Admont Abbey cares for refugees and launches donation campaign
Thursday, 3 March 2022
The Benedictine monastery in Admont is providing free flats for people who have fled Ukraine. The monastery is also launching an appeal for donations for the local population.
"Peace is stored in fragile vessels," says Admont Abbot Gerhard Hafner. Just how fragile these vessels really are can be seen in the war currently raging in Ukraine. A war in Europe, for many no longer imaginable and yet real. The Benedictine monastery in Admont is also deeply saddened: "We can only ever bring the whole situation before God in prayer, so that we can find our way back to peace and help those in need," says Abbot Gerhard, expressing his sympathy. Above all, the affected population hopes that peace will return. People on the ground in Ukraine are having to hold out in cellars and underground railway shafts or flee to neighbouring countries. In order to support the many women in particular who have made it across the border with their children, the Benedictine monastery is providing free flats throughout Styria. Mothers and their children can find shelter there and gain new confidence.
A SIGN OF SOLIDARITY
From today, Admont's collegiate church will be lit up in blue and yellow. The fact that the church towers bear the national colours of Ukraine is intended to express one thing above all: solidarity. After all, there are good links between the monastery in Upper Styria and Ukraine. Their thoughts are with friends and acquaintances who have brought their families across the border to safety and then travelled back to Ukraine to defend their own country. Nobody knows at this point whether they will be reunited. "We can only hope that Putin will come to his senses. He claims to be a devout Orthodox Christian, but as a Christian you can't help but be shaken to the core when there is war and children, women and men are dying. If this is not the case for him, he must be questioning his Christianity," says Admont Abbey's abbot.
DONATION CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED
In addition to taking in refugees, the Benedictine monastery also wants to provide help to those who have remained in Ukraine. To this end, the monastery in Upper Styria is utilising the wide reach it has achieved on online channels and is launching an appeal for donations to support the Ukrainian population:
Campaign to support families in Ukraine
Donation account: Raiffeisenbank Admont
IBAN: AT14 3800 1000 0007 5556
BIC: RZSTAT2G001
Keyword: Ukraine