Some birthday celebrants and visitors

On April 29 we gathered in our house

to celebrate several birthdays:

Divine de Leon on May 9
(forth from left…not counting the baby!),
Fr. John Ledesma SDB on May 6 (in red),
and Alberto on April 29.

Fr. Ledesma is a Salesian missionary who has been very close to our community. We treasure his presence whenever he is in Macau or Beijing. He is a biblical scholar and a much-sought-after resource person for retreats and seminars of religious, priests and bishops. He is now studying Chinese so he can teach the seminarians in Chinese… Wow! Chapeaux!

Recently, through contacts with his friends he channeled a substantial donation for our Parish Library project. Many Catholics in rural areas across China will benefit from the books in their parish libraries for their Christian formation. In their name we say, “THANK YOU!”

And “WELCOME BROTHER!”

May the apostles be friends!

Sharing life, projects, dreams…
and a moment of fraternity with some of the missionaries
connected with the mission of the Church in China.

From left: Fr. Víctor Mejia, Comboni missionary
from Costa Rica;
Fr. Jose Ruiz Marquez, Claretian working in ICLA, Manila;
Fr. Victor Aguilar, Comboni missionary from Mexico;
Fr. John Ledesma, Salesian missionary;
and Alberto

On a lighter note

Well, not so light…

So if you think that you have a heavy burden in life… think again!

Welcome to our March 2009 blog

Catholic Shanxi Formation Institute
Theological and Spiritual Formation for Consecrated People and Lay Missionaries

Sr. Clara Liu Qiomei, the director and organizer of this center explains:

“The China Catholic Shanxi Formation Institute (CCSFI) was established by eight bishops and two administrators of eight dioceses and two districts of Shanxi Province in November 2003. The aim of CCSFI is to provide formation programs for priests, religious sisters and lay people."

“Since August 2004, CCSFI has been organizing programs for priests, religious sisters and lay missionaries. Up to now, CCSFI has provided and continues to provide a two-year program for religious sisters, short courses and seminars for priests, and lay missionaries. There have been two two-year programs for religious sisters and yearly short courses and seminars for priests, religious sisters and lay people.

“15 March 2009 marked the beginning of a new two-year theological formation course for 63 Religious Sisters from all over China.”

Sr. Clara tells us unfortunately the facilities are old and inadequate and small. If only the facilities were better and larger, the Center could have accepted more Sisters who applied for the two-year course.

Shanxi Province

Taiyuan City, capital of Shanxi Province. Two million people

Inauguration of the 2009 course.

Crowded chapel...

No space to breath in classroom ...

Sisters do not fit in chapel room...

ICLA Director Appointed to the China Consultative Commission

Early in March we received the visit of Claretian Fr. Samuel Canilang, CMF. As Director of the Institute for Consecrated Life in Asia he had been appointed to the China Consultative Commission. He takes the place of Fr. Domingo Moraleda, CMF. There are 49 Chinese priests and sisters presently enrolled at ICLA.

It was his first visit to China and he was able to spend some time in the centers where ICLA professors regularly teach. The Consultative Commission for China meets at the Vatican the end of March.

Graduation ceremony at ICLA

Some of ICLA students

Veteran Maryknoll Missionaries Welcome the Claretians in Hong Kong

The parish of Christ the Worker in Hong Kong is run by veteran Maryknoll Missionaries Fr. Thomas Peyton and Fr. Anthony Brennan. Recently we visited them to listen to their experience, wisdom and suggestions for our work in Hong Kong and China.

Maryknoll priests and sisters have been running schools in Hong Kong as well.

Maryknoll School in HongKong

The history of the Maryknoll Fathers' School, in many ways, parallels the development of Hong Kong in the past fifty years.

In 1957, Hong Kong was experiencing a time of turbulence and almost explosive growth. It is difficult for many born in recent years to comprehend the difficulties faced by Hong Kong officials and citizens in dealing with the huge numbers of incoming mainlanders and their social and spiritual needs. The hills of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island were strewn with wooden shacks. Their inhabitants faced the hazards of fires, landslides, epidemics and similar calamities. When the authorities realized that the people did not plan to return to their mainland origins, it became necessary to make long-term provision for safe housing, medical care and education for the many youngsters whose parents were clamoring for schools.

Faced with this challenge, the HK Government and many religious and social organizations cooperated to build and operate schools in areas which previously had been empty fields and hillsides. Among these groups, the Maryknoll Fathers took their place in answering the needs of many parents and their children.

Fr. Peyton, 77 years old now, tells us that once he was responsible for 7 schools in Hong Kong. Three Maryknoll schools are within this parish.

Fr. Jojo has been staying in that parish for his Cantonese studies and now serves in the parish and in other centers, assisting pastorally.

Maryknoll Fathers
Peter Berry, Thomas Payton, Anthony Brennan
with Claretian visitors Piotr, Alberto and Sammy

A Major Seminary with 140 students

There are several Major Seminaries in China. The one located in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province is the largest with 140 seminarians doing their philosophical and theological training. Paco and Alberto were there recently. Shijiazhuang is located 200 miles south of Beijing. It only took 2 hours by high speed train to bring us there.

We met with the Rector, Fr. Bosco Mu, and other professors – all of them having studied abroad and are conversant in English. One of their needs is theological books for the formation of the seminarians and that is where we come in. With our help this seminary was recently the recipient of the best theological books published in English and donated by various Catholic American publishers.

Hebei (in black): Population 67 million.
Capital - Shijiazhuang: Population 4 million.

Alberto and Fr. Bosco Mu

Alberto and Fr. Bosco Mu in front of Shijzahuang Seminary

Faith Press – A Catholic Publishing House

In the same compound of the seminary in Shijiazhuang are the offices of Faith Press, the largest Catholic publisher in China. Besides publishing books they also have a fortnightly newspaper with more than 60,000 subscribers in China and abroad.

We had a long and interesting meeting with the Director, Fr. John B. Zhang, and his editorial staff. We co-publish with Faith Press the Chinese Daily Gospel and we gave them all the materials for the 2010 edition. Faith Press will take care of the final editing. We have decided to increase the number of copies to 21,000 for the simplified Chinese edition, which will be printed by our friends at Amity Press in thin Bible paper.

We shared with Faith Press other manuscripts ready for publication. This publishing house has published more than 400 titles of religious books. There are two more Catholic publishers in China located in Shanghai and in Beijing.

Meeting with FAITH PRESS staff

Frs. Alberto, John and Paco

Visit to the National Seminary

While in Beijing Alberto accompanied Paco to the National Seminary where Paco is helping in organizing the library.

Fr. Johannes with Fr. Alberto
beside them is a list of book donors to the seminary

In a meeting with the Dean of Studies, Fr. Johannes Chen, we discussed the possibility of having a “Theological Forum” in the internet with the participation of Chinese theologians, seminary professors and others to share theological and pastoral resources and create a blog to share news and ideas about theology in China.

Teaching at the National Seminary

Claretian Fr. Peter Chao, CMF is again been invited to teach Chinese Literature and Philosophy at the National Seminary in Beijing. Peter is already in Beijing as his classes begin by the end of March. The rector of the seminary has asked Peter to spend more time with them as they value his teaching and the evaluation of the students has been very positive.