THE
P RTAL
May 2018
Page 21
Aid to the Church in Need
Giving witness to
life and faith
Murcadha O Flaherty writes about Macedonia
T
he Church in Macedonia is helping Christian refugee families and others in need with support
from Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. The charity’s Eastern Europe head, Magda Kaczmarek,
spoke about projects helping the Church’s pastoral work including developing young people’s faith.
She met with the ACN’s project partner, Bishop Kiro
Stojanov of Skopje – who told her about the struggles
working with just 23 priests in 17 parishes in the
country’s only Catholic diocese, which covers more
than 11,500 square miles (30,000 km 2 ). One parish,
Kumanovo, has recently been revived by young Polish
priest Fr Tomasz.
He described the work as “strengthening our Catholic
identity and self-awareness for active and responsible
participation in the Church and society. [We are]
providing additional education to young people to
develop the skills and the abilities and knowledge in
the area of group management… working together
more on spirituality.”
Ms Kaczmarek said: “The parish already existed but
had been vacant for a long time. I was greatly impressed
that three families with many children had emigrated
from Kosovo to Macedonia in order to give witness
to life and faith in the parish and its environs. Each of
these families has between eight and ten children.”
One of the new arrivals, Anna, spoke about her faith.
“For her, a life without Christ has no meaning. They
both wish to set a living example to the many others
who are searching for meaning in their lives. I was
deeply impressed by so much trust in God and love
of God.”
Speaking of the ongoing refugee crisis, she said,
“In Macedonia we were told of chaotic conditions on
the border with Serbia during the last year [2016],
and of refugees who died in Macedonia because they
were already exhausted when they arrived there.” Ms
Kaczmarek added, “The Catholic Church has also tried
to give aid. The parish of Radovo has set up pastoral
care for migrants and organised training and seminars
for volunteers who work with refugees.”
The charity is also helping the fledgling Christian
community in Radovo, Ms Kaczmarek said, “Here,
special importance is attached to child and youth
ministry. ACN supports for example their summer
camp, ‘Holiday with God’, in which, incidentally,
Orthodox children also take part. This fosters
ecumenism.”
ACN is planning to translate the missal, the
She also saw Skopje’s Cathedral of the Sacred Heart lectionary and the Compendium of the Catechism into
of Jesus, where Dean Davor Topić spoke about projects the Macedonian language. “According to the dean, the
developing youngsters’ faith. He said, “We priests compendium is a good instrument for preaching the
cannot wait for the people to come to us – we must Gospel, because the people are very open to it… and
go to them.” ACN is supporting the dean’s ‘The Young they are searching for ‘something’.”
for the Young’ project, helping youngsters deepen
their faith by sharing experiences through discussion
Aid to the Church in Need - www.acnuk.org
groups.
contact: [email protected] or call 020 8642 8668