April 23, 2007VOL. 45, NO. 8Oakland, CA

Chinese dioceses see surge in
young people being baptized

Catholics fill St. Francis Cathedral for noon Mass in Xi’an, China, March 11. Each of the four Sunday Masses at the cathedral is filled to capacity with some worshippers having to stand outside the cathedral doors. CNS PHOTO/NANCY WIECHEC

By Catholic News Service

SHIJIAZHUANG, China (CNS) -- Catholic dioceses in mainland China saw a surge in baptisms this Easter, with young and educated people comprising a significant proportion of new Catholics, Church sources said.

Song Yun, editor of the Shijiazhuang-based Faith 10-Day Catholic newspaper, told UCA News, an Asian Church news agency, that at least 6,000 baptisms took place in 26 dioceses and 41 major parishes in China. Mainland China has close to 100 dioceses. The newspaper contacted various dioceses and prominent parishes for the information.

Song estimated that the total number of Easter baptisms on the mainland exceeded 10,000 and said 80 percent of the newly baptized in major Chinese cities have at least some college education.

“It’s hard to account” for all the baptisms, “as parishes are numerous, and some dioceses baptize at Pentecost, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or at Christmas,” he said.

Bishop Johan Fang Xingyao of Linyi credited laypeople for actively evangelizing their relatives and friends and priests and nuns for spreading the Gospel.

He also noted that those baptized in the 1990s were mainly children, women and elderly people, but now half of those recently baptized are high school and university students, who “came to the Church by themselves and asked if they could become Catholics.”

Other dioceses that also recorded many baptisms were Handan, Cangzhou (Xianxian) and Hengshui, all in Hebei province, which saw more than 500, 400 and 300 baptisms. respectively.

In Hengshui, a cathedral worker identified only as Wang told UCA News that 80 percent of the 95 new Catholics baptized at the cathedral were young or middle-aged people, with the rest being elderly and children. Most of them were peasants, students, workers and retired civil servants, he said.

Wang also observed that the number of baptisms was double that of last Easter and the composition of the newly baptized “bucked the trend” of the past, in which most of those who became Catholics were the elderly, women and children.

Father Luo Limin of the Hengshui cathedral attributed the increase to the “yangko” (rural folk dance) approach to evangelization. Over the last two years, 70-person teams have visited dozens of villages, putting on cultural performances that include colorful costumes, lively music, drums and dances.

The team then distributes religious materials and invites those interested to attend catechism classes, Father Luo told UCA News April 11.

Father Luo hopes that the newly baptized young people will inject more vitality into the parish. More importantly, he said, their entry in the Church “will gradually change the general misconception that religion is a matter solely for the retirees, who may have more time for Church activities.”

Bishop Peter Feng Xinmao of Hengshui told UCA News, “We hope the new Catholics will possess missionary zeal and bring life to the diocese,” adding that “we should be brave enough to bring people to the Church.”

The Hengshui Diocese has about 20,000 Catholics, most of whom live in rural areas.

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