“Thanks to the help of the world, Ukraine resists, and we believe it will survive. Here we have been helping the displaced, supplying air-raid bunkers, and welcoming people, especially women and children.”

These were the words of Sister Natalia in Lviv, one of 6,229 priests and members of religious congregations receiving subsistence support from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) so that they can carry on their important work. The Catholic charity announced an aid package of more than £830,000 shortly after the Russian invasion began.

Sister Natalia described how her order, the Sisters of the Holy Family, is tending IDPs who have fled the fighting further east. She said: “Most then head abroad, but here they have the opportunity to rest with us. And we pray together. Thank you for everything”. 

In the east of the country, where Russian troops are waging an all-out campaign to seize territory, Bishop Pavlo Honcharuk of Kharkiv said: “We live now from hour to hour. Prices are rising, especially for essential goods. The situation in the diocese is very difficult.”

ACN has provided emergency aid for the essential needs – including heating, lighting, water and food – for the four Greek-Catholic exarchates and the two Roman-Catholic dioceses covering the eastern regions of Kharkiv, Zaporizhya, Donetsk, Odesa and Krym. Without this help they would not be able to continue their vital ministry, including in Kharkiv itself which suffered devastating missile barrages on Tuesday morning (1st March).

Missile attacks have also affected the Church directly. Magda Kaczmarek, ACN’s Ukraine head, received reports that seminarians in Vorzel, on the outskirts of Kiev, were evacuated on Saturday (26th February). She said: “There has been fighting in that part of Kiev, we have been sent images that show damage to the walls of the seminary, caused by artillery and missiles. The religious communities had to take measures to protect themselves, they have been spending the nights in basements and blacking out their windows so as not to show any signs of activity”.

Despite facing such problems, the Church is continuing its mission of love in a time of war. Bishop Honcharuk said: “People need consolation, strength and support. The immediate emergency grant by ACN, in addition to its current support, will strengthen the Catholic Church in Ukraine in its commitment to stay on the ground and keep serving its flock in the face of military and economic war.”

The post Aid to the Church in Need gives £830,000 in emergency money to war-torn Ukraine appeared first on Catholic Herald.