ASIA/CHINA - A village of vocations on the Silk Road

Zhou Zhi (Agenzia Fides) – A small village on Silk Road, inhabited by 660 people, of whom 400 are Catholic (about 130 families), has given 14 vocations to the Church in recent years: 7 priests, 1 deacon, 3 religious sisters, 2 major seminarians and 1 minor seminarian. The village is Zan Jia Cun, Fu Feng district in the Diocese of Zhou Zhi, Shaan Xi province. According to information received by Fides, the whole diocese is famous for its abundance in vocations, so much so that it is known as “the diocese of vocations”. The pastor of the village comments: “many people ask us what is our secret. To tell the truth, we do not know whether it amounts to a secret or not. We intensely live out our faith. The families of the village pray together daily. Mass and prayer meetings on Saturday and Sunday are fixed appointments for all. Even the faithful from villages around us come. I think these small daily testimonies have built the base for an eloquent evangelisation and they are useful at the same time for the formation of vocations. The children are educated according to religious principles and in a simple way, from kindergarten to middle school. The sisters keep up their formation with the Catechism and teaching of religion. Here there is never the need to prepare a list for the evenings of Eucharistic Adoration in Holy Week, or in other circumstances, because the church is always full, 24 hours a day.”
Other Catholic communities often visit this village, to exchange experiences on evangelization and vocations. However non-Catholics also come, as this small village on the Silk Road is also a model of economic development. "Some non-Catholics ask us why we are so happy, and we respond because we have faith,” concludes the pastor. “When the faithful have had economic opportunities, the first thing they thought of was to build, renovate and improve the house of God. Our church is the most beautiful in the whole area. The priests and nuns who live in rooms adjacent to the church wake up at 4 am with the recitation of the Rosary by the faithful”. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 31/01/2011)