A Catholic Church ruined by ISIS in Karamdes, Iraq, is examined by a priest following the predominantly Christian town's liberation.
Credit: Knights of Columbus Aid to the Church in Need’s (ACN) Week of Witness goes ahead this year, but online rather than in person. Speaking to The Irish Catholic, National Director of ACN, Dr Michael Kinsella said: “The week of witness is a dedication of a week in the life of the Church that, as part of the liturgical calendar, we as a Church and as a praying and worshipping community can come together and acknowledge and commemorate the sacrifices that are being made by Christian martyrs in time, in history, and at this very present moment, across the world.”
He highlighted the increasing struggle Catholics face in the western world, with Ireland exhibiting “a rising anti-Catholic sentiment within Ireland that is as bad now, in its own ways and as detrimental in its own ways, as existed during the Penal days”.
This year’s Week of Witness will begin with Red Wednesday’s Liturgy of Witness opened by Archbishop Eamon Martin from St Patrick’s Cathedral Armagh on November 25.