BEIJING (Fides): In the first days of May, in various provinces of mainland China, from Hainan to Inner Mongolia, liturgical celebrations and moments of common prayer to the Blessed Mother were combined with solemn ceremonies for the ordination of new priests and deacons.
Statues of Our Lady made their way to the deaneries of the province of Jiangxi, in China, after they were blessed at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lushan. Once they arrived in the different deaneries, they accompany the liturgies, the community prayer of the Rosary and the family prayers in the villages throughout the Marian month.
“The devotion to Mary, which is also expressed in this pilgrimage of the statues strengthens and comforts our faith in Jesus,” said the priest, who celebrated the opening liturgy of the Marian month.
On May 3, Archbishop Joseph Gan Junqiu of Guangzhou, celebrated the priestly ordination of Father Hou Pengfei on Hainan.
Up until 11 years ago, with the first priest to be ordained there in 60 years, there was only one church and only one religious was active in pastoral care.
Today, Hainan Island is home to more than 5,000 baptised Catholics, mostly migrant workers from ethnic minorities, and there are eight churches. As Bishop Gan pointed out, Hainan Island “is a typical example of the situation Jesus described when he said, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few.’ We must show mercy to the Lord for the gift of a new priest.”
The Catholic community in the northern steppes of Inner Mongolia is also rejoicing in the ordination of a new deacon called to serve the local Church.
In the Diocese of Linyi, Shandong province, two new priests were ordained on May 3 by Bishop John Fang Xingyao and in the presence of over a thousand faithful, while Archbishop Paul Meng Ningyou of Taiyuan, Shanxi, ordained five new priests and one deacon for the Diocese of Jinzhong.
Archbishop Meng is scheduled to celebrate priestly ordination for the Archdiocese of Taiyuan on May 13, the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima.
