Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Beijing (Agenzia Fides) - The reading, explanation, and reflection on Sacred Scripture formed the central themes of the spiritual formation course offered to the Diocese’s religious sisters and led by Bishop Li Jing, the Diocese of Ning Xia’s new Coadjutor Bishop. The week-long course was held in the Convent of Our Lady. Under the Bishop’s guidance, participants reflected on fundamental Biblical passages that are useful in strengthening their own vocation and their election of a life expressed in vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. The Biblical texts also served in locating the Biblical foundations of the service that they offer the Lord and society in the religious community, in complete union with the Church. Thanks to the simple and yet profound talks from the Bishop, the religious contemplated 4 main aspects of religious life, at the light of Sacred Scripture: consecrated life, evangelization, community life, and personal spiritual life.
Bishop Li Jing, ordained a bishop on December 21, 2007, is one of the most recently ordained (with the approval of the Holy See) Chinese bishops. He is 40 years old and studied at the Augustinian University in Germany, earning a Licentiate in Pastoral Theology.
The history of the evangelization of the Diocese of Ning Xia dates back to 1879, thanks to the missionary work of Fr. Karel Van Sante and Fr. Alfons Bermyn, CICM (Scheut Missionaries). In 1922, it became an Apostolic Vicariate and on March 18 of that same year, the CICM province of Ning Xia was established. The Diocesan Congregation of the Missionaries of Mary was founded by the then Apostolic Vicar Msgr. Gaspar Scotte, CICM, in 1931. Today, the Diocese of Ning Xia has some 8,000 faithful, 14 Churches and chapels, 1 Bishop, and 1 Coadjutor Bishop. It also includes 10 priests, 1 deacon, 5 seminarians, 27 (4 are novices) religious sisters of the Missionaries of Mary. The religious sisters run 3 clinics. The Diocese celebrates nearly 200 baptisms every year. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 25/4/2008; righe 26, parole 323)
