Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Xi An (Fides Service) - The diocese of Xi An Shaan Xi mainland China is an very active community. This is due mainly to the elderly Bishop Anthony Li Du An, aged 79, known for the unswerving faith and profound intelligence with which he carries on the mission of the Church. In a recent interview with Faith (Catholic bulletin issued in Hebei), the elderly Bishop confirmed his commitment build up diocesan community and he said his main goals are to ensure ongoing formation for clergy and religious, promote evangelisation, render the diocese self-supporting, and update pastoral care to meet present day needs.
The Bishop said: “In the past 7 years we have built no less than 8 new churches bringing the total number of parishes (44 in 1998) to 60. Our community counts 20,000 faithful and every year we have at least 50 new baptisms. There are 55 priests, 5 elderly and 50 young and we have 4 major seminarians. We also have 300 women religious to whom I must say I owe much. Their level of culture is not very high but our formation started with some delay.” The diocese built two centres for formation. The most recent is a four storey building of 900sq mt which has a chapel, classrooms, refectory, library and sleeping quarters. The centre offers courses in dogmatic and moral theology, spirituality and Church history, computer techniques and English language courses. Xi An diocese “gives utmost importance to formation of clergy, religious and laity. It plans also to provide ongoing formation for priests.” Bishop Li said he has asked Holy Spirit Seminary in Hong Kong to help plan the contents of these courses.
Xi An diocese is also active in social service. “The diocese runs 10 healthcare centres and the diocesan Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus has its own network of 50 clinics - Bishop Li said in the interview -. We hope soon to be self-supporting as a diocese, not only with regard to providing for our clergy and nuns but also for building modest sized churches. Certainly major initiatives such as repair work on the Cathedral are more difficult”. For the future Bishop Li mentioned his main goals: “on-going formation for clergy and nuns, evangelisation, formation of small Christian communities. At the same time he wants to face problems such as pastoral care for the divorced and for immigrants workers. Our people lack formation in the faith and to respond better to the call to mission we need to adopt new methods. We plan to build a church in a high-tech industry to carry the Gospel to the people of today.” (Agenzia Fides 27/07/2005 Righe: 36 Parole: 471)
