PILGRIMS GO TO MA CHANG FOR THE FEAST OF THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL

The Feast of the Miraculous Medal was celebrated with festivities by the confreres and parishioners from the south in Ma Chang. Pilgrims from Si Hu(1 Bus), Jin Lun(1 Bus), Da Wu(2 Buses) made the celebration more alive. The Parish of Kang Shan prepared the said activities.

as the Mass starts

the priests present during the celebration

offering from Dawu Parish

After the Mass a procession up to the shrine was held. Everybody offered a flower to the Virgin as they reached the grotto. The Blessed Sacrament was carried by Fr. John Wang up on the grotto for everybody to venerate.

people are climbing to offer flower to the virgin

the grotto and people offering flowers

people venerating the Blessed Sacrament

Fr. John Wang exposing the Blessed Sacramentthe pilgrims from Dawu Parish with Dandy

PARISHIONERS FRON DAWU VISIT KUSNO'S PLACE

After the pilgrimage to Ma Chang, the parishioners from Dawu immediately went to Kusno's Parish for short visit.

parishioners visit the church

with Kusno

taking a tour on the rectory

posing at the newly renovated Marian Grotto

THE NOVENA TO MM IN DAWU PARISH

burning their petitions
after everybody offered their candle
a sister shared about the topic for the day
people offering candle to Mary
the Mass

The novena to MM was successfully held on 9 consecutive evening from Nov. 15 to Nov. 24. Everynight, a person shared his/her personal experience with Mary in relation with the theme for the day. Everyday almost 150 parishioners faithfully attended the said novena.

SHANG WU CHAPEL WILL CELEBRATE THEIR 50 YEARS

the invitation card
the Shangwu Chapel

Everybody is invited on December 9, 2006(Saturday), 9 A.M. for Shangwu's 50 years as a chapel. We invited the Provincial Superior of th Bethlehem Fathers to celebrate the Mass to give them honor for their labor of evangelizing the people.

We will post pictures later to let you see how they celebrate the golden year.

DAWU PARISH WILL CELEBRATE THE FEAST OF THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL

Dawu Parish will start their traditional celebration for the Feast of the Miraculous Medal on November 16 as they start to have their 1st day of their 9-day novena Masses.

Since the Parish has 9 chapels, each chapel will sponsor a day for the novena. Since last year, people attending the noven mass are getting bigger. They started last year to invite parishioners to share on the theme for the day...since then, they look forward hearing their own friends share some insights.

On November 25, the Parish will go to Ma Chang for a pilgrimage with other Vincentian parishes from the south.

Photos will be posted later...

CELEBRATING THE MONTH OF THE ROSARY IN DAWU

The children and adult formed a rosary-shaped as they prayed the rosary last October 16, 2006 at Shangwu. This activity was organized by the Sunday Catechetical School Program.
some children posting with the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

PERBOYRE SPARKS

PERBOYRE SPARKS Mid-Autumn Festival came and went here in the Philippines. This year we invited Priests and Sisters from ICLA (Institute for Consecrated Life in Asia) to 'wrap jiao zi's' and do 'moon gazing'. It was fun!

PERBOYRE SPARKS

PERBOYRE SPARKS

2nd Anniversary of JGP FORMATION CENTER

Happy Feast of St.John Gabriel Perboyre,CM! On this day we celebrated the 2nd Anniversary of the ST.JOHN GABRIEL PERBOYRE, CM, FORMATION CENTER. In attendance were the Chinese DCs in the area. We are most grateful to our Filipino priests and seminarians for preparing such a delicious meal and a night of singing and games.

Richard CM

PERBOYRE SPARKS

PERBOYRE SPARKS

THOMAS GAO celebrates his 28th birthday

Saturday, July 29, 2006

GAO XIANG (Thomas) celebrates his 28th brithday
Some friends join Thomas (Pei yun - Chinese DC, Liu qin - Chinese DC, Shen Rong Bin - Kaohsiung Diocesan priest living with us) Thomas, in order to look like his Formator, chose to get a very short haircut. Thomas is at present studying Philosophy at a nearby Claretian Fathers' Seminary.

HARVEST FESTIVAL IN DAWU

Last July 9, 2006 the Parish in Dawu celebrated the Harvest Festival with much festivities. The harvest fest is traditional feast for the aboriginal people. It is their way of thanking God for the blessings they have received throughout the year.

To co-incide with the celebration, the Bishop of Hualien was invited to officiate the Mass and to give the Sacrament of Confirmation to 22 parishioners. He was very much delighted by the energy of the parishioners. It was a moment for the bishop to know and be in touch his flock in Dawu.

The parishioners themselves prepared their aboriginal food and presented some very traditional aboriginal dances. The people from Xin Hua Chapel made the biggst impact by leading the people with their presentation of "prayer of thanksgiving of the paiwan tribe".
Parish.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDHI

The Jinlun Parish will surely celebrate Budhi's b-day on July 15! May you have good health and power to serve the people.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 生日快樂!

2006 Provincial Convocation: Keep the Fire Burning

May the Holy Spirit guide us to where He wants us to trod.

Sisters and Priests

These are some of the ____ priests and Sisters that are studying at ICLA (Institute for Consecrated Life in Asia). I am the official spiritual director of the _____ community there. There are about 30 ____ there. These are just some of them. Will be praying that we have a successful PROVINCIAL ASSEMBLY!

Richard cm

Our Two Youngest Seminarians

THOMAS GAO 高翔 & PAUL YING 应能惠 are are youngest students in the Philippines. The three of us are living in a rented house near the CM seminary. We've discovered its better having a FORMATION HOUSE of our own as compared to living in our CM seminary. Thomas has begun his studies of Philosophy at a nearby Claretian school and Paul continues his English classes. Both are fine.
Today two new Filipino priests and two deacons were ordained. Lay Brother Bro. Joey Enriquez took his Perpetual Vows.Thanks be too God!

Richard

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOM

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOM! (JUNE 25)

MAY YOU HAVE MORE BIRTHDAYS TO COME.

PERBOYRE SPARKS

A beautiful Noise

The priest looked like he might have been a boxer in a former life, but his open face and obvious good humour quickly corrected the startling first impression. The parish church, a typical example of early 90’s faux Chinese Gothic (stick a spire in front of a large box and call it art!) was full. This was despite it being 8 am and I, who had driven since 6 to be there, was even more convinced than ever that I don’t DO mornings. The Church brass band, presided over by a uniformed and rather serious conductor, made up for what was lacking in technique with a SOUND which was deafening. It lead a rather motley crew, which varied from schoolgirls in matching dresses to ten priests of varying girths, into the church to begin the annual celebration of Corpus Christi in a Catholic village in north China. What followed was a Mass which would have been recognisable in any county parish anywhere. It unfolded smoothly, with a predictable beginning, middle and end. Devotion was in evidence and the antics of the altar servers were stared down by a very attentive sacristan. It may not have been cutting edge, but the liturgy was performed with a confidence and dignity which would have warrant high praise even in the Vatican. My presence, added a whiff of sophistication to the proceedings as we were deep enough into the countryside to for a foreigner, any foreigner, to raise the tone of the event somewhat. When asked to say a few words, the attempt at observing that we are Catholics under the skin, seemed to go down well, or at least they hid their miscomprehension with a polite clap at my conclusion.

The Corpus Christi procession followed. The Blessed Sacrament, under its canopy, was carried with great solemnity around the village. We stopping for a blessing at various stages en route, with an extended halt in the village market for another sermon, (only the forth since proceedings began!). The band led the way and their particular skill ensures that there could be no surprise on our arrival at each venue. Two of the matching dresses took turns in what could only be described as pelting the Blessed Sacrament with rose petals. I fear the idea of tossing the dismembered flowers before the feet of the priest carrying the Monstrance had gotten lost in translation. The women taking up the rear insisted on singing their own set of hymns irrespective of the melody, if one could call it that, being proposed by the band at the head of the 600 strong crowd. The stall holders, not locals, in the market looked bemused by the whole thing, but since this is a 100% Catholic village, the bemused were swallowed up in the devout and they all came along for the show. We ended up back in the church for one last blessing and a final blast from the band of what could only be described as a robust rendition of “What a friend we have in Jesus. We retired to lunch at 11.30.

Having seen what happened in Zhang Zhuang, I am reminded of “The Stripping of the Altars” a history of the Reformation in England which focuses on the experience of Parishes in the transition from late medieval Catholicism to Anglicanism. One of the facts that surprised me of how much people objected to loosing processions. Now I can see why. Here was a complete society celebrating itself and its faith in a complicated mixture of devotion and what we Irish call “devarsion” You could see it in the not quite complete piety displayed by the young blades who knelt dutifully enough, but whose eyes roved more than the rubrics would recommend. You could see it in the carefully hung bunting and the intense engagement shown by the team of haulers who made sure that scarce accoutrements were whisked ahead of the throng to the next station. You could see in the piles of flowers prepared for the pelting and the carefully matched homemade dresses. At another level you could see it in the route chosen. We went through the village, touching its boundaries, but also claiming its heart, the market, for Christ. Here was a self confident parish successfully claiming the public space as its own, rather like a robin marks it s territory by urinating on it. (Excuse the simile, but is the only one I can think of) It is now difficult in many free societies for the Church to be present in the public square, but for the “so-called persecuted” Church in China to do so with such unself-conscious confidence was both remarkable and yet, to the participants, seemed entirely natural. I suspect, although they probably didn’t compare themselves to Robins, that was what the parishes of England were missing when they were no longer allowed to process the Parish boundaries.

Watching this ceremony was an experience. This wasn’t a clerical command performance, entered into reluctantly by a vaguely disinterested laity. This event mattered deeply to these people as both a religious statement and one which made important declarations about their place in their world. They applied themselves with much seriousness, even during the grain harvest, to making sure it went off with dignity and some élan. They succeeded. Their triumph become personal when it became no longer possible to sustain the disinterested observer pose, to which I have returned to write this article. Taking my turn carrying the monstrance, being pelted by clumps of wilted roses, (those girls could throw!) I found myself noticing that, despite the cultural differences; this was not just some quaint pagan custom I had happened upon. This was the Body of Christ I was carrying, and that the objective observer stance was inappropriate. Instead, all I had to do was to surrender to the moment and thank God for the opportunity to express with them our shared Faith in the Eucharist. Joining fully in the event did however create one new conundrum. Should I join the women behind me in belting out the “Tantum Ergo” or the band in front in their unique version of “Oh what a friend we have in Jesus”? Decisions, Decisions.

FIRST COMMUNION

Last June 18 on the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, 16 young people took their First Communion at Senyong Chapel. See more pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmchineseprovince