Xiamen (Agenzia Fides) – More than two thousand Catholic priests, religious and lay people took part in the solemn celebration of the closing of the Year of Catechism announced in the diocese of Xiamen. On Wednesday, May 1st, Labor Day, when the Church celebrates Saint Joseph the Craftsman, patron saint of workers, Mgr. Joseph Cai Bingrui invited all participants in the celebration to "persevere in the spirit of the Year of the Catechism, to promote the mission of proclaiming the Gospel and to respond to the call of the universal Church to intensify prayers and prepare to walk together towards the Jubilee of the year 2025". Before the mass, around the altar specially set up in the square in front of the church, many Catholics took part in a sort of question and answer quiz on the catechism, experienced as a final "check" of a year of catechetical training. In Xiamen, in the Chinese province of Fujian, the special year dedicated to Catechism was inaugurated by Bishop Joseph Cai Bingrui on May 1, 2023. On that day, as reported by Fides (see Fides, 5/5/2023) all the participants at the inaugural mass celebrated in the cathedral received as a gift a Chinese edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the great and rich official exposition of all Catholic catechesis and doctrine, collected under the supervision of the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and approved by John Paul II during the 1990s. Throughout the year, all parishes, priests, sisters and laity participated intensively in the program activities prepared by the diocesan commission for pastoral care and evangelization. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides, 3/5/2024)
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