Greg Daly
The Houses of Parliament in London illuminated last year with red lighting as a sign of solidarity with persecuted Christians across the globe.
Photo: CNS Parishioners should stand up for hundreds of millions of persecuted Christians by ‘turning their churches red’ later this month, Irish bishops have said.
“On Red Wednesday, we remember the horrific reality of religious violence and intolerance in our world and we state definitively that those who do not respect freedom of thought, conscience and religion must be held to account,” Bishop Alan McGuckian of Raphoe told The Irish Catholic.
‘Red Wednesday’, which this November 28 will see major landmarks around the world lit up red, is an initiative of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). Knock Basilica will join cathedrals and parish churches across Ireland in the initiative, with parishioners being urged to pray the Angelus and wear an item of red clothing to unite in solidarity with persecuted Christians worldwide and to raise awareness of their plight.
“Christians constitute as a population 80% of all religious persecution worldwide,” Michael Kinsella of ACN Ireland told The Irish Catholic. “Up to 200 million Christians live in conditions which would be described as hostile to the Faith and to the existence of Christians, where the simple act of blessing oneself or saying a prayer can constitute a death sentence.”
This fact needs to be recognised and acted upon, according to Archbishop Michael Neary of Tuam.
“There has been an appalling lack of protest about the ongoing and severe persecution being faced by Christian communities in certain parts of the world, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa,” he said, stressing the urgency of standing with Christian communities that have been driven from their ancient homelands and face extinction.
“It is essential that we support our fellow Christians through prayer and that we seek to raise awareness of their plight in our national media, and in other ways such as the Red Wednesday initiative,” he said. “The aim must be to prompt political action to bring this persecution to a halt.”
Acknowledging that the term ‘persecution of Christians’ tends to conjure up violent images from ancient history, Bishop McGuckian said while today’s westerners can have difficulty thinking of our fellow Christians as victims of persecution, “the truth is that in our modern world Christians are more likely than ever before to suffer being imprisoned, ‘disappeared’, sexually harassed, tortured or executed.”
Message
Bishop Phonsie Cullinan of Waterford and Lismore said it’s important to communicate this reality. “The message is not getting out there, really. It’s not in the mainstream media, the persecution of Catholics and Christians all around the world,” he said, adding that “it really should be making headlines”.
“They’re our brothers and sisters who are being persecuted mercilessly for bearing the name Jesus Christ,” he continued. Describing the numbers martyred, which may have been over one million since the year 2000, as “staggering”, he said: “It’s across the board. Those who have been martyred, as Pope Francis says, haven’t been asked beforehand whether they were Catholics or Protestants.”
“It is a small gesture of solidarity,” Elphin’s Bishop Kevin Doran said. “Just as Jesus suffered for his fidelity to his mission entrusted to him by his Father, so in every generation, Christians somewhere suffer for their fidelity to Jesus,” he said, describing Red Wednesday as “our way of gathering at the foot of the Cross”.