Welcome to the Macau-China Bulletin, June 2013

Fr. Velasco visits Claretian Missions in East Asia 
As part of his visits to the East Asia Delegation of the Claretians,  Fr. Miguel Angel Velasco, cmf, the General Prefect of Apostolate visited the Claretian Missions in Taiwan in the last week of May.

Fr. Velasco together with the Claretian Conferrers and the parishioners at the Assumption Parish, Keelung after the Eucharistic Celebration on the Feast of Corpus Christi.

The Claretian Community in Taiwan [From left to right]: Joshy, Bobin. Liju, Jijo, Miguel Angel Velasco and Arturo

Fr. Miguel Angel Velasco [centre] with the Community of Macau - Hong Kong in St. Teresa's Church, Hong Kong. [From left to right]: Alberto, Jose, Jojo and Ezakias 

Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Sheshan

 

The traditional May 24 celebration of the feast of Our Lady Help of Christians, which has been adopted as a national feast day for the Church in China under the name of Our Lady of China, took place at the Sheshan Shrine on the outskirts of Shanghai with the usual procession and Mass. Around 2,500 people gathered at the shrine on top of the mountain to celebrate the feast.

In 1924, the first conference of bishops met in Shanghai and adopted the image of the reported apparition as Our Lady of China, or Our Lady Queen of China, and a painting depicting the mother of God bearing the child Jesus was commissioned and hung in the local church. The annual procession dates back to that year.

The Basilica of Our Lady of She Shan is one of largest catholic pilgrim centres in China. The basilica is located west of the metropolitan area of Shanghai. "Sheshan", the name derives from a hill, east of the city where the basilica is situated. But the original name of the basilica is "Church of the Holy Mother in China."

Pope Francis was joined by Hong Kong-born Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-fai, the secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, as well as Archbishop Claudio Celli, who sat the China desk for a few years, and several Chinese priests, seminarians and sisters at his morning Mass at Domus Sanctae Marthae to mark the day of prayer for China. In inviting people worldwide to pray with and for Catholics in China during his Mass, Pope Francis made a special request for two particular graces, endurance and patience, saying that these allow people to overcome adversity with love.

More pilgrimages

One could be amazed
to see so many Catholics, and many young people in the
procession of Our Lady of She Shan ...
Let the photos tell us the story.
This pilgrimage was on May 18:
Many seminarians, teachers and 

some families of seminarians participated in
this Marian pilgrimage.

Our publications

As we said in the last issue of the Blog, we continue our course with a lot of editorial work. Our first book on Pope Francis, "Francis, the Pope from the End of the World" had a tirade of 24,000 copies in several reprints, in Chinese and English. On May 17 the new title was released: "Francis - Bishop of Rome".  Here's the cover:

And the third title on the Pope, reached us on the May 30th: "A Call to Serve - Pope Francis and the Future of the Catholic Church".  It is a beautiful book with many beautiful pictures:

We are very grateful to the Director of Crossroad in the United States, Gwendolin Herder who gave us distribution rights of the title in Asia.

Classes at National Seminary, Beijing & Retreat for the Religious

Chinese Claretian  Fr. Peter Chao, has just given a religious anthropology courses at the National Seminary in Beijing where there are more than 100 seminarians from around the country. On completion of the lectures, he also preached a retreat for the religious on Formation and Evangelization. 

Fr. Peter Chao, CMF after a week-long retreat in China with the religious group

450 kms. on foot, strengthening faith in the Year of Faith

We have already introduced this Chinese missionary, our friend and Scripture Scholar - Fr. Peter Wei .  He writes about his pilgrimage:

Dear friends:
With great joy I inform you that with God's abundant grace, we have been able to make, and for the sixth time in China, a pilgrimage from 6th to 24th of this month of May. 

We started the journey from Shangchuan Island, where St. Francis Xavier died. He had a great desire to evangelize China but could not, and died there on that island. 400 years later, during this Year of Faith,  we 47 pilgrims came to find the root of faith in China. 

We started the way from Shuangchuan, crossing Zhaoqing, the first mission centre of Matteo Ricci in China mainland, and passed through Quanzhou, which was the first region of evangelization in China by fellow Franciscans Montecorvino. 

We walked just under 450 kilometers, and experience this way is particularly rewarding for each of the 47 pilgrims, as we are delving into the roots of faith in this land of China. And we want this way we have done is a new starting point for the life of the Church in China in the Year of Faith.
Cordially
Peter Wei

Church in China: The Young, Missionary & Pilgrim Church

We bring you the story of the faith of a group of youngsters who braved the heat of the day and dusty roads to show forth their act of faith through a couple of visuals:

Birthday....

Friends and well wishers in Hong Kong and Macau came together to celebrate the Birthday of Fr. Jojo. 

Hot-pot in a hot weather! It was an occasion of strengthening the family bonding!

Fr. Jojo (centre) during an "Yam-cha" with friends in Hong Kong

Bibles for Brazil

By the end of the month of May, we had shipped out four large containers of 40 feet each, with more than 130,000 copies of the Bible for the "Ave Maria" - publishing group of the Claretians in Brazil.

 

"Ave Maria" by the Claretians of Brazil is celebrating their 115 years in the Publication Ministry. Our relationship with Amity Printing and its people is that of an extended family. Divine De Leon, of the Pastoral Bible Foundation, Macau has spent a few weeks with them ... learning and sharing. Here are some pictures of the work done for the Claretians of Brazil: 

There are lot of manual work, such as keeping a plastic cover for each bible.

 

 Everyone has to 'lend a hand'. The directors and management employees do extra work to meet commitments.

Divine work with them and help them.

Each Bible goes through a strict quality control.

Different models.

And finally, in the containers for the long journey from China to Brazil.

With over 500 employees, in the past month have printed 2 million Bibles.

Our Visitors

In the month of May, Claretians in Macau and Hong Kong had a number of guests - friends, conferrers and family - visiting them.  These past days we received the bishop in charge of Caritas India and its Executive Director:

Bishop Lumen Monteiro (center),

P. Fredrick D'Sousa (right) and Fr. Jojo.

Fr. Joshi K, CMF, Principal, St. Claret School, Bangalore 

with Frs. Jose (left) and Ezakias (right) in Hong Kong

Mr. Kurian, brother of Fr. Jose, together with his family 

flanked by Frs. Rossa (left) and Jose (right)