Church Council Appeal For Refugees

Northern Advocate, 1 December 1949, Page 7

Church Council Appeal For Refugees

An appeal to the congregations of all member churches to give generously to the 1949-50 Christmas appeal for funds to relieve refugees in Europe will be launched by the National Council of Churches on December 1: The appeal is sponsored by the chairman of the council, the Very Rev. A. K. Warren, Dean of Christchurch. An undertaking to. forward any money donated direct to the, countries concerned despite currency difficulties, has been given by the Governments of Great Britain and New Zealand. The countries :oncerned are Greece. Palestine . and Germany, where the post-war position with refugee church congregations is desperate. NEED IS WORLD-WIDE An indication of the urgency of the appeal is given 'by the number of refu-

gees in the various Protestant congregations in the countries affected. In Greece, 620,000 people, including 1300 priests, have been expelled from

their homes by the guerillas who burned down villages and churches while tilt inhabitants rled into the hills. / In all, 2000 churches were burned, and 10,000 children taken as hostages by the guerillas. It is to help these children that the 1049 appeal Is launched. As a result of the ' short war” in Faiestine a refugee population of 800,000, mostly Arab, has been created. Many of these are Christian. For many months tire deathrate through starvation and exposure has been 35 a day. CENTRAL GERMANY In Central Germany 11,000,000 people ineligible for United Nations aid" have been moved into an area which has 40 per cent of its buildings destroyed. Two-thirds of these refugees belong to non-Roman churches. ; Such has been the influx of people • info the churches in Rtgensberg, Bavaria, that where only 24 non-Roman churches were previously established there are now 380. The need of these people for the necessities of life is so desperate that one pastor has asked his congregation not to bury their dead clothed, but to make the garments available to refugees. In 1947 the New Zealand Christmas appeal provided one meal a day for 10.000 German children for three months. The following year £6OOO was donated for church relief in devastated