CV NEWS FEED // The international Catholic organization Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) just pledged 2.6 million euros for schools in Lebanon and Syria in the hopes of combating extremism and aiding the impoverished nations.
“Our schools are in a terrible bind,” says Marielle Boutros, who helps operate the project work of ACN in Lebanon. “Parents can’t pay school fees anymore, and there is no state support. However, without income the schools can’t afford the teachers’ salaries. Then there are the operational costs:”
Yet, if we don’t keep Catholic schools going, the consequences will be serious for the whole country. Some Islamist institutions are waiting to jump into this gap. The children would then be ideologically indoctrinated, which would lead to more extremism.
The economic systems in Lebanon and Syria are in dire need, and ACN’s aid funds not only school fees but also salaries for teachers in those regions for the 2023-2024 school year.
“Since the economic collapse in Lebanon in 2019, more than 70% of the population lives in extreme poverty; because of the war, sanctions and inflation, the figure in Syria is 90%,” read the press release.
“Syria was nailed to the Cross. The country has survived, but the war has torn deep wounds in body and soul,” said Elias Nseir, representative of the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate, which runs the Al-Riaya school in a suburb of Damascus.
Though precise figures are hard to obtain, the amount of Christians in Syria has dropped dramatically since the war in 2011, ACN explained:
whereas before the war roughly 1.5 million Christians were thought to live in the country, according to current estimates there are now around 200,000 Christian families. This makes financial support for Catholic schools all the more significant, to give the children a perspective in spite of the war and to help them build a deeper relationship with their homeland, which has been marked by suffering.
ACN’s aid includes school grants for more than 16,000 students in need, most of them Christian. The program spans 176 Catholic schools and helps supplement the salaries of 6,000 teachers in Catholic schools and 117 religion teachers at public schools.
“ACN’s support enables us, despite all the obstacles, to pursue our educational, human and Christian task”, said Nseir. “We are doing everything we can to fulfill our mission and are deeply grateful to our donors. You were, and are, a colossal support! Thank you all, a thousand times over! We are counting on your valuable help.”