The Aid to the Church in Need rally is a welcoming faithful celebration for youth all over Scotland, to remind and teach them about how lucky they are to be surrounded by the Christian faith and God’s love.
However, you’d think that every Christian around the world has the possibility to celebrate this faith…. But no. They also taught us that Christians all over the world do not get the same freedom and right to celebrate their faith. Rather they are persecuted for it. Tortured. Killed. Raped.
But it wasn’t only the people that were at fault for their faith. Infrastructure such as Churches and houses belonging to Christians are being bombed and destroyed on a daily basis across the world, in countries such as Pakistan, Syria, Somalia, Nigeria and so on. The ACN teaches us how they overcome and how we too can overcome this by spreading awareness across our friends, family and our parish.
The rally was on from 10am to 2:30pm with over 700 pupils from all over Scotland attending and had various activities from time to time such as talks from people who work in ACN, ask a sister (my favourite part) where we could ask sisters about their life and what they think about certain things, tiktok famous Father James who led the hourly dance breaks and posed for selfies with us while spreading laughter in the room, the mexican wave by William More – Head of ACN Scotland which got streamed on the ACN live on insta and so on!
We also took part in the Eucharistic Adoration and watched harrowing footage documenting attacks on Christian communities over the four hours which struck our minds. There were times of silent prayer as well where we had a chance to reflect and pray for those in need and for our families and friends. The prayer times really showed a good Christian presence in the Town hall.
One of the most memorable moments came during an interactive session led by Dominican Sisters Isabelle Marie and Angela Marie in a “do this, not that” game, where all of the youth in Hamilton Town Hall competed until there was a last person standing while also learning a deeper lesson about faith and discipleship.
A message of support from Pope Leo was read during the event, in which he offered encouragement and blessings to all of us taking part.
For us as a school, Turnbull’s next steps are to lead a faithful and reminding school year where we pray for those Christians who are suffering in their own rooms, spread awareness across the school by taking part in Red Wednesday and having activities such as red bake sales and wearing red clothes on the day. We are also going to have Friday prayer time where students are welcome to join in at the start of Lunch on a friday to pray for themselves and their wishes.
Pearl (Caritas Class/CREDO Club)
