Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Beijing (Agenzia Fides) - To strengthen children in the faith and lead other children to the faith; to include elements of Chinese culture in the teaching of Christianity to make it more easy to understand; to educate to altruism, responsibility and solidarity towards those in need (old people, disabled, sick…); to learn to appreciate the greatness of the God’s creation with walks and pilgrimages; to involve lay adults in Summer catechism in view of their participation in the mission to evangelise: these were the main goals of Summer catechism classes for Christian non Christian school children organised again this year by the Catholic community in China. According to He Bei Catholic periodical Faith, in the six weeks of the Summer holidays catechism courses were held all over China with the involvement of priests, religious, seminarians as well as regular catechists on topics ranging from the Bible, the Sacraments, liturgy, the Mass, church music, Christian art and morals.
In Liu He, the largest Catholic village (about 7,000 faithful) in the dioceses of Tai Yuan, Shan Xi province, at least 1,000 children of all ages took part in 16 Summer catechism classes and 218 of them made their First Holy Communion. In Tai Yuan diocese Summer courses were attended by a total 5,000 children. In Bei Shi Cun parish, diocese of Zhou Zhi, Shaan Xi province, 100 of the children taking part were non Christians. Xing Tai diocese, He Bei province, organised courses for 280 children at the Bishop’s residence. The children and their parents were not the only ones to benefit from this Summer initiative, as local Catholics said, “this was an opportunity to form our future evangelisers and future leaders in the life of the local Church”. (Agenzia Fides 28/08/2006 Righe: 35 Parole: 379)
