Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Beijing (Agenzia Fides) - "The faithful do not have to dedicate only the temple to God the Father but also the sacred temple of the heart" are the words spoken by Archbishop Zhang Xian Wang, Bishop of the Diocese of Ji Nan in the province of Shan Dong, during the solemn celebration presided over for the consecration of the church of Ning Jia Gou, dedicated to Our Lady, April 30, on the eve of the Marian month. Since 1662, the year of foundation of the village, the Gospel has reached these places almost simultaneously. So the Bishop has invited everyone to carry on with this glorious Christian history as a visible sign like the Church.
According to information received by Fides, on the occasion of the Solemnity of Easter and of the Marian month, several Catholic continental communities consecrated their new church just built, others completed the restoration work to better meet the pastoral and missionary needs for "a visible sign of communion" which "shows the vitality of faith."
More than 800 faithful attended the consecration of the church dedicated to Jesus the Good Shepherd in Fu Tian, in the territory of the parish of Bo Xing in the Diocese of Zhou Zhi, province of Shan Dong, on April 28. According to the pastor "this consecration is a symbol of communion and unity of Catholics. In a village with little more than a hundred Catholics, the community has been able to build such a beautiful church, that is undoubtedly the fruit of evangelization as well as the future engine of evangelization. "
With the symbolic handover of the keys by Archbishop Meng Ning You, coadjutor Bishop of the diocese of Tai Yuan to the parish priest, the new church dedicated to Christ the King was inaugurated and opened for worship. The ceremony was held on 3 May and saw enormous participation of the faithful, 36 priests concelebrated, twenty nuns and a dozen major seminarians.
The opening of the Marian Month, May 2, Bishop Li Jing, Bishop of the Diocese of Ning Xia, consecrated the new church of Zhong Wei, which was founded by a Belgian missionary in 1924. During the homily, the Bishop urged more than 700 faithful, priests and nuns with these words: "God's temple was built, but Catholics must work even harder to build the temple of God in their hearts, so the Lord is always with us. We have often come here to pray fervently. " To celebrate the complete reconstruction of the church and its openness to religion, and the beginning of the Marian month, on the same day, the first Course of catechism and the Course of formation of the laity began. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 05/06/2011)
