It was on Christmas Day 1947 that ACN was born in the Norbertine abbey of Tongerlo in Belgium. It was here that the Dutch Norbertine priest, Father Werenfried van Straaten, published an article in his abbey newsletter, entitled "Peace on Earth?/No Room at the Inn". In it he appealed for help for the 14 million German refugees expelled from their homes in the former German territories of Eastern Europe and now living in poverty in a bombed-out Germany. At the same time he appealed for reconciliation with these "enemies of yesterday".

During 1948 help flooded in for Germany from Belgium and Holland. It included food, clothes, shoes, and especially bacon - which quickly earned Father Werenfried his nickname of "Bacon Priest". Later 3,000 so-called "rucksack priests" - refugee priests ministering to their fellow refugees in Germany - were "adopted" by hundreds of thousands of Flemish school pupils.

In this year the first links with our present headquarters in Königstein, Germany, were established. Father Werenfried began an important collaboration with Monsignor Kindermann, who had founded a refugee centre and a seminary for refugee seminarians here. Back in Belgium big campaigns were launched, among them the "Vehicle for God" initiative, which aimed to provide the "rucksack priests" with motorbikes and later with 120 Volkswagen "Beetles".

This year saw the launch of the "Chapel Truck" campaign. Second-hand buses owned by the Dutch railways were converted into mobile churches and sent East, so that the refugee priests could minister to their scattered flocks, celebrating Mass, administering the sacraments and bringing them vital material aid as well.

The second "Church in Need" congress takes place in Königstein (the first was the previous year in Holland). Here representatives from 18 countries report on the situation of the persecuted Church behind the "Iron Curtain". This marks the beginning of our help for the persecuted and oppressed Church in the East.

The International Building Order is founded. It aims to build "Churches for God and houses for the poor".

ACN is established in Germany, with an office in Königstein.

ACN begins its financial support for the training of priests and the support of contemplative nuns in Poland. The first Austrian National Office of ACN is established.

Aid for the refugees from China, North Korea and North Vietnam.

Pope John XXIII asks us to help for Latin America. Father Werenfried visits this continent for the first time.

Father Werenfried meets the legendary Cardinal Slipyj in Rome. Following their talks our aid begins for the Greek-Catholic Church in Ukraine.

ACN is already canonically established in a number of dioceses. Now it is formally recognised by Rome as a "Pium Sodalitum" and placed under the direct jurisdiction of the Holy See. The International Headquarters of the organisation are moved from Belgium to Rome and our national office in Italy is also founded.

The start of our aid campaigns for the Church in Africa begins. National offices are opened in France and the USA.

With the support of Father Werenfried, Mother Hadewych founds a new congregation in Bukavu (Belgian Congo - today the Republic of Congo). It is called the "Daughters of the Resurrection" and affiliated to our organisation as a "Pious Union".

National offices are opened in the Netherlands and in Ireland.

The year of the "Prague Spring". Both before and after this event Father Werenfried continues to organise aid for the persecuted Church in Czech Republic.

The start of our aid for the threatened Church in the Philippines. The charity formally takes on the name by which it is known today: "Aid to the Church in Need". Father Werenfried publishes his book "Where God Weeps". National offices are opened in Switzerland and Spain.

We open our national office in the UK.

This year sees the launch of our AMA project for the Amazon basin of Brazil. 300 Swiss ex-army lorries are purchased, converted and shipped to Brazil to serve in the pastoral work of the Church in the vast jungle regions of the Amazon, thus providing support and maintaining vital contact between priest and people.

The international headquarters of ACN are moved from Rome to Königstein, near Frankfurt in Germany.

We support the "boat-people" from Vietnam, especially those on the ill-fated "Cap Anamur". ACN also helps the refugees in Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia, who have fled from communism in Laos and Cambodia.

We launch our "Child's Bible" to mark the International Year of the Child. By the end of 1988 our first Child's Bible will have been published in 16 million copies and 51 languages and distributed in 91 countries around the world.

As an expression of solidarity with the Church, we hold our first General Assembly in Rome and elect our first president. This year also sees the appeal "A Ship for Poland" in which 11 different charities combine and collect tons of aid goods for Poland.

We open our national office in Canada.

ACN is recognised by Rome as an Association of pontifical right of the Universal Church. By now we have offices or representations in 13 in different countries.

A major breakthrough for "Aid to the Church in Need" is achieved when Soviet officials grant permission for the import of 120,000 bibles.

The collapse of the communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe. Father Werenfried travels to Romania during the dramatic events between Christmas and New year and for the first time meets with bishops of the still-banned Eastern-rite Catholic Church. An aid campaign is launched immediately. Our new Child's Bible "God speaks to His Children" is produced and becomes one of the greatest projects of our organisation.

The first international congress of the staff and friends of ACN takes place in Vallendar, on the Rhine. Over two hundred people from all round the world discuss the new situation in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and the possibilities of giving aid. Bishops from the East tell about the years of persecution in their countries. A first "new generation" chapel truck is launched. We open another national office, this time in Australia.

With help from our organisation, Cardinal Lubachivsky returns from exile in Rome to L'viv, the Ukrainian capital. Father Werenfried goes with him and, following the service of thanksgiving in the cathedral, speaks to hundreds of thousands on the Opera Square in the city centre. ACN supports the leaders of the 5-million-strong Ukrainian Catholic Church (Eastern-rite), which until now has survived underground.

We launch a wide-ranging new aid programme for the re-evangelisation of Eastern Europe and the countries of the new Russian Federation. Father Werenfried travels to Russia for the first time and meets Orthodox Patriarch Alexey II of Moscow, and other Orthodox bishops in St Petersburg and Novgorod. We promise support for the pastoral work of the Russian Orthodox Church.

We extend and intensify our aid for the persecuted Church in Communist China. We open a new national office in Portugal.

We open our national office in Chile.

ACN celebrates its Golden Jubilee. There is a special Mass in Rome, a meeting with the Pope and a pilgrimage to Fatima in Portugal with two thousand donors and friends of the organisation - the high-point of our celebrations. We also open a new national office, in Brazil.

Continuation of the Chapel truck mission, but now in Russia with the "Chapel Boat" on the Volga and the Don. The ACN national offices in Germany, Switzerland and Austria organise an "Aid to the Church in Need" Congress in the town of Königstein, near Frankfurt in Germany. The theme of this Congress is "The Church in Eastern Europe - Hope for the People". ACN is now helping in 150 countries around the world.

Publication of the Little Catholic Catechism "I Believe". This book is intended above all for priests and catechists, but also for families and young adults, as an aid to the instruction in the Faith.

This year's Congress, organised by the German branch of "Aid to the Church in Need", was entitled: "Fresh start 2000 - the Church and the new Europe". Father Werenfried van Straaten took part in the congress of the movement "Communione e Liberazione" in Rimini, Italy.

"Aid to the Church in Need" has elected a new President. He is a Swiss national, Hans Peter Röthlin. From October of this year he has headed this international Catholic charity. Father Joachim Alliende was at the same time appointed as the international Spiritual Assistant. They met Pope John Paul II in audience in Rome, together with the founder of ACN, Father Werenfried van Straaten, who wanted to present to him the new leadership of our charity.

(From left to right: Father Joaquim Alliende, Father Werenfried van Straaten, Hans-Peter Röthlin)

Pilgrimage to Rome by the staff and benefactors during the Jubilee Year. Among the high points were the tributes paid by Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos to Father Werenfried to mark his diamond Jubilee of the priesthood, the public audience with the Holy Father on St Peter's Square and the concluding consecration of our charity to Mary the Mother of God, which was celebrated at the High Altar in St Peter's Basilica.

At the end of June Fr. Werenfried meets Pope John Paul II during his pastoral trip to Ukraine. In Lviv the Pope blesses the property on which a Greek Catholic seminary for priests will be built with the help of Aid to the Church in Need.

From 22 - 28 April the first ever meeting of all the ecclesiastical assistants of ACN is held, initially in Königstein and afterwards in Rome, together with the leadership of the charity and its founder. High-ranking Vatican diplomats and other staff express their gratitude and recognition for the work of ACN. The climax of the meeting is the concelebrated Holy Mass together with the Pope on 27 April, in his private chapel.

On 17 January Father Werenfried celebrates his 90th birthday. To commemorate the occasion a solemn festive Mass is held in Limburg cathedral, together with more than 500 staff, friends and benefactors. Bishop Franz Kamphaus of Limburg gives the main address and tells the congregation that "religion is still exciting today", and he cites the life and work of Father Werenfried as the best proof of this.

On 31 January 2003 Father Werenfried dies, after a short but serious illness, in Bad Soden, near Königstein. His solemn Requiem Mass is once again held in Limburg Cathedral. This time the main celebrant and speaker is the prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy, Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos. Concelebrating with him are Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne, Bishop Franz Kamphaus and numerous other bishops and priests from all over the world. As a symbol of the resurrection and of his personal bond with the Pope the Paschal candle from the private chapel of the Holy Father, which the Pope had personally given to Father Werenfried on 27 April of the previous year, stands burning alongside the coffin. The founder of Aid to the Church in Need is laid to rest on 7 February 2003 in the town of Königstein, in the presence of a great throng of friends and well-wishers.

The significance of the central theme of the conference: Father Werenfried - Inheritance and Mission, were underlined by Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne and Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger of Paris, as also by the charity's own international ecclesiastical, Father Joaquín Alliende Luco. The congress ended with a forumdiscussion together with the prefect of the clergy congregation, Cardinal Darìo Castrilló Hoyos, to whom the charity is directly answerable.

On 31 January, the first anniversary of the death of Father Werenfried, commemorative Masses are held in all the 16 donor countries and also in some of the project countries of ACN. Cardinal Meisner celebrates a special Mass in Cologne cathedral and pays tribute to Father Werenfried in his sermon.

From 5 - 7 March of this year a congress is held in the city of Augsburg, in southern Germany, organised by the three German-speaking national offices of ACN - Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The central theme is "Treffpunkt Weltkirche" - the Universal Church as a meeting-point of the nations. On this occasion a new initiative, in the shape of a "mobile confessional" is presented to the general public and solemnly blessed by Bishop Mixa.

From 16 - 19 September there is an international pilgrimage of ACN to Poland, taking in such notable shrines and historic sites as Czestochowa, Wadowice and Cracow. Over 450 benefactors and staff members of ACN, from 13 different countries, take part. The consecration of ACN to the Mother of God is again renewed in front of the renowned image of the black Madonna in Czestochowa.

On 22 January, a solemn Mass is celebrated by Cardinal Joachim Meisner, who had also celebrated the Mass in Cologne cathedral, the previous year, to mark the second anniversary of Father Werenfried's death. It is followed by a meeting with the benefactors of the charity on the theme of "Forty years of help for Africa".

On 24 and 25 May of the same year ACN holds its General Assembly, in Königstein, to elect the leadership of the charity. The president, Hans-Peter Röthlin, is re-elected for a further term, while the chairman of the Canadian board, the international jurist Lubomyr Kozak, and the Dutch jurist and chairman of the Netherlands' governing board, Dr Peter van der Velden, are elected as first and second vice-presidents respectively. The current international ecclesiastical assistant of the charity, Father Joaquin Alliende, is likewise re-nominated and confirmed in office for a further term by the Vatican.

On 31 May 2005 the organisation bids farewell to its longstanding secretary general, Antonia Willemsen, who has reached retirement age. Her successor, Dr Norbert Neuhaus takes up his official duties on 1st June.