TANGSHAN (Agenzia Fides): The Catholic community of Tangshan, in the Hebei, China, is celebrating 2023 as the Year of Spirituality, following on from its Year of the Church in 2022, and Year of Charity in 2021. In the twelve months of 2023, spirituality will act as a “red thread” in the ecclesial path of the community.
In the framework of the planned initiatives, the faithful should experience church fellowship and thereby revive the apostolic zeal of the community in order to make a positive contribution to social coexistence in the name of their own mission.
The decision to dedicate a pastoral year to spirituality was based on the suggestions of the laity and of the entire People of God. The gratitude of the community for the commitment with which parish priests spiritually accompanied it during the Covid-19 lockdowns was also fundamental.
As part of the year, the Centre for Pastoral Care and Evangelisation offered up proposals for parish life in the months ahead, including: retreats inspired by the writings of figures such as St. Teresa of Avila and St. Therese of Lisieux; Lauds and Vespers; Eucharistic Adoration; Rosary; and participation in the Sacraments, Bible meditation, both in groups and individually.
If surges of the pandemic were to make gatherings in closed places inadvisable, some of the initiatives and catecheses could still be carried out using social networking and digital platforms.
The Tangshan Congregational Pastoral and Evangelisation Centre invited all the baptised to devote themselves the Word of God so that it may become “the daily bread of our spiritual life.”
