Red Wednesday -November 20, 2019 As a Catholic and Pontifical charity, Aid to the Church in Need is particularly concerned with the poor, oppressed or persecuted communities. Red Wednesday is an event aimed at highlighting the persecution and injustice suffered by Christians, while promoting respect and tolerance between people of different religions. We want people to take a stand for their faith, and more broadly, for religious freedom. Currently, 327 million Christians live in countries where there is religious persecution. Another 178 million live in countries where there is discrimination. Which makes a total505 million Christians who are at risk. Although it is difficult to keep a precise count, we believe that 75% of religiously motivated violence is perpetrated against Christians. In solidarity with Christians who suffer because of their faith, we are inviting people to organize an event around this theme; to make themselves visible by wearing red, illuminating their church or another significant building in red, as this colour is associated with martyrdom in the Christian tradition.
What you can do: Illuminate a church or other important building in your area with red light Organize a Mass for persecuted Christians Organize a vigil or a moment of prayer Say a rosary Choose special universal prayers to include in a celebration Invite people to wear red
Organize a presentation on religious persecution or religious freedom with the help of Aid to the Church in Need Use social media to publicize the event and raise awareness of the cause Hold a press conference Have a fundraiser to help the affected communities When you should do it: The scheduled date is November 20 th ( 3 rd week of November). We intend to coordinate all activities across Canada to take place on this day, as much as possible, in order to draw attention to persecution. The following material is available for your event: Simply download from our website http://acn-canada.org/red-wednesday ) Posters to publicize your event Texts describing the issue of persecution Examples of cases of persecution Proposed readings to celebrate a Mass
Readings and prayers for a rosary Readings for a prayer vigil Adapted universal prayers Red scarves to wear in show of solidarity (please contact us) Our dream is to rally dioceses and parishes from across Canada in order to create greater impact on the collective psyche and to make the situation of our brothers and sisters who suffer because of their faith known to more people. Further, we are also demonstrating to them that they are not forgotten. Please feel free to adapt our material for your own needs and situation. Join #RedWednesday or #MercrediRouge
Red Wednesday has already taken place in England, Italy, Brazil and Mexico and now here, in Canada! Belgium, the Philippines, Portugal, Spain and the United States are also joining the event this year. Last year activities highlighting the event took place at the diocesan level, in parishes, in prayer groups, and in schools. Tell us what you are doing, and we will promote it! Help improve and publicize the event! We created downloadable forms to inform us your event. We invite you to please fill the out and return them to us. Your input is important and will help us improve the Red Wednesday event in the future. Thank you. If you take pictures or video of your event and these pictures can be put on Facebook, send them to us! It will be our great pleasure to share them with our thousands of friends and offer more information about Redabout Red Wednesday. For information: Marie-Claude Lalonde, National Director, mcl@acn- canada.org or 1-800-585-6333, ext. 223 Aid to the Church in Need P.O. Box. 670, Station. H, Montreal, QC H3G 2M6
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