Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Tai Yuan (Agenzia Fides) - The 5 seminarians of the Seminary of St. John of Montecorvino in Tai Yuan, along with catechists and volunteers from the Catholic Cathedral of the Diocese of Tai Yuan, accompanied university students before the crib on Christmas night, from 2:30am until 5:30am the next morning, while another group of them responded to questions about the Catholic faith raised by non-Christians who kept coming to the church during Christmas Eve night. According to information gathered by Fides, this activity of acceptance and responding to questions on faith also continued in the days following Christmas, as many visitors came with requests for clarifications on the Catholic faith.
A local source said that "from 4 pm on December 24 until 22 pm on December 25, there was a constant crowd at the cathedral. We have also seen many young people who have stopped spontaneously before the crib to pray. They listened to the homily of Christmas Mass and, after Mass, they stopped to worship the Christ Child. The faithful of the parish have expressed their willingness to meet the pastoral needs related to the celebration of Christmas, which have taken on a missionary character, right up until today. Seminarians of the Major Seminary of the Diocese of She Shan, of the Diocese of Shang Hai, have spent the Christmas holidays with the newly baptized, sharing in the pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of She Shan, amidst an atmosphere of prayer and fellowship. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 09/01/2010)
