ASIA - The Claretians: evangelization with the Bible in the time of Covid-19

Friday, 24 July 2020 evangelization   bible   culture   mass media  

Hong Kong (Agenzia Fides) - Claretian missionaries continue and strengthen their ministry of evangelization with the spread of the Bible, in times of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Catholic publishing house Claret Publishing Group is widespread on all continents and its annual flagship publication is the "Bible Diary", launched 35 years ago in the Philippines. "The Bible Diary" and "The Gospel of the Day" have been printed in 23 different languages and about one million copies are printed annually. "After the publication in Burmese language in 2019, this year they will be printed in two other African languages", says to Fides Father Jose Cherukara, Claretian missionary in Hong Kong and Macao.
Publication appreciated and promoted by the local Church in Myanmar, last year about 6,000 copies of the "Bible Diary" in Burmese were sold, reports Father Cherukara.
Among the upcoming biblical apostolate programs, the Claretian publishing house plans to publish a totally new translation of the Bible in Chinese, scheduled for August 2021, while special editions and publications are in the pipeline on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christianity in the Philippines (1521-2021).
To renew the evangelization service during the pandemic, the various branches of the publishing house linked to the Congregation of Tanzania, the Philippines and north-eastern India, members of the Claret Publishing Group (CPG), supported the project to spread the "Bible Diary" in new languages in Africa and Asia.
Father Mathew Vattamattam, Superior General of the congregation, recalled that "the ministry of publication and evangelization through communication is a patrimony of the Order, as it was a project of St. Antonio Claret, founder of the Institute of the Claretians".
The Covid-19 crisis affected the service as a whole, "but Claretians around the world have not closed their bookstores", said Don Alberto Rossa, Claretian, involved in editorial work. "The editorial team is working on the digitization of the Bible in various languages, as this is a necessary transition" he reported, remarking on this form of evangelization through Catholic culture and publications. (SD-PA) (Agenzia Fides, 24/7/2020)


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