KOENIGSTEIN, Germany, JULY 22, 2002 (Zenit.org).- The Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need recorded a 20% increase in donations in 2001, which will help fund projects including a school of theology in Ukraine.
The charity’s head office here reported a total income for 2001 of over 79.1 million euro ($80.2 million), up almost 13.2 million euro from the year earlier. It has more than 360,000 benefactors in 17 countries in Europe, North and South America, and Australia.
France gave the largest amount, with 16.7 million euro, followed by Germany with 12.7 million euro and Switzerland with 7.5 million euro.
Aid to the Church in Need used this money to support some 6,700 projects in 134 countries. The charity increased its aid by 21% to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, its traditional priority nations, to around 23 million euro.
The increase was above all for the support for construction of a national theology school in Lviv in Western Ukraine, and for the rebuilding of Church structures in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia.
Aid was also increased notably for the construction of seminaries in Latin America and Africa, and new convents for the contemplative women’s orders in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
War-torn regions of Africa, notably in Angola and Sudan, received priority help. Total aid for Africa was around 10 million euro. Asia, including the Middle East, received 11.3 million and Latin America 12.9 million euro.
