Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Ba Meng (Agenzia Fides) – More than 1,500 people attended a solemn Mass with the ordination of two new priests, presided by Bishop Mattia Du Jiang, only recently installed as Bishop of the diocese of Ba Meng in Inner Mongolia. Local sources told Fides that during the ordination on 25 April in the Cathedral many people had tears of joy in their eyes because the priests had waited so long to be ordained by their Bishop. Although Mgr Mattia Du had been ordained a Bishop with the approval of the Holy See in 2004 he only took possession of his diocese on 8 April this year. Thirty two diocesan priests from Ba Meng, Beijing, Bao Tou, Yin Chuan and other dioceses concelebrated at the Mass. The faithful were overjoyed: “At last we see a ray of hope for our community. We admire our Bishop, our priests and our nuns for their perseverance and tenacity and we pray for more vocations”. In his homily the Bishop urged the faithful to pray for the earthquake victims of Yu Shu and to give generously to help them, as requested by Pope Benedict XVI after the earthquake on April 12 and he gave concrete example. A collection of over 20 ,000 Yuan (about 3,000 euro), was handed to the Chinese Red Cross to assist the victims of the earthquake. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 06/05/2010 - righe 23; parole 245)
