A return to China

(Left to right): Ruairi, Fr Joseph, parish priest, Fr Kevin, parish sister, Fr Dan – outside one of the new churches in the Hanyang diocese. Photo: Kevin O'neill

My last visit to China was five years ago and I last lived here 11 years ago.

Arriving back in Wuhan after 11 years, I knew life would be very different – so many changes would have taken place. One thing was for sure I no longer had to explain to family and friends at home in Australia, before departing, where Wuhan was, as I had to do when I first came here in 2009. Conversations with friends in Wuhan during the past months since my return have naturally included how they and their families managed to get through the tough years of the Covid pandemic. 

Comparisons with times gone by are very natural when you return to a place of familiarity – some things are still familiar, while what was once familiar becomes a new experience altogether.

When the Columbans came to Wuhan over 100 years ago they worked in the diocese of Hanyang, one of the three dioceses at that time located within the larger city of Wuhan, each also incorporating large areas of the surrounding countryside. Today the diocese of Hanyang no longer takes up part of the larger city of Wuhan but still maintains the expansive country areas and its number of growing towns and smaller cities. The diocese continues to be served by a small number of priests and sisters. Fr Joseph Li, the oldest priest in the diocese, at the age of 51, is ten years younger than me. He is also the administrator of the diocese. Over the past number of years, four new churches and a pastoral centre have been built in the diocese. Small parish communities have now grown in size, and the new pastoral centre, with accommodation for over 200 people, is a focal point for the formation of the laity who enthusiastically attend periodic long weekend seminars. Another new church and pastoral centre are well on the way to completion and there are dreams for more to come. 

During my earlier years in China, a visit by Columbans and other visitors to the diocese of Hanyang could take up to three hours by bus from the city of Wuhan. Today, a subway train gets you close to the edge of the diocese and a speed train gets you to the largest country city of over one million people within about 40 minutes. Visits to the diocese in earlier days could be cut short with news reaching our host Fr Joseph that one of the locals had decided it was time for the visitors to leave and so had headed off on his motor bike to inform the local police. This news would create a mad rush for the visitors to get into our small van, cut our visit short and head out of town!

My recent visits to the country area of the Hanyang diocese have been in stark contrast to some shorter visits in years gone by. One recent visit was a very leisurely full-day event. Columban Fr Dan Troy and I, together with Ruairi Somers, an English teacher from Ireland, were the guests of Fr Joseph once again. Ruairi and his wife Mary, both English teachers at the Hubei University in Wuhan for several years and close friends of the Columbans returned to Ireland shortly after our visit to the diocese. There was no rushing for a quick departure this time. At a leisurely pace, Fr Joseph took us to visit the new pastoral centre and two of the newly built churches as well as a newly purchased apartment – come chapel – in a growing city where the hope is for another new church to be built so that there too the Catholic community might grow.

On another occasion since my return to China, I paid a further visit to the diocese. For the first time since I came to China back in 2009, I was able to spend a few days in the diocese, where I once again enjoyed the company of Fr Joseph, the local priests, sisters and lay faithful while staying in the new diocesan pastoral centre. There was time to hear stories of the difficulties endured during the years of the pandemic, stories of years gone by when Columbans worked in the diocese, and the excitement of present times with growing parish communities and activities taking place in their new pastoral centre.

Columban Fr Kevin O’Neill currently working in Wuhan, China

Related links

• Read more from the current Columban eBulletin.