Former Vatican representative in Hong Kong to head Evangelization of Peoples

The former representative of the Vatican study mission in Hong Kong, Archbishop Fernando Filoni, who is currently the deputy secretary of state in the Vatican, has been named as the new prefect of the Congregation for Evangelisation.

The Italian-born diplomat has a lot of experience in dealing with China. In his position in the study mission in Hong Kong from 1992 to 2001, he acted as a link between the Holy See and the official and unofficial Church communities in the Mainland. Several Church observers believe he is a highly suitable choice to head the Vatican congregation, which oversees and coordinates the worldwide mission activities of the Church.

Archbishop Filoni 'knows China and understands the Vatican well. At this very important moment, we are expecting many things from him' UCA news quoted an observer. “His study mission experience has made him familiar with the difficulties in political and Church matters and he knows many Chinese bishops and priests personally.

As prefect of the Congregation for Evangelisation, he will supervise the work of the Church in mission territories. The prefect of this pivotal congregation is sometimes known as the Red Pope, because of the enormous influence he has over the appointment of bishops, particularly in Asia and Africa.

A Pilgrimage to Medjugorje

The Statue of our Lady on the Apparition Hill

During the semester vacation in May Fr. Jose accompanied a group of pilgrims from the Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau to Medjugorje, in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Chinese flag fluttering in Bosnia!

A view from the Apparition Hill

The sixteen member group with four from the Mainland, four from Macau and the rest from Hong Kong reached Medjugorje for a ten-days pilgrimage on 1 May. Medjugorje is about 3 hours by bus south of Sarajevo Airport.

Pilgrims on the Cross Mountain, after praying
the "Way of the Cross"

Medjugorje

Međugorje or Medjugorje (Croatian pronunciation: [ˈmɛdʑuɡɔːrjɛ]) is a town located in western Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Herzegovina region around 25 km southwest of Mostar and close to the border of Croatia. Since 1981, it has become a popular site of religious pilgrimage due to reports of apparitions of the Virgin Mary to six local Catholics.

The name Međugorje literally means "an area between mountains". At an altitude of 200 meters above sea level it has a mild Mediterranean climate. The town consists of an ethnically-homogeneous Croat population of over 4,000. The Roman Catholic parish (local administrative and religious area) consists of five neighboring villages, Međugorje, Bijakovići, Vionica, Miletina and Šurmanci.

In March 2010, the Holy See announced that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was forming an investigative commission, composed of bishops, theologians, and other experts, under the leadership of Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope's former Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome.

While a large number of faithful believe that the apparitions of Our Lady in Medjugorje to six "visionaries" from 24 June 1981 are true and the messages of Peace for the world for the past 30 long years are indeed from our Lady, there are also skeptics who doubt its truthfulness.

Fr. Jose and two of his companions with Bishop
Everhardus Johannes de Jong of the Diocese of Roermond,
Netherlands on the Cross Mountain

The one important argument they put forward is that the Vatican has not yet approved the developments in Medjugorje. An Irish priest whom I met in Medjugorje phrased it well when he said, "if Medjugorje were a work of the devil, he has done a big mistake, because people come here to pray the Rosary, go to confession, participate in the Eucharist and adore the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. They go home, with a conversion of heart and a spiritual renewal. If it were the work of devil, he had huge miscalculation!"

During a Eucharistic Celebration in Chinese,
in the Adoration Chapel

I found a blog, answering most of the oft-repeated questions on Medjugorje.

Click the link for further reading: http://www.markmallett.com/blog/2008/06/medjugorje-just-the-facts-maam/

The Official webpage of Medjugorje is available in the following link: http://www.medjugorje.ws/

The Parish Church of St. James, Medjugorje

What impressed me most in Medjugorje was the spiritual renewal that takes place in the Parish of St. James. To be frank, my primary intention of going there was to see the place and to "know" what is happening there! But once you are there, you realize that there is nothing much that fascinates the tourists there.

The place of Apparition. See the number stones around!

Except for the Apparition Hill and the Cross Mountain, both of which are 'nothing but heaps of stones', tourists will have nothing to see there. If the purpose of visit is tourism, one can finish seeing the whole area in less than a day's time. But what is amazing is, people who come here, stays here for four to five days or even more!

Statue of the Risen Christ

The focal point of the parish of St. James is to promote the devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to the Blessed Virgin. Thousands of people attend the three-hour long liturgy in the parish, every day. A couple of dozens of priests concelebrate the Eucharist everyday. And hundreds of people come to the confessional everyday. When we realize the peculiar socio-political background of Bosnia and the struggles of the faithful for the sake of their faith in this part of the world, the very life of the Church, so active and lively, itself is a big miracle. Indeed, I had a beautiful pilgrimage!
On return, I visited the Claretian Communities in Wurzburg and Frankfurt, Germany. Here, with Fr. James Patteril, CMF [in the left] in Wurzburg...

and with my brother Fr. Tomy Cherukara [in the middle row], in Aschaffenburg

Fr. Jojo meets the new Bishop of Jiangmen

Jiāngmén( 江門) is a prefecture-level city in Guangdong province in southern China with a population of about 3.8 million. Msgr. Liang counts with the approval of the Chinese government and the Vatican.

Bishop Liang Jiansen [left] with Fr. Jojo

Fr. Jojo, CMF recently paid a visit to the newly appointed bishop Msgr. Liang Jiansen of Jiangmen. The city of Zhuhai, where we have a couple of apartments, belongs to this new diocese. Zhuhai with a population of over 2 million people does not even have a church building. There are less than 10 priests in this diocese. Msgr. Liang has been approved by the Vatican and by the Chinese government.

China is 1.34 Billion Strong, but graying too

China’s population is aging and increasingly urban, according to the 2010 government census released on April 28. Almost half of the population of 1.34 billion (49.7 per cent) now lives in cities, up from about 36 per cent 10 years ago.

The proportion of people aged 14 or under came out at 16.6 per cent, down by 6.29 percentage points from the last census in 2000. The number aged 60 or older grew to 13.26 per cent, up almost three percentage points. The rapid rise in average age is raising concerns about the capacity of the nation to sustain the high levels of growth it has achieved in the past 30 years.

The government one-child policy is seen as one reason for the graying population. The average household now numbers 3.1 people, down from 3.44 a decade ago. Increasingly, Chinese media are calling for a halt to the one-child policy, which was introduced in the 1980s to manage population growth at a time of slow economic development and widespread poverty. Speaking at a recent meeting of Communist Party leaders, the president, Hu Jintao, backed the continuation of the current policy in order to keep population growth low.

Some analysts believe that the same policy has undermined China’s traditional extended family system, giving rise to a generation of single-child families, leaving the problem of caring for aging parents up in the air.

Pope makes appeal for Church in China

24 May is the day dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Help of Christians, who is venerated with great devotion at the Shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai. The Pope took this opportunity to invite the faithful everywhere to join in prayer with and for the Church in China.

While the Church in China is growing, Christ there, as in other places around the world is still rejected, ignored, or persecuted. The Holy Father asked "all Chinese Catholics to continue and to deepen their own prayers, especially to Mary, the powerful Virgin. At the same time all Catholics throughout the world have a duty to pray for the Church in China: those members of the faithful have a right to our prayers, they need our prayers".
"Chinese Catholics, as they have said many times, want unity with the universal Church, with the Supreme Pastor, with the Successor of Peter. By our prayers we can obtain for the Church in China that it remains one, holy and Catholic, faithful and steadfast in doctrine and in ecclesial discipline".
Although many Chinese bishops, priests, and faithful encounter difficulties in freely professing their faith, with our prayers, the Pope emphasized that "we can help them to find the path to keep their faith alive, to keep their hope strong, to keep their love for all people ardent, and to maintain in its integrity the ecclesiology that we have received from the Lord and the Apostles ".
In conclusion, the Holy Father asked Mary "to enlighten those who are in doubt, to call back the straying, to console the afflicted, and to strengthen those who are ensnared by the allure of opportunism".

PRAYER OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI TO OUR LADY OF SHESHAN ON THE OCCASION OF THE WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE CHURCH IN CHINA (24 MAY 2008)

Virgin Most Holy, Mother of the Incarnate Word and our Mother, venerated in the Shrine of Sheshan under the title "Help of Christians", the entire Church in China looks to you with devout affection. We come before you today to implore your protection. Look upon the People of God and, with a mother’s care, guide them along the paths of truth and love, so that they may always be a leaven of harmonious coexistence among all citizens. When you obediently said "yes" in the house of Nazareth, you allowed God’s eternal Son to take flesh in your virginal womb and thus to begin in history the work of our redemption. You willingly and generously cooperated in that work, allowing the sword of pain to pierce your soul, until the supreme hour of the Cross, when you kept watch on Calvary, standing beside your Son, who died that we might live. From that moment, you became, in a new way, the Mother of all those who receive your Son Jesus in faith and choose to follow in his footsteps by taking up his Cross. Mother of hope, in the darkness of Holy Saturday you journeyed with unfailing trust towards the dawn of Easter. Grant that your children may discern at all times, even those that are darkest, the signs of God’s loving presence. Our Lady of Sheshan, sustain all those in China, who, amid their daily trials, continue to believe, to hope, to love. May they never be afraid to speak of Jesus to the world, and of the world to Jesus. In the statue overlooking the Shrine you lift your Son on high, offering him to the world with open arms in a gesture of love. Help Catholics always to be credible witnesses to this love, ever clinging to the rock of Peter on which the Church is built. Mother of China and all Asia, pray for us, now and for ever. Amen!

The Shrine Cathedral at Sheshan, China

Every year, on 24 May, people come from all over China to Sheshan, Shanghai, for pilgrimage, to pray to Our Lady of Help. This year too, with the message from the Pope “pray for the Church in China, for those oppressed and those tempted by opportunism”, pilgrims gathered in large numbers at the shrine of Our Lady of Sheshan.

The Procession during the Feast Day celebrations on 24 May

According to the reports, there were about over 10,000 people together praying and celebrating the Feast instituted by the Pope.

Bible Diary 2012

Besides working in China and for China, we also followed with our ministry of Publications. We have already completed the printing of "Diario Biblico 2012" - the Bible Diary 2012 in Spanish. We have printed 90,000 copies that are leaving already for 25 international ports…

Truly, `from China to the world' - taking the Word of God to the world, in collaboration with the Claretians of Latin America. Other publications in Chinese and English are already in preparation at the press.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong (Chinese: 香港; ) is one of two special administrative regions (SARs) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the other being Macau. Situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour. With a land mass of 1,104 km2 (426 sq mi) and a population of seven million people, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Hong Kong's population is 95 percent ethnic Chinese and 5 percent from other groups.

As one of the world's leading international financial centres, Hong Kong has a major capitalist service economy characterised by low taxation and free trade, and the currency, Hong Kong dollar, is the ninth most traded currency in the world. The lack of space caused demand for denser constructions, which developed the city to a centre for modern architecture and the world's most vertical city. The dense space also led to a highly developed transportation network with public transport travelling rate exceeding 90 percent, the highest in the world. Hong Kong has numerous high international rankings in various aspects. For instance, its economic freedom, financial and economic competitiveness, quality of life, corruption perception, Human Development Index, etc., are all ranked highly. Enjoy the slides for a quick look at the land and culture of Hong Kong.

Welcome to the Macau-China Bulletin, May 2011

Holy Week and Easter Celebrations in Macau and Hong Kong

Beijing Diocese starts the year of evangelization

Bishop 'sends forth' his first batch of 50 catechists to spread the Good News

Beijing diocese has sent forth its first batch of 50 catechists at the start of a special year for evangelization.

Hundreds of Catholics recently attended the opening ceremony in the courtyard of the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception, or the South Church, where a large white banner with the words “How beautiful are the feet of the messenger of Good News” hung on one wall.

“After six months of preparatory work and prayers, our diocese begins the Year for Evangelization by the Laity today,” Bishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing announced. The special year runs from April 9, 2011 to April 8, 2012. He invited Catholics to become involved in “this holy mission” before pushing open the church door, symbolizing the opening of the yearlong event.

Bishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing and his priests sign their
names to show their commitment to the special year

In his homily, the 46-year-old prelate reminded Catholics to pray, attend Mass, do charity work and read the Bible every day. They should be a witness for Christ to influence friends from other religions, he told them. “All catechists should complete formation courses in a serious manner to acquire Church knowledge and then spread the Gospel bravely under the guidance of the Holy Spirit,” he said.

After receiving formation for several months, 50 catechists from various parishes were sent forth by Bishop Li in a special ceremony during the opening Mass. “We know this is a gift, an honor, a blessing and most importantly a mission,” a catechist said. The diocese has called on Catholics to “donate a Bible.” The catechists have already responded to the bishop’s appeal to donate more than 400 Bibles to give to catechumens or those being instructed in the faith.

After the Mass, Bishop Li led his priests, nuns, the catechists and other attendees in signing their names on the banner to express their commitment to spreading the Good News. Beijing diocese currently has 60 priests serving more than 60,000 laypeople.

- UCA News

"Continue to Proclaim the Gospel With Ever More Intense Fervor"

Vatican's Message to Chinese Catholics

Here is the excerpts from the message to Chinese Catholics by the Vatican that summarizes the findings of the Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Commission on the Church in China, which took place in the second week of April in the Vatican.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope" (Rom 15:13). From 11 to 13 April we met in the Vatican to study some questions of major importance regarding the life of the Catholic Church in China.

The pope encourages the members of the Church in China to be prepared to make sacrifices, despite the difficulties, in order to remain faithful to the faith of the Church, as it is the only foundation on which unity and communion can grow. While the commission acknowledges that the mosaic emerging from the collective activity of the members of the Church in China does reflect, by and large, an image consistent with that of Christ and his many disciples, what is termed the sad events of late last year are high in the consciousness of the commission.

It noted that the ordination, without the approval of the pope, of Father Joseph Guo Jincai as a bishop in Chengde in November, is to be considered as gravely illegitimate, adding that this also implies his exercise of any ministry as a bishop is also illegitimate.

The commission notes that on account of the pressure and restrictions placed by government authorities on the bishops who took part in the ordination, an automatic excommunication may not apply, it says, “There remains a grave wound, perpetrated on the ecclesial body. Every bishop involved is therefore obliged to refer to the Holy See and find the means of explaining his position to the priests and faithful, renewing his profession of fidelity to the supreme pontiff, to help them to overcome their interior suffering and repair the external scandal caused.”

The commission also encouraged the people to support their bishops and stay close to them in prayer and solidarity and to understand the difficulties that they face. The commission also referred to the Eighth National Assembly of Catholic Representatives reiterating that the body represents a civic structure that places the authority of the state above that of the bishops in the affairs of the Church, a situation that is incompatible with Church doctrine.

“The Holy See would desire to be completely free to appoint bishops… I trust that an accord can be reached with the government, so as to resolve certain questions regarding the choice of candidates for the episcopate…” Although the commission acknowledges that the matter is not entirely in Church hands, it hopes that problems will not get worse and that the peace and harmony of the Church may be protected.

The commission adds that the good news of the day is that the diocese of Shanghai is able to begin to postulate the cause for the beatification of the first Catholic person in the area, Paul Xu Guangqi, who was a close collaborator of the great Jesuit missionary, Father Matteo Ricci, whose cause has recently been reopened in his home diocese of Macerata in Italy.

During his address at the close of the meeting, Pope Benedict concurred with the stress placed by the commission on the need for good education in the faith at all levels of the Church in China, as he recalled the importance of formation, in particular spiritual formation, so that the people, reinforced by liturgical and personal prayer, may be able to confront the considerable challenges of the moment.

He also entrusted the Church to the intercession of Mary Queen of China, renewing the invitation to the whole Church to dedicate May 24, the feast of Our Lady Help of Christians, as a day of prayer for the Church on the mainland.