ASIA/CHINA- the restoration of the church of the diocese of Mei Zhou dedicated to Mary Help of Christians has been completed

Mei Zhou (Agenzia Fides) - On the day of the liturgical feast of Mary Help of Christians, on May 24, more than 700 faithful attended the grand opening, after the restoration of the church of the diocese of Mei Zhou, in the province of Guangzhou, dedicated to Mary Help of Christians. According to information received by Fides, it is a wooden building, in typical Chinese style, and more than a century old. Many priests, religious and faithful of Hong Kong helped to support the work, and came to join the party and to pray together on the occasion of the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China, called by Benedict XVI.
The present Diocese of Mei Zhou was a mission for the priests of the Foreign Missions Society of Paris(FMS). It was established as the Apostolic Prefecture of Jia Ying in 1929, then the Apostolic Vicariate of Jia Ying in 1935, elevated to a diocese in 1946, the year of the establishment of hierarchy in China, with the first-Bishop Francis Xavier Ford, of the Missionaries of Mary Knoll. It became the diocese of Mei Zhou in 1981, according to the new administrative division. In this diocese there is also the country of origin of Cardinal J. B. Wu Cheng-Chung. Today the diocese has about 40,000 faithful, 8 priests, 42 between parishes and missionary stations. In addition, the six diocesan religious congregations of "Holy Mother Missionary Sisters are very active in pastoral and missionary life. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 26/05/2011)