Two Columban priests learn about the Chinese Church’s exciting progress during a visit to Taiyuan.
By Fr. Kelvin Barrett
On a chilly November morning, fellow Columban Father Pat McMullan and I
made our way to the Beijing West Railway Station. Earlier that morning,
we attended Mass at the South Cathedral, famous as the location of the
first church built in Beijing by the greatest Jesuit missionary, Fr.
Matteo Ricci.
This was our first visit to China and a break from our Columban missionary work in Korea.
At the railway station, we located Sr. Clara Liu, our host for the next
four days. She is in charge of the Shanxi Formation Center situated in
Taiyuan, the major city in Shanxi Province, an eight-hour train ride
from Beijing.
Meeting with the bishop. Columban Fathers Kelvin Barrett (left) and Pat McMullan traveled with Sr. Clara Liu and met Bishop Huo Cheng of the Fenyong Diocese.
After clearing the suburbs of Beijing, we passed through flat and
uninteresting countryside. In contrast, our conversation with Sr. Clara
was far from uninteresting. She talked of the traditional Catholic
villages where Catholics can trace their faith back many generations.
These Catholics continued the practice of the faith basically
unhindered, even during troubled times like the Cultural Revolution of
the 1960s and ’70s.
We visited two of these cities on our way to the ancient city of
Pingyao. Pingyao is one of the few cities to have survived the chaos of
the Cultural Revolution intact.
It is now being restored as a tourist city where people can come and
experience China as it was. For me, it was a quiet step into Old China,
which is very different from modern China.
Sources Of Energy
Sr. Clara pointed out sources of new energy in the Chinese Catholic
Church. She delighted in the fact that there are many new religious
orders starting in China. Because the new orders have small numbers,
however, they don’t have the resources for the adequate educational
formation of their new members.
In addition, much more formation education is needed for China’s
Catholic laity and the continuing education of priests, Sr. Clara said.
In response, the Shanxi Bishop’s Conference had the vision to start the
Shanxi Formation Center.
The first students at the Center, founded in 2004, graduated in July
2006. Sr. Clara spoke with justified pride at this achievement, but
emphasized much needs to be done to achieve the program she desires.
Upon our arrival in Taiyuan, we were greeted by Fr. Wang Dingyuan, the
quiet and sincere vice director of the Formation Center. In addition to
teaching at the Center, he was instrumental in making the buildings and
grounds suitable for the program. His and Sr. Clara’s dynamism and
enthusiasm for their work are inspirational.
We met similar zeal throughout our days in Taiyuan, where we were
greeted warmly by several bishops as well as by the rector and students
of the Formation Center’s seminary.
They all communicated the same enthusiasm about the bright future for
the Catholic Church in China. The bishops, particularly, spoke of the
need for exchange with other churches to enhance the education of
priests, Religious and laity of China. They asked us to help, and we
readily agreed, so moved we were by their commitment.
Such an exchange also adds to our commitment, as Columban missionaries,
to the Chinese Church, which is at the heart of our Columban origins.
It’s a good opportunity to further establish closer relations between
the neighboring churches of Korea and China. In recent years, this
contact has been growing steadily, but it’s encouraging to be part of
this growth.
Now back in Seoul, Fr. Pat and I look forward to the times when we and
other Columban missionaries can return to Taiyuan to help continue the
exciting growth of the Church in China.
Columban Father Kelvin Barrett was ordained in 1969 and has served his
mission life in South Korea, Rome and his native Australia.
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