Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Shi Jia Zhuang (Agenzia Fides) – According to what Faith of He Bei refers to Fides, the vitality of the continental Catholic communities, strengthened by spirituality and by the exchange of experiences, is giving greater impetus to the mission of evangelization. Among the several initiatives that testify the life and the active involvement of different communities, we mention a few.
The four-day spiritual retreat of the parish of St. Mark, of the Diocese of Nanjing in Jiang Su province, were welcomed by the young faithful. Some of them pointed out: "we need a solid formation, this meeting allowed us to experience a period of calm, during which we came in contact with Jesus in prayer". The pastor said that "the parish is located in an isolated area. So it is difficult to organize regular formation and the same spiritual community is a bit disadvantaged. But we saw the enthusiasm of the faithful for the spiritual life that has become a force for evangelization".
During the congress of the parishioners of the parish of Lin Zi, of the Diocese of Zhou Cun, in Shan Dong province, held on November 20, about fifty participants, led by the pastor and women religious who are responsible for the pastoral work, did a check of the work carried out in the previous year in different fields: pastoral, catechism, evangelization, spirituality, social service and charitable work. From this analysis, they found the work that needs to be intensified in the future, such as reading and study of the Sacred Scripture.
Over the past three years, a 66-year-old lady from the village of Xin Cun of the diocese of Yan Yang in the province of He Nan has brought more than 100 newly baptized in the Church. During the exchange of misssionary experiences she said to the faithful: "we must all rely on the Holy Spirit. Every time I do catechism, I pray. I pray the Lord so he makes me his instrument". (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 24/11/2011)
