re-newed humanity. Every year as Pentecostcomes around, we are reminded that theSpirit leads the Church from age to age,taking her deeper and deeper into the full-ness of Christ’s truth.

After 2,000 years of Christian history theHoly Spirit is closer to us thanever. Yet, just like the apostlesin Jerusalem, we must prayfervently with Mary for Hisoutpouring. Lord Jesus Christ,Son of the Father, send nowYour Spirit over the earth! Let

the Holy Spirit live in the hearts of allpeoples, that they may be preserved fromdegeneration, disaster and war. May theLady of All Nations, the Blessed VirginMary, be our Advocate. Amen.

My grateful blessing on you all,

Father Martin M. BartaEcclesiastical Assistant

May the Holy Spirit live in the hearts of all nations.

“Christian life is not a collage of things. It is a harmonious totality, the work of the HolySpirit. It renews all things.

It renews our hearts, our lives and enables us to live in a differ-ent style, which encompasses

all things.”Pope Francis,

Homily during Holy Mass on July 6, 2013 in the Domus Sanctae Marthae

In St. Peter’s: Veni Sancte Spiritus.

No. 4 · May 2015

Publishedeight times a year

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two outboard motors for the Capuchin Fa-thers who minister to more than 60 river-side communities ($40,400). In Ukraine,they need a minibus for the Seminary ofthe Sacred Heart of Jesus in Vorzel, nearKiev. The seminary currently has 37 stu-dents living and studying there who havea burning desire to bring something of thelove of Christ to this suffering land($26,900). And in Palestine, a small caris needed for Father Mansour Mattosha, aSyrian Catholic priest who is struggling tocare for his widely scattered flock($20,200).

The only hospital

for one million

people...

The Daughters of Our Lady of the Im-maculate Conception show their love

for God through their service to the poor;they see this as an essential part of theircharism. This young congregation fromIndia is working in Brazil, Tanzania, Zam-

Wherever you find the Church, youfind her on the move. Whether ontwo wheels or four; with or without amotor; by canoe, by boat, by bus.And it is your loving generosity thatkeeps her mission of love afloat.

Last year, you helped with 576 projectsto spread the Good News. Once again

this year, this Gospel message must betaken across mountain, water and waste-land. Often little is needed – some dieselfor an outboard motor, a bicycle in Africa,a moped in Asia, a car in Eastern Europe.In Sierra Leone – devastated last year bythe terrible scourge of Ebola – Father JoeSandy needs an outboard motor so that hecan bring the Sacraments to the Parishesof Saint Patrick and Saint Ambrose on theShebro Islands, just off the coast($12,800). In Madagascar, they need fivemotorbikes for five priests, who are look-ing after outlying parishes far away fromtheir main parish centers ($29,600) – if wedid not help, people would not see apriest. In the Diocese of Alto Solimoes, inthe Amazon region of Brazil, they need

bia, Malawi, South Sudan, and Ethiopia too.Three years ago the archbishop of AddisAbeba entrusted them with St. Luke’s Hos-pital. For a million people in the area, this isthe only hospital they have access to. Everyday the Sisters take in 200 new patients.

The Sisters also go out to people in the vil-lages and the countryside. They will travelup to 20 miles away to visit women andchildren in particular and to observe howthey live, pray and work. They don’t justtalk with them, they also roll up theirsleeves and help. And they also help themto understand their own virtues and talents– as well as the love of God for his people.This demands a great deal of time, but alsoinspires creativity, initiative and leads to acertain “fullness of humanity” that is oneof the goals of the congregation’s socialand pastoral work.

For their arduous journey, reaching out tothose on the margins and the edge of soci-ety, as Pope Francis puts it, the Sistersneed a car. We have promised them$40,400 for one. •

Serving the Churchon the margins

Bringing God to the riverside communities in Alto Solimoes – with-out a new outboard motor for their boat, it will not be possible.

Helping them to discover the infinite love of God – SisterTeresa and her charges in a school in Addis Abeba.

Pastoral tra

nsport

In case of surplus, your donation will go to similar

3projects that will enable the pastoral work of ACN.

The New Evan

gelization

“The trees, the flowers, the herbs,they all grow in silence. The stars,the sun, the moon, they all move insilence. Silence gives us a new per-spective on things.”

This silence of which Blessed Mother Teresaspeaks is the silence one finds before the Tab-ernacle. Here things happen within the heart– far from the din of the streets, the crowds,the media. This kind of silence is needed bythe children from the poverty striken townshipof La Cabana in Buenos Aires, Argentina.Drugs, violence – every day children are as-sailed from all sides while their families, forthe most part, struggle to survive. These chil-dren who have made their way from the out-lying countryside or from somewhere abroad,often depend on social security.

Fifty years ago, in the midst of this slum area,the Congregation of Jesus and Mary founded aschool. Today, it has 850 pupils, and their reli-gious formation plays a very important role inthese children’s lives. But while knowledge isone thing, prayer is another. The school wantsto build its own chapel – which can also be

used by everyone in this troubled part of town– to ensure this knowledge takes root in thesechildren’s hearts. Only through prayer, by seek-ing after God in the silence of His presence canFaith take root. The multipurpose center, whereHoly Mass is currently celebrated, is not suit-able as it lacks an atmosphere of prayer and si-lence. They have asked us for $26,900 to fundthe roof for the chapel. Will you help us to cre-ate this sacred space in La Cabana, so that allwho come here have an opportunity to gain anew perspective on their lives?

In Rio on the other hand...

In the midst of the din of life, in the chaosof the streets, in the roughhouse of the foot-ball stadiums and the Carnival, at musicconcerts and other big gatherings you willfind the young missionaries of the commu-nity Do Caos à Glória (From Chaos toGlory) making known the Good News, bothvisibly and audibly. The community is only16 years old – and sprang from the work inthe favelas and in response to the spiritualpoverty of the masses, “because they wereharassed and helpless, like sheep without ashepherd” (Mt. 9:36). The Spirit blowswhere He wills, even in the midst of thenoise. These young missionaries are con-vinced that “God wishes to show forth Hislove and grace there, through us.” They donot want to see the Carnival become an ex-cuse for carnal excesses, the passionate en-thusiasm for sport turned to heedlessviolence, the joy of music leading to idola-try of performers. “We counter the modernidolatry with God, the chaos with the or-dered beauty of love.” The community hasattracted considerable interest; but theirnew members need theoretical and practicalformation in theo logy – and also in dance,theater, preaching and the new media. Thismodern form of the New Evangelizationhas its own skills that need to be learned.We have promised them $13,500 to providethis formation. •

In silence–and amid the din of life

“I have become all things to all people, that I may by all means save some” (1 Cor.9:22): The group “Do Caos à Glória,” ready to go to work in the football stadium.

The walls of this chapel meant for thesilent listening for God’s voice havebeen built – but it still needs a roof.

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JohannesFreiherr Heereman,Executive President, ACN (International)

Dear Friends,The Gospel relates the words of Christ:“Truly, I say to you, as you did it to oneof the least of these My brothers, youdid it to Me” (Mt. 25:40). We do notneed to look far to see who these broth-ers of Christ are. The plight of theChristians in Syria and Iraq cries outto heaven. Will they experience a newPentecost? Does the Church in the Is-lamic countries still have a future?She will – provided that we take thewords of Saint James to heart: “Whatgood is it, my brothers, if someone sayshe has faith but does not have works?Can that faith save him?” (Jas. 2:14).I can only say to Saint James, withgratitude, that these works are there.Once again in 2014, thanks to a con-tinuing increase in donations, we wereable to help many millions of Chris-tians around the world who would oth-erwise have received no help at all. Inhelping these brothers and sisters ofours to remain in their own country, orto find refuge in a new one; in helpingthem to retain their identity as Chris-tians and in building bridges of mercybetween the Christians of our demo-cratic and wealthy nations on the onehand and the persecuted and op-pressed Christians on the other, wecontinue to carry out the mission ofmercy entrusted to us.

Editor: Jürgen Liminski,Kirche in Not/Ostpriesterhilfe, Postfach1209, D–61452 Königstein, Germany,www.kirche–in–not.org – Responsiblepublisher: Marie–Claude Lalonde, Aidto the Church in Need (Canada) Inc.(See address – opposite). De licentiacompe tentis auctoritatis ecclesiasticae.

Send your donation to: Aid to the Church in Need (Canada) Inc.P.O. Box 670, Stn. H, Montreal, QC H3G 2M6

(514) 932–0552 – 1–800–585–6333Website: www.acn–aed–ca.org – email: info@acn–aed–ca.org

Registration number 13036 2593 RR0001

Please indicate your benefactor number in your correspondence.

Consecrated

Life

Exceptional Sisters or exceptional times for Sisters? It may beone and the same, for it is the Spirit which animates them fromwithin and makes of them exceptional women. There are legionsof them and for the most part, unknown!

Here you have a passage taken from thepreface written by Msgr George Casmoussafor the book ‘God’s Initiative – Stories ofExceptional Sisters’ a book whose title hastaken its inspiration from Pope Francis’first message with regard to the Conse-crated Life.

In his message destined for the members ofthe International Union of Superiors Gen-eral (UISG) in Rome, the Pontiff remindedthem of the words spoken by Jesus to theapostles at the last supper: “You have notchosen me, but I have chosen you…” John15:16 and thus reminding us all, vocationis always God’s Initiative.

In this year of Consecrated Life, it seemedimportant to devote time and energy to making known the works of religious Sistersaround the world, who all too often work in the shadows. In fact, apart from a hand-ful of individual stories, very little filters through about these women who, each day,live among the poor and the marginalized of every kind. Their mission is of atremendous breadth and greatness, but ever so rarely is this greatness depicted inthe media.

Also, while writing this volume of around 60 pages, the authors, Marie-ClaudeLalonde, National Director of ACN Canada, and Robert Lalonde, Head of Commu-nications for ACN Canada – chose to tell 12 stories of these exceptional Sisterswhose work spans from Lebanon to Honduras, from Egypt to China and from Cen-tral Africa to Ukraine.

If this volume gives but twelve accounts, we know full well that there might havebeen a hundred, or a thousand, so numerous are exceptional Sisters. This book payshomage to all religious Sisters, as God always takes beautiful initiatives.

The launch of this book will be held on Thursday, May 14 beginning at 7:00pm, at500 Mont Royal Avenue in Montreal (close to Mont Royal Metro station). Startingtoday, you may purchase your copy for a modest sum of $20 through our new web-site; by e-mail at [email protected]; or by phone at 1 (800) 585-6333.