Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Beijing (Agenzia Fides) - In autumn, the season when the fruits of the earth are harvested, the Chinese Catholic community has also collected abundant spiritual fruits of vocations, especially of priests, who enrich the workers of the Lord's vineyard. Although the sanitary measures against the Covid have forced to restrict the number of participants in the celebrations and festivities in all communities, the joy and hope of the Church for these events has certainly not diminished. We want to highlight some of them, according to the information gathered by Fides. Msgr. Paul Pei Junmin, Ordinary of the diocese of Liaoning (Shenyang) ordained Paul Li Hongdong as a priest on the feast of Saints Simon and Jude, October 28, in the Cathedral dedicated to the Sacred Heart. The Bishop encouraged the new priest to "come down from the altar to set out on the journey towards the mission, towards the people of God, to proclaim the Gospel". Sharing his own vocational experience with those present, the new priest urged his peers, and not just them, "not to be afraid to choose and follow Jesus… Move now! Because the Lord has already paved the way for us". At the end of the ordination, Msgr. Paul Pei Junmin, with great humility asked Fr. Paul Li to bless him and all his confrere priests. On the feast of the Patroness of the missions, Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus, Msgr. Joseph Shen Bin, Bishop of the diocese of Haimen, in the province of Jiangsu, ordained a new priest for the diocese: Fr. Joseph Liu Xingfeng. The new priest comes from a devout family with four brothers and sisters, two of whom are religious. After the ordination he asked everyone to pray for him, so that he would be a suitable and worthy priest chosen by the Lord. The Diocese of Wanxian and Yunnan Province have also received new lymph for the Lord's vineyard. In the Yunnan community in particular, two priests from the Jingpo ethnic group, an ethnic group living in western mainland China, were ordained. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides, 19/11/2021)
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