Catholic Youths Share Ecumenical Experiences At Christian Unity Week Event

Published Date: January 20, 2009

Young Catholics shared the joys and challenges they experienced in relating to Protestants during a gathering held to mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

About 30 people attended the Jan. 18 event, organized by the Chengdu Catholic Youth Fellowship, and held at Immaculate Conception Cathedral, or Ping´anqiao Catholic Church, in downtown Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, southwestern China.

That day was the start of the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, observed Jan. 18-25 in many parts of the world. This year´s theme is That they may become one in your hand (Ezekiel 37:17).

The three-hour Jan. 18 event included sharing on ecumenical experiences, Bible readings and prayers.

One participant, Mary, shared how she and a Protestant colleague developed a deep friendship and would often pray together. She added that her company has quite a number of Christians, and they have decided to start each working day with communal prayer.

Another participant, Teresa, shared how she became friends with a Protestant who migrated from another part of the country and was working in the area where her shop was located. Teresa later brought her to visit a Catholic Church.

Other Protestants later warned this migrant not to take part in any Catholic activities or to have anything to do with Catholics, Teresa continued. However, the friend told Teresa that the Catholics she had met had given her “a feeling of being part of a family.” As a result, she decided to maintain these friendships.

Deng Xinmo, a 17-year-old Catholic, spoke with UCA News after the gathering. The program, she said, “made me realize that no matter whether one is a Catholic or a Protestant, we all have the mission to love.”

Kevin Sun, an organizer, was not sure if any Protestants attended the event. He explained that the Chengdu Catholic Youth Fellowship had sent invitations to members of two Internet chat rooms it runs, comprising Catholics and Protestants, and participants were not required to reveal their denominations.

Nonetheless, Sun acknowledged that most participants at the gathering were from the youth group and other groups based at Ping´anqiao Church.

A Church source also told UCA News that many chat-room members had left Chengdu to return home for the Lunar New Year, which falls on Jan. 26, so the small turnout was not surprising.

Sun admitted that the path toward Christian unity in mainland China is not easy. “Some Protestants have misunderstandings about the Catholic Church, while some Catholic clergy are worried that Catholics are being attracted” to the Protestant Churches, he explained.

The youth group had organized only one previous activity to mark a unity week, but members say it has held frequent dialogues with the Protestant Church and the local Young Men´s Christian Association, with which many group members volunteer.

Besides praying for dialogue, understanding and unity among the Christian Churches, the Jan. 18 gathering also prayed for the unity of the Catholic Church in China and for dialogue and understanding among Protestant denominations.

The youth group also appealed to its members and other participants to join any Protestant gathering during the special week so as to spread the message of unity.

The Chengdu Catholic Youth Fellowship, founded in 2004, holds weekly gatherings, monthly retreats and Bible sharing sessions for its more than 170 members, who are mostly university students. It also organizes occasional Taize-style prayer meetings and visits to Protestant groups, elderly people living alone and the poor.

Chengdu lies 1,530 kilometers southwest of Beijing.

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