Cardinal Schonborn on the "Bacon Priest", Fr. Werenfried

From Aid to the Church in Need, this neat tidbit about the founder of ACN, Fr. Werenfried, who like Brother Andrew, was Dutch.



Cardinal Schönborn speaks on the legacy left by Fr Werenfried

Cardinal Schönborn: "Father Werenfried only to be compared with Saint Paul and with Don Bosco"

Speaking to the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, has said that Father Werenfried was "only to be compared with Saint Paul and with Don Bosco". He described the Dutch Norbertine priest, who died in 2003, as a "unique man of reconciliation and help in many kinds of need". His charism was still living on beyond his death, he said, adding that "this gift for the Church" was still necessary. In many places the Church was in need, the cardinal added. As Jesus had said, there was a "huge harvest", but far too few labourers. The fact that ACN was still so active was a "powerful sign of hope", he said. On the occasion of the charity's 60th anniversary, he wished ACN every blessing for the years ahead.

Cardinal Schönborn emphasised that Father Werenfried had been a great inspiration to him personally, since he had shown "how one should properly beg in order to help Christians and others in need". This was occasionally his own task too, the cardinal said, since he too often had to collect money for various needs.

Cardinal Schönborn had met Father Werenfried twice in person, he told ACN, and had been especially impressed when the founder of ACN had spoken to him about his help for the Russian Orthodox Church. "This impressed me deeply", he said. "This was the spirit in which he helped in Germany after the war." Yet as a Dutchman Father Werenfried came from a country that "had suffered so much under German rule". Nonetheless, he had sought reconciliation after the war. "And now, a few years ago, this effort to help the Russian Orthodox Church - again in a situation that was difficult. I consider this idea to be very, very precious", the cardinal continued, adding that it was a "profoundly Christian, profoundly ecumenical idea".

The Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is directly answerable to the Vatican. It was founded in 1947 by Father Werenfried van Straaten, a Dutch Norbertine priest. Right after the Second World War, he began a campaign in Holland and Belgium for their former enemies, the Germans, in a spirit of reconciliation. In those days he used to collect gifts in kind and foodstuffs, especially bacon, which earned him the worldwide nickname of "Bacon Priest". In the course of time this post-war initiative developed into a worldwide charity which now provides pastoral aid wherever the Church faces discrimination or persecution or is too poor to fulfil her pastoral mission. Currently the charity sponsors projects in some 140 countries around the world.