By Ruba Hattar
Vatican News announced that Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) organization is providing 5 million euro to help with reconstruction efforts in Beirut ten weeks after the massive Beirut port explosion. The programme was announced 100 days after an explosion triggered one of the largest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded, causing more than 200 deaths, 6,500 injuries and leaving 300,000 people homeless.
The 5 million euro aid package announced by ACN this week will be spent mainly on reconstruction; with churches, a cathedral and a convent among the buildings being repaired.
Lebanese Parish priest Father Nicolas Riachy said, “Our mission is to bring light into the darkness through which we are living."
Several churches, convents, and a cathedral are among the damaged buildings in Beirut being repaired with the help of this initiative. One of those is the St. Savior’s Melkite Greek Catholic Church, which lost its roof in the August 4th explosion. ACN will also be helping to repair the iconic Maronite Cathedral of St George, the convent at the hospital of the Sisters of the Holy Rosary, and the Mother House of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
In concordance, the executive president of ACN International, Dr. Thomas Heine-Geldern, said that their priority “is to provide the necessary funds to complete the essential emergency repair work before the arrival of winter in order to forestall still greater damage, caused by the winter rains for example, and at the same time to make these buildings usable,” reported the organization.
As the port explosion took place amid an ongoing serious economic and financial crisis that caused prices to soar, renovating and repairing buildings and houses has been an extremely challenging task for Beirut residents and their religious communities.
