By Aid to the Church in Need Canada (ACN)
[Montreal] — After its One Million Children Praying the Rosary campaign in October, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is resuming face-to-face activities as part of International Red Week, starting on Wednesday, November 17.
This will be the fourth year that the event is being marked in Canada. Participants will stand in solidarity with persecuted Christians around the world, including at the largest Marian shrine in Canada, Our Lady of the Cape Shrine, in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, which will illuminate the Basilica in red on Nov. 17.
Regularly updated information is available on the Red Wednesday homepage: acn-canada.org/red-wednesday/.
Bishop Mark Hagemoen and priests from across the Roman Catholic iocese of Saskatoon will celebrate Mass together praying for persecuted Christians at 11:15 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 17, with the Mass live-streamed at saskatoonmass.com — join in prayer live or view the video-taped celebration later.
Rome’s Colosseum in 2018. On this site: the martyrdom of the first Christian communities. (Photo courtesy of Aid to the Church in Need, ACN)
In person and on Salt + Light Television
“After One Million Children Praying the Rosary for World Peace, the next activity serves to inform, raise awareness and show solidarity among Christians here in Canada, with their sisters and brothers in the faith suffering from anti-Christian persecution,” explains Marie-Claude Lalonde, director of ACN Canada.
This year, the Catholic media network Salt + Light will provide a live television broadcast of the special Mass from Mary Queen of the World Cathedral in Montreal at 7:30 p.m. EST (6:30 p.m. in Saskatchewan) on Wednesday, Nov. 17. A prayer vigil from St. Michael Cathedral in Toronto will then follow at 9 p.m. EST (8 p.m. in Saskatchewan). “Between the Mass and the Vigil, viewers will have the opportunity to watch a documentary produced by ACN,” says Lalonde.
Marking #RedWednesday in 2020: students at St. Helena Junior High School in Calgary, Alberta showed their solidarity by dressing in red. (Photo courtesy of St. Helena School, ACN)
“Other partners are also involved in the event,” Lalonde adds. For example, Radio VM in Montreal will broadcast the Mass the day after the event, on Thursday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m., on its entire network. “The Chœur des anges (Choir of Angels) will accompany the Mass in Montreal with the liturgical songs with the African sound they are known for,” she explains.
Join a Pan-Canadian and international event
“In addition, there will be building illuminations and other activities organized by partners, some of whom have already confirmed their participation,” she explains. In Thetford-Mines, Robert Lebel, who has supported Red Wednesday since its first year, is participating in the event by organizing an evening of worship and illuminating part of the ecumenical pavilion at Versant-la-Noël in Quebec, beginning at 7 p.m. EST.
Among new participants is the sanctuary of Notre-Dame du Cap in Trois-Rivières. “It makes me particularly happy to see that year after year, new participants join Red Wednesday. Thank you for this gesture of solidarity,” says Lalonde who says there are no small activities. “The important thing is to participate. Let us know, tell us what you are planning to do!” she adds. “We are happy to advertise your own Red Wednesday activity on our homepage.”
Contact ACN by writing to Valerie Vulcain, Red Wednesday 2021 coordinator at vv@acn-canada.org or call 1-800-585-6333, ext. 227.
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Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is a Pontifical International Catholic Charity whose mandate is to be of “service of fraternal charity to the local Churches most suffering and needy” through information, prayer and action. Founded in 1947, it helps spiritually and materially, through 23 national offices including Canada, the Church in distress in more than 139 countries.