Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Seoul (Fides Service) – A visit to South Korea to meet other Catholic nuns, to learn from spirituality and their way of convent life: this was the experience lived by 13 Superiors of diocesan female religious communities in mainland China, who spent the month of April visiting various convents in Korea, including the Sisters of Charity of the Most Holy Sacrament at Jeonji, and the Little Handmaids of the Holy Family in Seoul. The visit was enriching also for the Korean sisters who said “it is very useful for two neighbour Churches to share their experience”.
Mother Superior Maria Li Yushang of the Saint Joseph Sisters in Beijing diocese said they had no difficulty in obtaining government permission to undertake this strictly religious journey. She also said it was clear from the visit that the structure of female religious congregations in both countries are very similar “but Korean nuns have greater responsibility in administration and formation” she noted.
Mother Superior Matthia She Liying of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Fushan, in Liaoning diocese, north east China told UCA News that “because the Church in China was isolated between the 1950s and the 1980s many of the rules observed in religious Congregations in China are still pre-Council. Women religious in Korea are more open because they received and assumed the spirit of Vatican II.” The Mother Superior said that her congregation has 74 nuns and that some of them are presently studying abroad.
The month long visit to Korea was approved and organised by the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. The nuns also met with some of the Korean Bishops including Archbishop Nicholas Cheong of Seoul who assured the nuns that his diocese was willing to support the formation and instruction of Chinese religious and seminarians.
The Chinese nuns travel expenses were in fact paid by a Fund named after Saint Andrew Kim Taegon, martyr, Korea’s first Catholic priest who was ordained in China in 1845. The precise aim of the fund, set up by the Korean Martyrs Commission, is to support the formation of priests and religious in mainland China. It was thanks to this fund that the priest who accompanied the Chinese sisters on their journey acting also as interpreter, Father Li Dong from the mainland diocese of Tainkin, was able to complete his studies in theology at Seoul seminary. PA (Fides Service 12/5/2003 EM lines 30 Words: 346)
