Claretian Mission Day in Macau

In the afternoon of Sunday, October 27th, more than 200 people participated in the “Day of the Claretian Mission” in the facilities of the Seminary of Macau where a Claretian Missionary, Fr. Jojo serves as the administrator.

 Concelebrated Holy Eucharist at St. Joseph's Seminary Chapel

The event consisted of three parts: the presentation of the Claretian Mission in these regions, especially  the new publications of 2013; the Eucharist, and a shared meal.

 Photo opportunity with 'Pope Francis'!

The Eucharistic celebration presided over by Rev. Fr. Lawrence Lee, the Chancelor of the Diocese of Hong Kong, was concelebrated by six Claretians and over 10 priests from the local Church.

 

 The Claretian Community of Macau - Hong Kong with 'Pope Francis'!

We were privileged to have a special visit from Pope Francis (!) -  by means a full-size photo in which he posed with the participants.

Participants during the Eucharistic Celebration

With Fr. Lawrence Lee, [R]Chancellor, Diocese of Hong Kong 

Fr. Rossa with 'Pope Francis', introducing the books on the Pope

Audience look amused at the arrival of 'the Pope'!

Sharing of food and thoughts!

Duirng the dinner time, The Macau Television channel did an interview with Fr. Rossa to know more about the new books released by the Claretians especially about the four books about Pope Francis.

Lights... Camera... on roll...! 

Fr. Rossa being interviewed

The News Coverage of the event

“CLARET Publishing Group” at the Book Fair in Frankfurt

Once more, “CLARET Publishing Group”, which represents the publishers run by the Claretian Missionaries in various parts of the world, had a booth at the Book Fair in Frankfurt which took place from the 9th to the 13th of October. And Fr. Alberto represented the Claretian Publications, Macau - CHINA

At this session of the Fair, Brazil was the invited country of honor. 7,500 booths from more than 100 countries took part in this fair, considered one of the most cultural events of the year. At the fair copyright or other rights of translation are managed and relations are established between editorial and commercial publishers in different countries.

The stand of “Group of Claret”, on this occasion was one of most frequented by the participants, thanks to the fact that the “Claretian Publishing House” of Buenos Aires (Argentina), possesses the "copyrights" of all the writings of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, before he was even chosen Pope Francis. In collaboration with other publishing houses of the group, these writings also have been edited and published, in diverse languages, in the places where the Claretian publishing houses are  present: Brazil, Spain, the Philippines, China, etc.

Bro. Nagasaki So - a Claretian Missionary

Claretian Missionaries who work in this part of the world  [East Asia] are grouped by country which includes China, Japan, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

A Japanese Claretian seminarian has made his fianl profession of vows in Japan. It is a matter of great joy for us as priestly and religious vocations in Japan are nominal. And Japan with 127 million people, only has half a million Catholics, i.e., less than 0.5% of the population.

On October 14, 2013, national feast in Japan, Bro. Nagasaki So made his perpetual profession through the hands of Fr. Shinji Takenobu, vicar of the Delegation and coordinator of Japan.. The ceremony was celebrated at our church in Imaichi (Osaka).  

At the end of the celebration Nagasaki So made a moving and soulful address in which he remembered his vocational process. Having made his Perpetual profession of vows, Bro. Nagasaki So moves a step closer to the Ordained ministry in the Church. We wish him the Heaven's choicest Blessings!

Rejoice! A new Claretian priest

Fr. John, a Claretian Missionary was ordained priest on 24 October, on the feast day of St. Claret. The Priestly Ordination was held at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Quezon City, in the Philippines.

John with his parents and a group of Claretian Missionaries in Manila on October 24.

John has studied in Manila and finished his studies there in preparation for the priesthood. We are very happy to accompany and welcome him to our mission in East Asia.

Vital Statistics!

How many Catholics are there in China?
It is not easy to give a correct answer.
Statistical data circulating are:

Some 12,000,000 + Catholic
138 dioceses.
6000 + churches.
107 bishops
3200 + Chinese priests
Six major seminaries
1460 seminarians.

Furthermore, the Catholic Church in China
takes care of the following ministries:
34 social service centers
136 clinics
8 hospitals
53 nursing homes
9 orphanages
20 centers for leprosy
43 kindergarten
175 schools.

Missionaries in formation

Our friend Fr. Huang Yu Tao , is responsible for one of the seminaries in China. Fr. Huang has been with us over the years and together we have been able to make several important projects in China. Now he is the Rector of the seminary and shares a photo of future priests, Chinese seminarians under his care.

Training the trainers - Fr. Peter Chao

Fr. Peter Chao, a Claretian missionary from Taiwan and has spent the last month giving retreats and courses in different parts of China.

 

Training programme for catechists of the Diocese of Guanzhou.

It is clear that China must be evangelized by the Chinese and we train the trainers through courses, retreats, publications, etc..

"Run for the poor" at the Beijing Marathon 2013

"Run for the charitable works of the Church; we have to run for our poor, elderly, orphans, the sick ....; we have to run to witness our faith": this is how a few participants in the Beijing International Marathon 2013 expressed themselves. The Marathon took place on Sunday, 20 October in Beijing, with the participation of 5 priests, 85 nuns and many lay Catholics volunteers from 11 provinces, belonging to 20 religious congregations, who raced for 27 charitable projects of the Catholic Church (15 for the elderly, 9 for orphans, 2 for the prevention of AIDS and one for leprosy patients).

There were two priests and 22 nuns who completed the 42.195 km, while the others did their best, because "behind us there are nursing homes, orphanages, clinics and many charitable works of the Church", said a 42-year old nun who has been taking part in the initiative for 5 years. Like every year, before the marathon the "athletes" attended the Mass celebrated for them on 19 October in the parish of the Immaculate Conception in Beijing.

With the hope for a new dawn!

 

 This picture was taken from our House
in Zhuhai (China) facing Macau,
separated by 900 meters of river water
flowing into the sea.