Tangshan (Agenzia Fides) - The Catholic community of Tangshan, in the Chinese province of Hebei, is celebrating 2023 as the "Year of Spirituality".
In the pastoral planning of the community, after the Year of the Family (2019) the Year of Faith (2020) the Year of Charity (2021) and the Year of the Church (2022), in the twelve months of 2023, spirituality will act as a "red thread" in the ecclesial path of the Catholic community of Tangshan. Within the framework of the planned initiatives, Catholics should experience church fellowship and thereby revive the apostolic zeal of the community in order to make a positive contribution to social coexistence in the name of their own mission.
The decision to dedicate a pastoral year to spirituality was based on the suggestions of the laity and of the entire People of God. The gratitude of the community for the commitment with which parish priests spiritually accompanied the community during the lockdowns caused by the pandemic was also fundamental.
As part of the year, the Center for Pastoral Care and Evangelization offers concrete proposals for parish life in the months ahead, including: retreats (inspired by the writings of figures such as Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint Teresa of Lisieux), Lauds and Vespers, Eucharistic Adoration, Rosary, participation in the Sacraments, Bible meditation, both in groups and individually.
If the surges of the pandemic were to make gatherings of people in closed places inadvisable, some of the initiatives and catecheses of the Year of Spirituality could still be carried out using social networks and digital platforms. The Tangshan Congregational Pastoral and Evangelization Center invites all the baptized to devote themselves each day to the Word of God so that it may become "the daily bread of our spiritual life". (NZ) (Agenzia Fides, 16/1/2023)