Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Among the poorest...
Once again Claretian Fr. Peter Chao, CMF has visited a very remote area in the Province of Sichuan in China and spent a couple of weeks ministering to a group of Religious Sisters. These Sisters take care of leprosy patients.
The life and death in Rongshui of Françoise Grenot-Wang
Françoise Grenot-Wang,
a sinologist, perished recently when her house caught fire.
An extraordinary life dedicated
to the ethnic Miao minority in China.
She created “Couleurs de Chine”
to aid with scholarships Miao girls.
You can click on the links below
to learn more about her work.
a sinologist, perished recently when her house caught fire.
An extraordinary life dedicated
to the ethnic Miao minority in China.
She created “Couleurs de Chine”
to aid with scholarships Miao girls.
You can click on the links below
to learn more about her work.
Françoise Grenot-Wangwith Miao girlswww.youtube.com/watch?v=hlFrjSRCfRI
Fr. José Marins & Team and the CEBs
Our good friend Fr. José Marins spent one day with us in Macau and Zhuhai at the end of three months of courses and seminars on BEC (Basic Ecclesial Community) or SCC (Small Christian Community) in India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Korea. A pilgrim along the grassroots of the Church for the last 40 years, Fr, Marins and Team witnesses to a new model of being Church today. Accompanying Fr, Marins in this trip was Fr Gerry Proctor, a Fidei Donum priest from Liverpool, England.
It was a return visit to the Continent for Fr Marins who had previously been here in 1981 invited by the Claretians. At that time we visited 11 countries in Asia. Now, 27 years later he came back. The first visit was to initiate contacts between the Latin American process and Asia and to promote dialogue between the two continents. This second visit was to renew the fraternal contacts and to listen and learn from Asian experiences.
In their report they say:
It was a return visit to the Continent for Fr Marins who had previously been here in 1981 invited by the Claretians. At that time we visited 11 countries in Asia. Now, 27 years later he came back. The first visit was to initiate contacts between the Latin American process and Asia and to promote dialogue between the two continents. This second visit was to renew the fraternal contacts and to listen and learn from Asian experiences.
In their report they say:
“Fr Marins has developed a unique way of working with SCCs where the method is the content and the content is in the method. It is a very interactive methodology based upon a profound respect for and understanding of the presence of wisdom and experience within all peoples regardless of educational or theological attainments. He has discovered over time that they are capable of articulating what has been experienced through engaging with the Marins methodology and process. It is a way of working with SCCs that is fully coherent with both the theology and the experience of this level of Church, and so is able to deliver not only a serious and rigorous content but also the mystique, ethos or spirituality that is proper to this way of being Church.
“Marins does not bring a model that can be copied and is completely against any attempt to make a photocopy of anywhere else or indeed of any process. Each country and culture is unique with very different histories, needs and limitations. Latin America cannot and does not offer a model or even a recipe for how to be Church in any other part of the world.
“The seminars follow three basic thrusts or moments; the first being a Nazareth moment where the focus is on starting, building and developing community amongst the participants who are understood to be ‘neighbors’ for the duration of the seminar. The second moment is the Emmaus moment where we focus on the person of Jesus in the gospels, giving the participants a way of entering into the text in order to be brought into contact with the original experience of God that characterized the event described in the gospel story. This emphasis on the Word of God coming alive for the people and being related to life is critical for how the SCCs use and experience the scriptures not only in their meetings but also in the way the communities develop and are formed. The third moment we call the Galilee moment and it focuses on the Early Church communities from Acts and the letters of Paul. This gives not only an insight into but also an experience of community and Church life as lived during the apostolic period which because of its presence in the New Testament is therefore part of revelation and in some important sense normative for the Church in every age.
He tells us in their report:
“This moment of another visit to Asia by the Marins team has provided us with an unparalleled opportunity and one we never imagined would be afforded us to reaffirm our commitment to being brothers and sisters in the work of building a Church that will permit the reign of God to be felt amongst the peoples of our neighborhoods and where the only gospel that will ever be read is likely to be the gospel lived by and encountered amongst the members of Small Christian Communities.”
Father Marins is one of the pioneers in laying a theological basis for Basic Christian Communities (BCC) in Latin America. He played an important role as a theology advisor at the 1968 and 1978 plenary assemblies of the Latin American Episcopal Conference, in Colombia and Mexico, respectively.
Preparing the new meeting of the FABC Federation of Asian Bishop’s Conference
A good old friend from the Philippines,
SVD Father Franz-Josef Eilers,
FABC Secretary for Social Communications
attended the meeting in Macau
and in the short period that he was here he came to visit us.
SVD Father Franz-Josef Eilers,
FABC Secretary for Social Communications
attended the meeting in Macau
and in the short period that he was here he came to visit us.
Graduation in Taiyuan and visit of Fr. José Cristo Rey García Paredes
It is a cold winter day. The weather reads 17 minus (centigrade) in Taiyuan. But hearts are very warm. On December 22 was the graduation ceremony of about 60 religious sisters from different congregations in China who had attended a renewal course during two years.Among the invited professors were Sr. Judette Gallares from ICLA 
and Fr. José Cristo Rey, CMF from Spain who gave some talks about the “religious vow” –as he says—more appropriate then “religious vows”. For more details (in Spanish) we invite you to visit his web page: http://www.xtorey.es/
New Year – New Face
Our in-house artist, typesetter… and cook, Ian Dacayanan,
has prepared a new presentation of our web page
with new contents and features.
Kindly visit us at: http://www.bible.claret.org/
has prepared a new presentation of our web page
with new contents and features.
Kindly visit us at: http://www.bible.claret.org/
Christmas in Zhuhai
On December 23 we gathered in our house in Zhuhai
to celebrate Christmas with Mass and dinner…
and a very warm and fraternal meeting.
Here are some pictures of the event:
to celebrate Christmas with Mass and dinner…
and a very warm and fraternal meeting.
Here are some pictures of the event:
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Claretian China Mission - November Newsletter
Update IUB – International University of Beijing
Last August’s Olympic Games made it impossible for a group of applicants to IUB programs to get the necessary visas to go to China. Visas were not given at that time. Now the situation is back to “normal” and IUB is advertizing the following programs (for more details please go to: www.iubeijing.org):
100 days in China and Tibet program
- SPRING 2009 Courses
IUB is now accepting applicants for its pioneering course.
Invitation
The SAIA and IUB program invites college and graduate students
to spend a semester (100 days)
of intensive study and research
in Beijing and chosen areas of Tibet.
Students spend 12 weeks of intensive study
in Beijing at Beijing Sports University (BSU)
and 16 days in greater Tibet, and traditional Buddhist
and Daoist centers of China.
Application Deadline
January 15, 2009
- SPRING 2009 Courses
IUB is now accepting applicants for its pioneering course.Invitation
The SAIA and IUB program invites college and graduate students
to spend a semester (100 days)
of intensive study and research
in Beijing and chosen areas of Tibet.
Students spend 12 weeks of intensive study
in Beijing at Beijing Sports University (BSU)
and 16 days in greater Tibet, and traditional Buddhist
and Daoist centers of China.
Application Deadline
January 15, 2009
________________________________________
Chinese Language
Language study: during the 12 weeks of study in Beijing at BSU, students spend 3 hours a day, five mornings each week, attending Chinese classes. Beginning students taking 5 morning classes each week to earn 15 college credits of Chinese language study. Graduate research scholars may choose privately directed language and literature research to earn upper division or graduate college credit. Students are encouraged to speak Chinese at all times.
Chinese Language
Language study: during the 12 weeks of study in Beijing at BSU, students spend 3 hours a day, five mornings each week, attending Chinese classes. Beginning students taking 5 morning classes each week to earn 15 college credits of Chinese language study. Graduate research scholars may choose privately directed language and literature research to earn upper division or graduate college credit. Students are encouraged to speak Chinese at all times.
________________________________________
Seminar courses:
A Cultural History of China (Fr. Carin MA, Michael Saso PhD, Shen Wei PhD). The course provides essential guidelines for living and studying in China. Those who have spent most of their life in China, and other parts of Asia (Japan, SE Asia, Korea, and Tibet), do not feel that a lifetime is enough, without cultural insight and fluency in language, to begin to understand the spirituality, and complex social values of life in Asia. Language with cultural studies provides a new window to personal sensitivity and spirituality.
Buddhist and Daoist Studies (Prof. Gao Yuanle PhD). The masters of Buddhist and Daoist spirituality and their meditation practices are studied in class and “on-site” in China.
Doing Business in China (Prof. Axel Winkler MBA and staff). Prof. Axel Winkler, who has 20 years of experience running a successful business in China, introduces doing business in China, with guest lecturers from Business MBA courses in nearby Beijing universities.
Taiji–Martial Arts (Prof. Teng Jian PhD). Under the guidance of BSU staff, Prof. Teng Jian, students learn martial arts combat, or traditional health-giving taiji lessons.
Monday night at the movies: the best of Chinese alternative cinema, with in-depth discussion and analysis after each selected movie led by Dr. Shen Wei and Fr. Francisco Carin CMF.
Other electives (fees not included in the IUB program fees): calligraphy and traditional brush art; TCM; acupressure, Tibetan herbal medicine, Tibetan Tangkha Buddhist art painting (this course is available in IUB’s northern Tibet trade school, located next to the Amdo-Kumbun [Ta-er-si] temple near Xining city in Qinghai province, northwest China).
Special content-oriented refresher courses for two weeks, one month, and 6 weeks are also available upon request, with pro-rated tuition and room expenses.
Chinese Bible Diary 2009
For the second year Claretian Publications Macau is publishing the Chinese Bible Diary, which is similar in content with the English and Spanish editions, but with commentaries for everyday liturgy written by Chinese authors.
The edition in “traditional” or “classical” characters has been published for Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong. Another edition for Mainland China in “simplified” characters is published in cooperation with Faith Press, a Catholic publisher in China. There is also a special edition of the said book for distribution in Singapore and Malaysia.
Cardinal Friedrich Wetter, Archbishop Emeritus
of München und Freising (Munich, Germany),
receives a copy of the new book during its launching.
Cardinal Wetter was visiting Macau and China.
As it happened last year, a second printing had to be rushed, this time in Mainland China.
Cardinal Friedrich Wetter, Archbishop Emeritusof München und Freising (Munich, Germany),
receives a copy of the new book during its launching.
Cardinal Wetter was visiting Macau and China.
As it happened last year, a second printing had to be rushed, this time in Mainland China.
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