Meet the most heroic priests of our age
In the Year of Priests John Pontifex of Aid to the Church in Need hails the 'tireless and hidden service' given by priests around the world talks to him

5 February 2010

?Fr Peter Shekelton, who works with the poor in Brazil, one of many heroic priests highlighted by Aid to the Church in Need

Aged just over 40, Fr Andrea Santoro obviously thought it was time for a fresh start. After a number of years as a priest in Rome, the Fidei Donum ("gift of Faith") priest moved to Turkey, a country he fell in love with after going on pilgrimage there. Initially, he was based in Urfa, in the south-east of the country, where there were few Christians. But Don Andrea - as he was called - felt called to go to a country whose small Christian community belies the land's deep Christian roots. He ignored concerns about the safety of working in a country experiencing a rise in extremism. In time he became parish priest of St Mary's, in Trabzon on the Black Sea. Already in middle age, he said learning Turkish was not easy.

"In preparing my homilies, I realised that my limited command of the language forces me to focus on the essential. I am forced to go to the heart of the Gospel and show its unexpected riches." Don Andrea soon became aware of the plight of prostitutes, trafficked in from nearby Georgia and Armenia. Working with religious Sisters, he helped them, enabling them to escape and start new lives.

In 2003 Fr Andrea established the Window on the Middle East, an association of prayer, study and interreligious dialogue to promote cooperation between the West and the Middle East.

Summing up his ministry, Don Andrea wrote once: "I live among these people so that Jesus can live among them through me."

On February 5 2006, Don Andrea was praying in his church when he was gunned down by a teenage boy. The killing was later linked to Muslim outrage at cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed. Tributes to Don Andrea give some hint of the impact he had on so many lives. His mortal remains were brought back to Rome. At the funeral in the Basilica of St John Lateran, Cardinal Camillo Ruini announced that the Diocese of Rome would be promoting the Cause of his canonisation. The news was met with loud applause from the congregation. The cardinal said he was "wholly persuaded that all the elements which constitute the martyrdom of a Christian could be found in the sacrifice of Fr Andrea".

When, a little while later, Pope Benedict XVI paid tribute to Fr Andrea at his weekly audience in Rome, the 8,000 people present responded by giving the slain priest a standing ovation. Referring to the priest's "devotion and love for Christ", the Pope said: "We cannot fail to remember Fr Andrea Santoro today."

Don Andrea was undoubtedly an exceptional man. But something of his astonishing gift of self and openness to God is visible in so many of the priests we encounter in our work with Aid to the Church in Need. Their story has something to say in every age and generation but none more so than at this time when the priesthood has been demonised in the media by the actions of a few.

In my role as head of press and information at Aid to the Church in Need (UK), I have met priests working to bring hope in the face of sometimes overwhelming adversity. I think of the priests ministering to destitute and displaced people in northern Sri Lanka's Jaffna province, those working with the faithful in parts of India where, despite their devotion to Christ and the Church, it is politically and socially impossible for them to be baptised. Then there are those priests in China who have lived through imprisonment, others such as in Sudan and Pakistan who have had their churches burnt down, been kidnapped and tortured (India and Iraq), brought before the courts on false charges (Sudan again), been denied visa permits (the Holy Land) and been the victims of rumour-mongering and malicious gossip. And yet, with a smile, they have picked themselves up and carried on. Their commitment to the super natural significance of the sacraments and the sanctifying grace imparted especially through the Mass, has given them fresh energy and inspired renewed loyalty and fresh hope among those whose lives they touched. Don Andrea memorably said: "If the light of Jesus illuminates us and our lives, not only will it illuminate every situation, but we ourselves will become light."

In this Year for Priests we felt that the time was right to honour the Holy Father's special respect for the sacerdotal ministry by collecting together the stories of some of the priests with whom Aid to the Church in Need has worked most closely. As a book, Heroic Priests - Witnesses of Faith in the 21st Century recalls men, some of whom died in tragic circumstances. In some instances, they knew only too well the risk they were taking in their ministry - and there is evidence to suggest Don Andrea was one of those. The book's focus on priests who died for their faith are worthy of the accolade given by Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster in his foreword to the book. The Archbishop writes: "Perhaps what few of us realise is that, often away from the public gaze, there are priests whose lives have been marked by courage, perseverance and enormous self-sacrifice on behalf of those in great need. Even today, there are some who have sacrificed their lives in solidarity with their people."

And yet, Heroic Priests is not exclusively a martyrology. It also profiles men who are very much alive and who have given outstanding service, especially in the face of sometimes extreme adversity. One such is Father Michael Shields. This religious of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus left his native Alaska to work in Siberia, among the desolate landscape of the Soviet gulag. He was determined that the hundreds of thousands who died in such savage circumstances should not be forgotten. Not only did he collect the stories of the survivors but he encouraged them to meet together, to discuss the past and begin the long process of healing. Now all of Magadan, where Fr Michael ministers, is involved in the project - the town choir and orchestra have performed at meetings and government officials have offered to speak at them. In addition he has started initiatives supporting women in a region where abortion is rife. Fr Michael once said that at a meeting he organised, five women had 47 abortions between them. In response, in 2008 he opened a centre for mothers thrown out of their dormitories when they become pregnant. A year later, he opened a pro-life centre offering pregnancy tests. For those women thinking about by abortion, advice is available offering alternative options. "What has surprised us is how much the Nativity Inn project [a pro-life initiative] and our centre at the Church in Magadan have grown through word of mouth. We find again and again that women come along having heard about us from other women in the same situation."

As a book, Heroic Priests' main problem is lack of space. There are countless other stories waiting to be told of heroic lives offered in a world badly in need of saints. That in itself, however, has been a telling sign of the value of undertaking a project of this kind. It is not the case here that we are celebrating the lives of just a few good men. Rather, those included are examples or symbols of a way of life. All have remained true to a particular calling but each of them has lived out that calling in often widely differing ways, using their individual gifts and charism in a unique act of witness. Regardless of differences concerning context and personality, what unites them is that their offering of self is frequently little-known and even less understood.

In celebrating unsung heroes of faith, the book has in mind a theme explored in Pope Benedict's March 2009 letter declaring the Year for Priests. The Holy Father wrote: "How can I not pay tribute to the apostolic labours, the tireless and hidden service and the universal charity of priests today?"

Heroic Priests by John Pontifex and John Newton, with an introduction by Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster, is published by Aid to the Church in Need.

Copies cost £1.95 each and readers of the Catholic Herald can get free postage and packaging for the book if you order by post or phone - please quote "CATHOLIC HERALD BOOK OFFER" when ordering . This offer only applies to orders for Heroic Priests and only to addresses within the United Kingdom. Offer restricted to one copy per address.

To get your copy please call 020 8642 8668 or write to Aid to the Church in Need, 12-14 Benhill Avenue, Sutton, Surrey SM1 4DA