Catholic Near East Welfare Association
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Catholic Near East Welfare Association is an agency of the Holy See, founded by Pope Pius XI in 1926 to support the churches and peoples of the Middle East, Northeast Africa, India and Eastern Europe, its first president was Edmund A. Walsh, S.J.
CNEWA’s operating agency in the Middle East is the Pontifical Mission for Palestine, which was founded by Pope Pius XII in 1949.
Contents |
[edit] Early Years
Shortly after the end of World War I, Popes Benedict XV and Pius XI, respectively made concerted efforts to help those countries adversely affected by war. Catholics from around the world particuraly those from the United States heeded this call and procceded to give quite generouly, many organizations were founded to combat famine in Russia.
[edit] Establishment
After the devastation of famine in Russia in the 1920's Pope Pius XI made the decision to organize all the differeing institutions that had sprouted up, whose missions were to help alleviate the suffering of those affected by the calamity. Also, this new pontifical organization would be working towards the same means as the Sacred Congregation for the Oriental Churches and the Pontifical Commission for Russia.
The governing mechanism of the body came from the United States, the Association having been placed under the purview of the Archbishop of New York. Money and other donation types were sent directly to the Pope himself who would disperse them to those who had requested them or who had been suggested by CNEWA.
Of particular interest to the Pope was CNEWA itself, but also the Catholic Union (USA) which was one part of the Catholica Unio whose purpose increasingly became to bring into full communion the Eastern Orthodox churches with the Roman Catholic Church. A number of concerns had percipitated the need for the CNEWA:
- The expansion of Protestant missionary efforts in the Near East.
- The reunion movements nurtured by Father Paul Wattson, founder of the Society of the Atonement, and Bishop George Calavassy, the second Apostolic Exarch for Byzantine Rite Greek Catholics in Thrace, Macedonia and parts of Asia Minor.
- The pastoral support of the exarchate (diocese).
- The pressing needs of refugees flooding Constantinople after World War I and, a few year later, the famine in Russia.
- The care of more than a million Greeks refugees from Turkey in Greece itself.
Yet even with these divergent purposes, both organizations described themselves at various points as working towards the betterment of the lives of members of the Universal Church and the making whole of the church. As such, the Pope brought these two purposes under the mandate of CNEWA.
In keeping with the action taken by the Pope the American bishops meeting in 1926 drew up a declaration of support for this new agency and its purpose also stating that any donations made to support Catholic churches within these regions were to be chiefly distributed by the Association.
[edit] Initial organization and operations
CNEWA began to grow very much in the manner that Father Walsh had envisioned, the prelate who had previously headed a special “Papal Relief Mission to Russia”.
