Sisters on retreat
2026 World Day of Prayer for the Church in China
In his May 2007 letter to the Catholics in China, Pope Benedict recommended that May 24 each year be observed as the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China. May 24 is dedicated to the liturgical memorial of Our Lady Help of Christians, who is venerated with great devotion at the Marian Shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai. She is also the Patroness of Australia.
In 1920, the first group of Columban missionaries went to China, our first country of mission, to serve in the diocese of Hanyang, which at that time was one of the three dioceses situated in and around the city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province. Each diocese extended from its headquarters in the city to the vast rural areas surrounding it. In recent years, the provincial government has realigned the boundaries of the three dioceses and other neighbouring dioceses to align with the boundaries of the various city municipalities within the Province.
These changes to diocesan boundaries have markedly reduced the size of the Hanyang diocese. The part of the Hanyang diocese within the city of Wuhan now belongs to the new diocese of Wuhan. This new, much larger diocese of Wuhan also incorporates the other two former dioceses situated in and around the city.
Furthermore, the government has incorporated some of the more rural areas of the Hanyang diocese into neighbouring dioceses, further reducing the size of the Hanyang diocese. Unfortunately, these neighbouring dioceses do not have enough church personnel to serve the people who once belonged to these more rural areas of the Hanyang diocese. The priests, sisters and lay faithful of the Hanyang diocese would like to serve these people, many of whom they know well. However, the government does not permit them to do so.
The Hanyang diocese has revived the church in areas where it is permitted to serve. Over the past 10 years, the government has given the diocese land in compensation for former churches that are now used as school buildings or were destroyed before China's opening up in the early 1980s. Five new churches and three smaller chapels have been built since. The diocese has purchased two apartments in residential buildings, which are used as chapels. The hope is that if these communities grow, the government might also give the diocese land for further churches to be built.
Two of the new churches also have newly built pastoral centres on their grounds. One centre has shared accommodation for up to 300 people, and the other for up to 100 people.
(L-R) Columban Frs Dan Troy, Kevin O’Neill and a visiting French priest, enjoy afternoon tea at the home of 91 year old, Dr Theresa Deng.
Over the past several years, the government has not permitted Catholics under 18 to enter churches. On Sundays, government officials stand outside churches to monitor those attending Mass. This has posed a significant challenge for the church. Nevertheless, as it has done in the past, the church is finding creative ways to respond. Programs are now in place to equip parents to be the primary educators of the faith for their children. Priests, sisters and lay faithful, who for years have run parish catechetical programs and been the main educators in the faith, continue to find ways to assist parents and support the religious instruction of children and youth.
Today, Columbans continue to live and work in Wuhan. We maintain regular contact with priests, sisters and lay faithful in the Hanyang diocese, whose headquarters is now 100 km west of its former location in Wuhan. Columbans serve the international Catholic community in Wuhan. The vast majority of the international community are university students, mostly from Africa, Oceania and other parts of Asia. Columbans also visit the homes of elderly Catholics and people with disabilities, and lead retreats, mostly for religious sisters, across the country.
The sisters are engaged in a wide range of pastoral outreach, including parish ministry; running counselling and social service centres, as well as centres for people with disabilities; leading retreats and running their own retreat centres; operating clinics where they work as doctors, optometrists, pharmacists, and acupuncturists; teaching in minor and major seminaries and diocesan pastoral centres; working in diocesan offices; and operating vocation and formation programs within their own religious communities.
On this special day, let us continue to pray for the church in China. We thank the Catholics in China for their faithful dedication, especially in times of great hardship, and pray that God will grant them the courage and perseverance they need at this time in history.
Columban Fr Kevin O’Neill lives and works in China.
The garden inside the grounds of a convent