Monday, April 05, 2010

Gregorian Mass in the Cathedral of Beijing

On Sunday, 21 of March Fr. Rossa was in Beijing with the two Claretian Missionaries from Brazil. There, they went to the Cathedral Church and the parish priest, Fr. Mateo Zhen invited them to concelebrate the Mass in English.
The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, which dates back to the year 1605
We understand this as a beautiful sign of opening and dialogue. Foreign priests cannot, legally, preside over the Eucharist in China, it always must be presided by a Chinese. The invitation to concelebrate with them is already a great passage of opening. We have a couple of photos for the memory:
Gregorian Mass in the Cathedral of Beijing on March 21
Faithful coming out of the Cathedral after attending the Sunday Liturgy
144 Catechumens Baptized During the Easter Vigil Mass
Our brother Sid conveys the following message from Beijing: The mass for Easter vigil began at 5 pm on Saturday, with the cathedral already full of people as early as 3 pm. The patio in front of the Church was also full of people. The bishop of Beijing celebrated the mass with four priests concelebrating. During the celebration, 134 catechumens, mostly young people, were baptized. Ten others were baptized before the Easter vigil due to their sickness or physical disability. It was already 8:30 pm when the mass ended.

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