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.

Claretians of Old…

Some time ago we mentioned to you the name of this remarkable Christian in Huangshan by the name of Nicolas. He was an altar boy when the first Claretian Missionaries were assigned in China more than 60 years ago. This “doctor” was in prison for many years for his faith, but has remained always joyful and willing to help the small Catholic community of Huangshan. Recently, his wife was baptized.

Anhui Province.

Huangshan City is a region with a long history and splendid cultures. Shexian and Yixian Counties were established more than 2,000 years ago. The city was famed for Hui businessmen, Hui carvings, Xin'an school of painting, Xin'an medicine, Hui architecture, Hui cuisine, and Hui opera (one of the tonalities of Beijing Opera). Also notable are the scenic spots of Mt. Huangshan - a key point of interest in ancient China, the Tangyue Memorial Archway, the Tunxi Ancient Street and the ancient villages of Yixian County . Historians at home and abroad regard Huangshan City as a natural history and culture museum of China.

Tunxi distric in Huangshan.
The place has a history of almost 2000 years.
Our missionaries lived meters away from this place 60 years ago.

Nicolas’ wife being baptized at their house

Nicolas and Marta getting married

The church and the community building.
The city is demolishing the old buildings
to leave room for new development.
Will the church building survive?
We do not know…

Fr. Paco Carin (center) with Christians of Qimen
– a place near Huangshan attended
in the past by Claretian missionaries

Bible course in the internet – free subscription

A complete Bible study program in 40 lessons:
Why ever not?

Give yourself a chance to study the Word of God!

This is what you will find in Lesson 1:

_______________________________________

Lesson One
BEGINNINGS
(Selections from Genesis 1-11).

Psalm 8. A hymn praising God for the marvels of creation,
especially his wonderful relationship with man.
The Psalmist, gazing at the stars, senses his insignificance,
yet is reminded of man's special place in the universe (v. 4).
Man is special because God cares for him,
because he has a relationship with God.
"Man is Lord of the earth".
If this applies to the whole human race,
it most perfectly applies to Christ,
son of God, son of man.

To outline the sacred authors' presentation
of harmony and disharmony in the relationships
between God, mankind, and other created things (Gen 1-11).
This lesson considers the first eleven
chapters of the Book of Genesis.
We will divide it into five sections as follows:

1. The Great Harmony (Gen 1 :1-2:25)
2. The Damaged Harmony (Gen 3:1-6:4)
3. The Collapse of Creation (Gen 6:5-8:19)
4. The Required Adjustments (Gen 9: 1-27)
5. The Division of Nations and its Meaning (Gen 10: 1-11 :9)

These eleven chapters hold together to form
a unit which was carefully planned in order
to convey certain truths.
It is important to keep this inner unity in mind.
For example, it would be wrong to base our notion of sin
("original sin") solely on a few verses of chapter 3,
when the author develops the notion
of sin through the eleven chapters.

ENGLISH Course
Introductory Note Resource
Practice question about Introduction.Quiz
1. The Great Harmony Resource
Practice question about topic Quiz
2. The Damaged Harmony Resource
Practice questions in topic Quiz
3. The Collapse of Creation Resource
Practise questions about topic: Quiz
4. The Required Adjustments Resource
Practise questions about topic: Quiz
5. The Division of Nations and its Meaning Resource
Practise questions about topic: Quiz

Chinese Courses

You also have the option to download the lesson in PDF:
PDF Format - Lesson 1

Parish Library project

This month we received a $3,000 US dollar donation for this project. Now three rural parishes in China will have access to much needed Christian formation books including the Bible and other books and pamphlets. The parish libraries will also have books of interest for the whole population, majority of whom are farmers.

Your generous help will make it possible for this project to continue: we now have 9 rural parishes waiting for books for their libraries.