Home » News » Aid to the Church in Need to receive the 2019 Path to Peace Award

Aid to the Church in Need to receive the 2019 Path to Peace Award

NEW YORK/KÖNIGSTEIN — Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and president of the Path to Peace Foundation, has announced that Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) will be the 2019 recipient of the Path to Peace Award.

The Holy See Mission said it has chosen to honor the international papal charity in recognition of its humanitarian and pastoral support of persecuted Christians.

The Path to Peace Foundation supports various aspects of the work of the Holy See Mission to the UN. The Foundation also funds humanitarian projects in developing countries.

Dr. Thomas Heine-Geldern, executive president of ACN International will be accepting the Award at the annual Path to Peace Gala Dinner May 22, 2019 in New York.

„To receive this outstanding Award is a great honor for Aid to the Church in Need“, said Dr. Thomas Heine-Geldern. He added: “It is an eminent recognition of the worldwide bridge of love built by the generosity of our benefactors and the suffering and persecuted Church.”

ACN Headquarters in Königstein, Germany.
ACN Headquarters in Königstein, Germany.

Previous recipients of the Path to Peace Award include: Cardinal Mario Zenari, papal nuncio to Syria; Supreme Knight Carl Anderson of the Knights of Columbus; and Queen Sofia of Spain.

Founded in 1947 by a young Dutch Norbertine Priest, Father Werenfried van Straaten (1903 -2003), to help meet the needs of refugees and displaced people in post-World War II Germany, ACN supports more than 5,000 projects each year in more than 140 countries.

Projects include the construction of churches and chapels; support for the training of seminarians, men and women religious as well as lay catechists; emergency aid; and transportation for clergy and religious.

Last year, ACN donors gave more than €100M in aid. Since 2011, ACN has provided more than €70M to support Syrian and Iraqi Christians threatened by ISIS and other Islamist groups, ensuring the survival of Christianity in the region.

The Path to Peace Gala Dinner will be held from 6PM-10PM on May 22, 2019 at the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan, 61st Street and Fifth Ave.

Don't miss the latest updates!

“The priority now is to rebuild lives,” says Archbishop of Caracas

Archbishop Raúl Biord of Caracas, Venezuela, says that the Church…

Venezuela: ACN allocates 100,000 euros to support Church response to earthquakes

Priests celebrate Mass in the street as churches become shelters…

ACN funded 5,368 projects in 141 countries during 2025

The Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN)…

Crisis deepens in DR Congo as new terrorist front opens in the north

Despite the danger, and the looming threat of famine, missionaries…

Major Archbishop Shevchuk: “The war in Ukraine has caused many conversions”

During a visit to the headquarters of the Spanish national…

“The priority now is to rebuild lives,” says Archbishop of Caracas

Archbishop Raúl Biord of Caracas, Venezuela, says that the Church is accompanying the victims of the earthquakes while rescue efforts continue. As search and rescue efforts continue, following the devastating...

Venezuela: ACN allocates 100,000 euros to support Church response to earthquakes

Priests celebrate Mass in the street as churches become shelters following deadly earthquakes As rescue teams continue to search for survivors under the rubble following the devastating earthquakes that struck...

ACN funded 5,368 projects in 141 countries during 2025

The Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) received €145.8 million in donations and legacies and supported one in every ten priests and one in every eight seminarians...