By UCA News reporter
CHINA – Catholic youth across dioceses in China have participated in visits to the elderly ahead of a Chinese festival, while expressing gratitude for the various roles they played in the church.
The annual visits were held between Oct 25 and 26, during which Chinese Catholic communities gathered youth to meet the elderly ahead of the Chongyang Festival, the Vatican’s missionary news service, Fides, reported on Oct 28.
Also known as the “Double Nine Festival,” Chongyang falls on the ninth day of the ninth Lunar month, corresponding to Oct 29 on the Gregorian calendar, and is also observed as the National Day of the Elderly since 2012.
Youth from Beijing’s Diocesan Seminary and the parish of Nantang visited the diocesan Home for the Elderly.
They celebrated Holy Mass and sang hymns with the elderly after cleaning the building, Fides reported.
A majority of the residents were the backbone of diocesan parish life over the past decades. They had earlier served as members of the parish choirs, catechists, and leaders of various pastoral groups.
In the Shanghai Diocese, Father He Yonghui, director of the Guangqi Social Charity Center, along with three nuns and twenty parishioners, visited the elderly in the Guangqi Retirement Home and the Nan Zhang Retirement Home.
“They thanked the elderly on behalf of the bishop and the diocese for their exemplary life of faith in their families and parishes,” Fides reported.
They also thanked the elderly “for their constant prayers in support of the apostolic work of the Church,” Fides added.
Father He and the nuns presented gifts to the elderly and prayed with them. The visit was organized at the invitation of Bishop Joseph Shen Bin of Shanghai.
The center has been named after Paul Xu Guangqi (1562-1633), an official of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) who converted to Christianity through his friendship with the Italian Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci (1552-1610).
Ricci introduced Christian teaching to the Chinese empire and lived there for nearly 30 years until his death.
In Jiangxi province, parishioners visited the elderly on Oct 26 and celebrated Holy Mass with them.
Similar activities were held in the parish of Tangshan, Hebei Province, and in the Diocese of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.
In the Diocese of Zhouzhi in Shaanxi Province, parishioners visited the elderly and sick parents of the priests. – UCA News
