Hello everyone. I prepared a short power
point presentation.
The theme I am going to cover today is the
work of missionaries in China.
Love is the only language understood by all.
Let me brief you on the history of the Church
in China. The development of Catholicism in
China can be divided into 4 phases.
First phase is 635 AD, during Tang Dynasty.
Nestorian came to China.
However, with the demise of Tang Dynasty,
the church also disappeared.
Then the second phase is during Yuan Dynasty.
This was the first time Catholicism was brought to China.
In 1275, the Italian Franciscan Father Montecorvino
came to China and was permitted to set up a
Church in Beijing to do missionary work.
In 1307, Father Montecorvino became the Archbishop
of Peking. However, he mainly targeted his missionary
work at the upper level of the Chinese society.
Therefore, with the demise of Yuan Dynasty,
the Church also stopped.
In Ming Dynasty, in 1289, Franciscan came to China.
But again, with the demise of Ming Dynasty,
in 1368, the work of the Church also came to an end.
The fourth phase is during Qing Dynasty.
In 1583, the Jesuit, led by Father Ricci,
brought Catholicism to China again.
Father Ricci, with his unique style of missionary work,
brought the Church into China and laid its solid foundation.
In the land of China, there had been many missionaries
who brought the Gospel to China. Today,
I would like to mainly focus on three missionaries.
These three missionaries, during 3 different periods of time,
ranging from Qing Dynasty to current days, showed us how
they brought the Gospel of Christ to the land of China.
Three missionaries.
I believe you are all familiar with Li Ma Dou---Father Ricci.
Father Ricci was born in 1552 in Italy.
He joined the Jesuit in 1571 and was ordained in 1580.
He came to China in 1583.
He worked for 27 years in China. In 1610,
he passed away and was buried in Beijing.
During Father Ricci's time Qing Dynasty closed
its doors to the world. Father Ricci's work was mainly
in 2 areas and these two areas cannot be separated.
The first area was to combine the Gospel and
Chinese culture. The second was to introduce
western science and culture to China.
His work helped opened the door of China
and let foreigners see and know about China
Father Ricci was referred to as the western Confucius.
He respected the Chinese culture and customs, and that is very important.
For the missionary work to be successful, Father Ricci realized that
a combination of Christianity and Confucianism was necessary
for the root of Gospel to be planted in China.
So he did as the Chinese did. He learned to speak Chinese,
read Chinese classic literature and wore Chinese clothes.
Through this, he gradually blended himself in the Chinese
upper society and the society in general.
He didn't stop followers to respect Confucius
and worship their ancestors. He fully accepted the Chinese culture.
He often quoted Confucius when talking.
For this he was often referred to as the western Confucius.
Secondly, he also wrote book. Once learned Chinese,
he started writing in Chinese, combining Confucius ideas
to explain the ideology of the Church.
During his 27 years of work in China, he wrote many
books to help the Chinese know about the Gospel of Christ.
More importantly he wrote the first catechism.
The first Catechism.
This helped us Chinese to understand the ideas of the Church in our own language.
Father Ricci once said, "the idea of Christ and the
idea of Confucius are not contradictory.
Rather, they have some in common."
Thirdly, Father Ricci started building churches.
He started in Beijing and became the first Father for that new church.
He also built three churches in Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces.
In 1609, he built the first Christian confraternity in China
called Confraternity of the Mother of God.
With this confraternity, he developed followers
and provided teaching to non-believers.
During his time, Qing Dynasty was very closed.
Few people knew about the western societies.
In order for the Chinese to know the West and to open to the West,
Father Ricci decided to use the new inventions and foreign items
to arose curiosity among the Chinese.
He showed art crafts from the West and used his knowledge in Maths,
Astronomy and Geography to connect with the upper class.
In the academia especially, Father Ricci was seen as
the promoter of cultural exchange between the East and the West.
While doing this, he was able to bring the Gospel to the Chinese.
In 1601, Father Ricci was given the permission by the Emperor to stay in Beijing.
He was also invited to join the imperial board of astronomy
and became the first foreigner in the imperial court.
The work of Father Ricci.
While Father Ricci was in China, although there were not many new converts,
they ranged from civilians, officials to royal family members.
Because Father Ricci was indeed "being a Chinese among the Chinese",
he broke the barriers of culture, customs and traditions,
and enabled the Gospel and the Church to root deeply in Chinese culture.
Through Father Ricci's efforts, Catholicism was able to exist and spread in China.
Unfortunately, because of the 100-year Chinese Rites Controversy after,
the Church suffered greatly. This is the first missionary I would like to talk about.
Italians must be familiar with the second missionary I would
like to talk about. Father Joseph Freinademetz, referred to by us as Father Fu.
Father Fu was also Italian. He was born in 1852 and entered
a seminary in 1870. He was ordained in 1875 and joined society
of  Divine Word Missionary in 1878.
He came to China in 1881 and started his missionary work from Shandong Province.
Shandong is also my hometown. He passed away in 1908 and was buried in Shandong.
He was beatified in 1975 and was canonized in 2003.
Father Fu, the Lucky Priest.
Let's take a look at his missionary work. Father Fu once said:
"I love China and the Chinese.
I am happy to die for a thousand times for China.
In Heaven, I would also love to be with the Chinese."
In his missionary work, he encouraged many local followers to
become missionaries to their own people.
For this, he set up a seminary to train Chinese seminarians.
During his whole life in China, he opened clinics, orphanages,
75 primary schools, 6 secondary schools and many printeries.
He did many great things for China, and not just talking.
Through his good deeds, he led the Chinese to know about Christ and join the Church.
Under his influence, 50,000 people became Catholics and
a further 40,000 were learning and ready for baptism.
Father Fu said, "I love my Chinese people.
I see their country, language and customs as my own."
Throughout his missionary career, with a heart dedicated to the Lord,
he deeply loved China, its culture and its people.
This is a witness of love. If we do not love and are not loved by others,
then our missionary work is not effective.
This is what Father Fu said.
The third missionary is one of the most influential ones in recent time,
20th century, Father Vincent Lebbe, Lei Mingyuan.
Father Vincent was born in 1877 in Belgium. He entered
the Vincentian Seminary in Paris in 1895 and was sent to China in 1901.
He was ordained in 1902 in Beijing and was given Chinese
citizenship in 1928. He became a Chinese.
He spent nearly 40 years doing missionary work in China
and passed away in 1940 in Sichuan Province.
Let's take a look at Father Vincent's missionary work in China.
He was the most influential missionary in the 20th century in China.
During his time, the West and Japan gained great powers in China.
When Father Vincent came to China, he quickly realized that
the hindrance of the development of the Church in China
was the attitude and methods adopted by western missionaries.
So Father Vincent quickly changed and began
to accept the Chinese customs and culture.
He started to wear Chinese clothes
and became a Chinese among the Chinese.
In 1914, he was sent to work in Tianjin where he established
the Catholic Tianjin Normal University, the first church university.
In 1914, Father Vincent was invited to give a speech in public
to thousands of non-believers, including some from the upper class
and some government officials. This speech made him extremely famous.
Later on, many people came to discuss with him things about the Church.
During the war and the Boxers' Movement, he established many orphanages and girls' schools.
He also looked for funding to help war victims and the poor and miserable.
During his missionary work in Tianjin, he went from one village
to another to visit the locals and teach catechism to children.
Ten years into his work, the number of followers reached 40,000.
During his time in Tianjin, Father Vincent actively encouraged followers
to become seminarians. He established a seminary and encouraged
followers to participate directly in the work of the Church.
He also published a Church newspaper for lay people to know
more about the Church. He set up seminaries to train local priests.
In 1928, Father Vincent founded two religious Orders: Little Brothers
of St. John the Baptist for men, and Little Sisters of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus for women.
These two Orders still exist in China today and are growing stronger and stronger.
Let's take a look at Father Vincent's contribution to the society, not just for the Church.
During the Sino-Japan war, Father Vincent organized seminarians
and followers to go to the battle field and provide treatment for the injured soldiers.
He also arranged education for children who dropped out of school
and encouraged people to join the army. Indeed, he loved China and the Chinese.
He also promoted an event that had the most influence on the Chinese church.
1n 1926, thanks to Father Vincent's constant effort and writing
to the Pope, Pope Pius XI appointed 6 Chinese Bishops in St. Peter's.
They were the first 6 Bishops in the history of the Chinese Church.
Father Vincent died in 1940 in Sichuan, prosecuted
by the Communist Party. He was buried in Sichuan.
People said of him, "He loves China far more than we ourselves do."
These three missionaries and their experiences showed
us what we need to do today as missionaries ourselves.
First of all, we need to respect others. We need to respect
and accept others, their religion, ethnic background and customs.
The Church is telling us today that we should not reduce Christ to one culture
and one model, because Christ is universal. We need to learn to respect and accept others,
especially their customs and traditions that are different from ours.
Today as missionaries, we could learn from those three missionaries
that we need to be open-minded. We should break the barrier of ethnicity and religion.
We should talk to other religions, and more importantly, we should
promote a better communication between the different sects of our own Church. This is a challenge for us.
The challenge is whether we can accept others' differences;
see the existence of Christ in others, other religions, and other sects.
This is the Church's plan of discovering Christ for us today. We need to be open-minded.
Open our heart, open our mind, and be open.
Thirdly, as missionaries today, what we need to do is to be hospitable.
Being hospitable to others is the first requisite of bringing Christ to them.
We do not just welcome Christians, we also welcome non-Christians. This is especially true in China.
Because our belief tells us that thanks to the blessing of God,
people can discover the Lord. And thanks to the love of God,
people can discover in us the existence of Christ.
From the three points mentioned, we as missionaries today to spread the Gospel,
should have the same compassion. Love others as Christ loves us.
Love the people around us, regardless of ethnicity, religion and skin colours.
Because everyone of us is the child of the Father, and because God is Love.
Love is the only language understood by all. Thank you very much.
