ACN has unveiled plans to launch a new award recognising fortitude and faith in the face of persecution – which will be presented by the papal ambassador to Great Britain.

As part of ACN’s #RedWednesday 2023 celebrations on 22^nd November – which are set to include a special evening Mass at St George’s Cathedral, Southwark – we will be presenting our new Courage to be Christian award. The recipient of the award is being kept under wraps until closer to the day. Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendia, the Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain, said: 

“It is a great honour for me to be invited to present the first ever #RedWednesday ‘Courage to be Christian’ award. Religious freedom is of the utmost importance and Aid to the Church in Need is doing a wonderful service by honouring those who have shown such extraordinary commitment to their faith in the face of persecution.”

ACN's #RedWednesday event in London, focusing on the persecution of Christians in Africa, will start at 5.30pm with a gathering in the Cathedral’s Courtyard before Mass at 6pm, which will be concelebrated by Archbishop Buendia and Archbishop John Wilson of Southwark. Continue reading.

If you are attending the event or would like to join the LIVESTREAM, please let us know by clicking here.

Your kind gift today will be allocated to our #RedWednesday 'matched' 100k for Africa campaign, meaning it can do twice as much for suffering Christians.

Don't abandon them now!

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ACN Appeal

Bethlehem Christian – “Without faith I couldn’t continue”

Shops closed and shuttered in Bethlehem.

A Christian living in Bethlehem has recounted how war, disease and economic crisis are hitting the faithful in the place where Christ was born.

Speaking to ACN, Rony Tabash, a member of a Christian family that has lived in Bethlehem for generations, described how the current conflict is directly impacting the Christian community in the West Bank.

Mr Tabash, the owner of a shop that sells religious items in Bethlehem’s Manger Square, had hoped to finally pay off his debts and recover economically after the COVID-19 pandemic, but he now finds himself confronting a bleak reality.

Mr Tabash and his family have had a long-standing relationship with ACN (UK), in providing olivewood items made by Christian families for sale in our shop. 

Continue reading this article here. 

ACN Events

#RedWednesday – 22^nd November

Students from the choir at St John Bosco, Battersea at #RedWednesday 2021.

Fantastic news! Only three weeks into the launch of our  2023 #RedWednesday campaign and, thanks to your generosity, we have already achieved over 30% of our £100k ‘Matched’ total to help persecuted and suffering Christians in Africa.

This is so encouraging – we can’t thank you enough. With motivated individual, parish, school and group #TeamRed fundraising, we can see a real chance of meeting our ‘Matched’ goal by the end of the year. Good news on the Rosary front too, with 14,000 pledged to date. Thank you to everyone getting involved.

With our Primary and Secondary Schools Livestream coming up, we are hearing tantalising snippets of what to expect. Co-hosted by ACN, Mark 10 Mission and Fr Frankie Mulgrew, schools linking in can expect a liturgy, #RedWednesday reflection, music, inter-active games, ‘go lives’ to some schools and exciting drone footage. Shout out to St Thomas Aquinas School (Birmingham) for hosting the event and for the drone experience; St Edmund’s College (Ware) and St Bede’s School, Co Durham for key roles in the programme and St Ambrose’s, Motherwell who we hear has an amazing Samba band!  Make sure your school is signed up by emailing community.outreach@acnuk.org

For all #RedWednesday events and to reserve spaces click here.