ASIA/CHINA - The Christmas celebrations are marked by the sacraments, and evangelization

Monday, 2 January 2012

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Beijing (Agenzia Fides) - The mainland Chinese Catholics spent Christmas marked by the sacraments and initiatives related to evangelization. According to the information Fides received by Faith, the Catholic communities celebrated Christmas praying to "the Lord to help us look beyond the glittering images of this time, and find behind them the stables of the Child of Bethlehem , so to discover the true joy and true light". Among the various initiatives reported, here below are a few.
In the Diocese of Yi Bin in the province of Si Chuan, 97 catechumens were baptized in the Holy Mass on Christmas Eve December 24, while in the diocese of Zhou Wan the newly baptized were 80.
Instead the parish of Long Gang in the diocese of Wen Zhou, in the province of Zhe Jiang, on the occasion of Christmas emphasized the value of marriage and the Christian family: for the 17th time it communally celebrated the sacrament of marriage and this year 23 young couples were united in marriage at Christmas.
The youth of the parish of St. Joseph in the diocese of Beijing, after attending the Midnight Mass on Christmas eve, wanted to prolong the prayer with an animation aimed in particular to young people.
The parish of Jia Xing in the province of Zhe Jiang, on the occasion of Christmas presented to the Child Jesus, his renewed face. According to the pastor: "We have restored the church door, making it more visible, as a contribution to evangelization; we formed a Group of biblical Reading for faithful adults and the elderly; the Group of Charity and also the Foundation 'evangelization and charity ' was born; the group of free health service in the parish officiallywas put into practice".
On Christmas Eve the parish of Ling Dong in the province of Fu Jian gave birth to a procession with the image of the Child Jesus in the streets around the church: an opportunity for Catholics to give thanks to God and to make known the 'Love of God made man to non-Catholics. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 02/01/2012)