UCAN Diocesan Profiles Series

Diocesan Officials

A. Ordinary of Yichang Diocese

Bishop Francis Lu Shouwang is the Vatican-appointed and government-approved ordinary of Yichang diocese, in Hubei province, central China.

He was elected bishop-candidate in December 2006 and ordained a bishop in Nov. 30, 2007. He had become diocesan administrator after Bishop Paul Francis Zhang Mingqian of Yichang died on July 24, 2005, at age 88.

Born in 1966, Tujia ethnic Bishop Lu graduated from the Central and Southern China Theological and Philosophical Seminary in Wuhan, provincial capital of Hubei, and was ordained a priest in 1991. After serving in a parish for a year, he began teaching moral theology and biblical studies in the seminary.

In 1999, Bishop Zhang assigned him to work in the diocesan curia and appointed him vicar general. He had been assisting Bishop Zhang in managing diocesan affairs since 2000, when the late prelate's health deteriorated.

Bishop Lu is the eighth bishop of Yichang, succeeding Bishop Zhang, the first native prelate, who was ordained bishop in 1959.

Bishop Lu was ordained with a papal mandate and the Chinese government's recognition at the age of 41 by Bishop Louis Yu Runchen of Hanzhong, assisted by Bishop Paul Su Yongda of Zhanjiang, one of Bishop Lu's former seminary classmates, and Bishop Joseph Zhao Fengchang of Linqing (Liaocheng).

The ordination at St. Francis' Cathedral in Yichang, 1,125 kilometers southwest of Beijing, was the first there in nearly 50 years.

Bishop Lu's coat of arms includes a symbol of the Three Gorges dams, a major landmark in the area, signifying his commitment to evangelize and serve local people.

Late Bishop Paul Francis Zhang Mingqian "contributed his whole to the training of priests and nuns, and in the building of churches," Bishop Lu told UCA News after Bishop Zhang, a Franciscan, died in 2005. The late prelate had also regained 80 percent of once confiscated Church properties after religions were reinstated in the late 1970s.

Born on Oct. 26, 1917 to a Catholic family in Jingmen city, Hubei, Vatican-approved Bishop Zhang joined the Franciscan minor seminary in Hankou apostolic vicariate in 1938, at the age of 21. He continued on to the major seminary and was ordained a priest in 1944. After which he returned to Yichang diocese.

In 1947, he started a clinic while serving as a parish priest in Jingmen. Under Communist rule, he was left to preach in Jingmen while working in a hospital there in 1956. Two years later, the local Church elected him the first Chinese bishop of Yichang, and Bishop Bernardine Dong Guangqing of Hankou, also a Franciscan, ordained him bishop the following year.

During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), Bishop Zhang was sent for "reform-through-labor" at the First People's Hospital in Yichang. He returned to the Church in 1978, and served as the ordinary of Yichang until his death.

Address: Address: c/o St. Francis Cathedral, 2, Zili Road, Yichang, Hubei, China, 443000
Phone/Fax: +86 717 623 52 61

Previous Ordinaries
Bishop Paul Francis Zhang Mingqian O.F.M. (1959 - 2005)

Vatican-Appointed
Bishop Pierre-Henri-Noël Gubbels, O.F.M. † (1930 - 1950)
Bishop Trudo Johannes Jans, O.F.M. † ( 1923 - 1929)
Bishop Modestus Johannes-Baptiste Everaerts, O.F.M. † (1904 - 1912)
Bishop Theotimus Jozef Verhaegen, O.F.M. † (1900 - 1904)
Bishop Benjamin Christiaens, O.F.M. † (1889 - 1899)
Bishop Alessio Maria Filippi, O.F.M. † (1870 - 1888)

B. Other Diocesan Officials

Chancellor: Father Zhu Jinlong

Statistics

A. Catholic Population

As of 2008, Yichang diocese had 30,000 baptized Catholics, representing 0.74 percent of all 4,039,000 people in the territory. The diocese had 15 churches.

People in the Diocese

Baptized Catholics: 30,000, or 0.74%

Members of other Christian denominations: data not available

Followers of other religions (Buddhists, Taoists, Muslims): data not available

B. Diocesan Priests

Diocesan Priests: 22 Chinese

C. Religious Sisters

Religious Sisters: Religious Sisters: 12 Chinese

D. Seminaries, Houses of Formation

Minor seminary: none
Major seminary: none

E. There are 15 churches in the diocese

Diocesan Activities and Organizations

Diocesan Center

Address: 26, Ermalu, Yichang, China, 443000

Phone: +86 717 623 5260

Fax: +86 717 622 1163


Ordination of Bishop Francis Lu Shouwang of Yichang		Catholics gather in St. Fancis' Cathedral at the ordination Mass of Bishop Francis Lu Shouwang on Nov. 30, 2007

Religious Congregations, Societies and Institutes

Religious Institutes of Women

Franciscan Sisters of the Child Jesus

In-Charge: Sr. Hu Shikui

Phone: +86 717 622 4465

General Characteristics of the Diocese

In a land area of 21,277 square kilometers, the diocesan territory covers Enshi, Jingmen and Yichang administrative districts that include 23 cities and counties along the midstream of the Yangtze River.

Population
Yichang has a population of 4,039,000 with urban population of 1,444,200 as of 2008. (The population of the whole country is about 1.3 billion). It is home of the Tujia ethnic group. Yichang Catholics come mostly from the predominant Han and minority Miao and Tujia ethnic groups.

According to Bishop Lu, two-thirds of the 30,000 Catholics in the diocese are rural people, but many teenagers and adults are studying or working in cities outside their hometown. "Pastoral care for the mobile Catholic population is a challenging task," acknowledged the bishop.

Climate
The area has a sub-tropical monsoonal climate, with a temperature averages 13-18 degrees Celsius. It has a mean annual precipitation of 1,000-1,400 mm.

Topography
The Xiling Gorge, the easternmost of the Three Gorges on the Yangtze River, is located within Yichang. Yangtze River is joined within the city by a number of tributaries, including the Qing River (left), Xiangxi and Huangbo Rivers (right).

The geographic features of Yichang are quite different. There are mountains and forest in the west, but there is a vast stretch of flat fertile land in the east, where natural resources are rich.

Transportation
Yichang has an airport and is well connected by highways. It is an important river port on the Yangtze. There are railway services to Wuhan, Beijing and a few other major cities.

Three Gorges Dam

Economy
Yichang has long been a major transit port and distribution center of goods. It is fueled by the Gezhouba Hydra Project (Gezhouba Dam) and the Three Gorges Dam, which is 40 kilometers upstream.

The construction of the dams has speeded up the development of Yichang from a small city into a medium-size city.

Language
Mandarin Chinese (the official language in China) and Yichang dialect.

Brief History
French Jesuit missioners introduced Catholicism to Yichang in 1661. Formerly called Southwestern Hubei apostolic vicariate, it was renamed Yichang in 1923 and became one of the 137 dioceses in China in 1946, when the Vatican established the Church hierarchy in the country.

According to the Pontifical Yearbook, the diocese had in 1950 a number of 15,078 Catholics representing 0.3 percent of the population of 5,000 000. There was a total of 46 priests (31 diocesan, 15 religious) and 77 female Religious serving 156 parishes.

< Last updated on: November 10, 2009 >