Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Bao Ding (Agenzia Fides) – In preparation for World Mission Sunday, Sunday, October 24, the Catholic community on mainland China is organizing a myriad of events. According to a statement sent to Fides from “Faith,” a publication of He Bei, the parish of Wei Nan, in the Diocese of Tian Shui, which has more than 2,500 faithful, has prepared various missionary publications, as well as material on the Christian faith to be distributed Sunday, October 24, to make Christ known and invite people to join the family of the Church. According to the pastor, Fr. Lu An Ni, "there will be a solemn procession, the third this year, after the one at Easter and the one at Pentecost. Every year we organize a procession of Evangelization for World Mission Sunday, in which we send out groups for evangelization. Each year we baptized an average of 80 and in the last three years, we have had 320 adult baptisms."
The parish of Bo Tou, in the Diocese of Cang Zhou, anxiously awaits the arrival of Bishop Joseph Li Lian Gui who will preside at the Solemn Mass on World Mission Sunday, during which he will give the missionary mandate. The pastor points out: "We have always given importance to evangelization through the mass media. With 5,000 faithful, we have convinced 553 people to subscribe to the Catholic newspapers. In addition, the Internet sites are also a favorite among the Catholic faithful. Using these new methods of evangelization, we have an average of 200 baptized every year."
The Diocese of Nan Chong has also given high importance to evangelization through communications. The parish bulletin is also a source of Christian missionary formation. In view of World Mission Sunday, the diocese has printed the text of the Message and missionary material, in addition to a presentation of the day. Everything will be distributed in parishes on Sunday.
The Diocese of Tai Yuan, with over 80,000 faithful, has already organized catechists to welcome the faithful and non-Catholics in front of the cathedral and to explain in the parishes the significance of the mission, of the Christian faith, of World Mission Sunday, etc. The Diocese of Wan Zhou, as the conclusion of the course on Sacred Scripture, will have a missionary mandate on October 24, World Mission Sunday. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 21/10/2010)
