My Encounter with some Chinese Priests
During the FVI Chinese College Spring Seminars
By Fr. Henry Siew 蕭永倫神父
Early May 2017, at Leuven, I was glad to spend five days sharing with a layman, one nun and 28 priests from various dioceses of China, on my experiences of how the Catholic faith was introduced to inquirers. I shared with them the method and spirituality I had been using in such adult catechetical formation. The method is communitarian, whereby I as pastor, work with some catechists and sponsors in running the weekly sessions. The spirituality we adopt is Christocentric. We impress upon the inquirers from the onset that becoming a Catholic is about becoming a disciple of Christ and belonging to the Community of disciples, the Church.
How to present the Catholic Faith
I advised against the lineal approach to the understanding of salvation history. It is not helpful pedagogically, to begin by telling contemporary inquirers all about what God had done for ancient Israelites, described by the Old Testament writings. Wonderful though those salvific experiences were, they are not meaningful to our audience today. Worse still, the social, moral, theological and liturgical views expressed in the Old Testaments contain many ideas that are incompatible to Christian views based on the teaching of Jesus.
Ancient Israelites had degrading views about women and foreigners which contradict the way Jesus treated them. They had peculiar laws regarding the cleanliness of food which are totally irrelevant to us. They placed excessive emphasis on keeping the letters of the law which Jesus insisted that his disciples should transcend. They were preoccupied with temple sacrifices which Jesus taught that these should be accompanied with the need to worship in spirit and in truth. They viewed God as an avenging, combative, jealous and powerful God who was greatest among many inferior gods while Jesus teaches that there is only one God who is our Father in heaven.
I suggested to the participants that catechesis should begin and end with Jesus Christ. From the onset, we should teach inquirers to pray and inspire them to read the four Gospels. It is by meditating on the Gospels that they will come to know, love and follow Jesus. In this way, Christian morality should also be Christ-centred. I challenged them to transcend the confinement of ten commandments and strive to inspire the inquirers to go beyond the scribes and the Pharisees. They must cultivate their hearts to synchronize with the heart of Christ, so that from the depth of their hearts will emerge attitudes and behaviours that are in tune with the Gospel values.
Regarding the liturgy and sacraments of the church, I pointed out that it was customary for some catechists to claim that the institutions of various sacraments were based on certain biblical texts. For example, some of them claim that the Sacrament of Reconciliation is based on the Gospel of John 20:22-23. While these verses infer the offer of forgiveness, the basis of celebrating this sacrament has a more enduring foundation, which is the experience of forgiveness in their encounter with Jesus by many people such as Zacchaeus and the woman caught in adultery. The Church which continues the presence and mission of Christ in the world is merely succeeding the reconciling work of Jesus Christ.
I concluded the Seminars with two sessions on the understanding and living out of the Church. I encouraged them to go beyond institutional concerns, and to integrate the sacramental, communal, evangelical and service aspects of the Church into a holistic way of developing their local churches. I suggested that each parish should be a communion of communities centred on Jesus Christ, and commissioned by Him to serve and to evangelize. To realize this vision, I further proposed that they should adopt the spirituality of earthen vessels and of communion. We are to learn to accept one another’s weaknesses and strengths, bear with our vulnerabilities, dialogue together when face with differences, and strive to live up the commandments of love despite the personal faults and limitations we experience in our communities.
Pastoral Sharing among the Participants
The sessions were conducted in an interactive manner, and the participants were vocal in asking questions and making their comments. Many of them expressed appreciation to my presentations for they find the approach refreshing. The only lay participant, a young man in his early twenties remarked that many youth in the parishes were not contented with the doctrinal prescriptions handed out by their pastors. Due to the abiding expectation to obey and conform, they showed external allegiance but were inwardly unconvinced of the teachings, and were frustrated and dissatisfied. He found my sessions more appealing to the inquisitive minds of the young. As for the priest-participants, they found the contents challenging to their established pattern of thoughts and were resistant initially. However, as the dialogue went on, and with further reflection and clarification, they were delighted to accept such new way of conceptualizing and presenting the doctrines of our faith.
In the evenings, there were hours of sharing on pastoral experiences. The problems these priests encountered include the followings: migration of young Catholics from villages to cities in search for work; dispersal of these Catholics in the cities and distancing from the parishes; conformity to old traditions and practices; inadequate connection and collaboration of official and underground churches; and vacancy of the chairs of diocesan bishops not filled or the personal deficiency of diocesan bishops (too old and fragile, too inexperienced and timid, or too secularised).
Despite the difficulties faced, substantial efforts were made to provide pastoral care and evangelization. One priest spent a year locating the dispersed Catholics in his city, reaching out to them by placing stickers calling for contacts on his team’s vehicles, and visiting the neighbourhoods. Slowly but assuredly, he managed to connect with more than 300 of these Catholics. And since most of them are businessmen now, he even initiated a Catholic businessmen association. The latter became a channel of pastoral care as well as the financial backbone to many of the parish projects.
A few priests started their parish band, music and dance troupes as a visible way to outreach the non-Christians. Not only did they assist in parish events, they also served at weddings and funerals in the wider community. A priest launched St Tobit Society to provide bereavement service and funeral assistance. Many parishes held summer or winter camps for children and youth. The program included faith formation as well as value education. The number of people participated was usually good, from 50 to 300 people each time. Some parishes welcomed non-Catholics to hold their weddings in the church, and they took such opportunities to share their faith and the Christian vision of marriage with them.
The priests also mentioned their personal struggles in priestly life and ministries. A young priest felt lonely and unsupported. Some priests did not experience comradeship among their fellow priests. There is a need to strengthen fraternal bonds by praying and eating together. Some priests did not value the presence of nuns and their services adequately. Other priests felt frustrated by the lack of diocesan vision and leadership.
My experiences at Leuven was inspiring and enlightening!
