XIAMEN (UCAN): Catholic bishops and scholars from mainland China and Taiwan joined a seminar themed, “Walking together in love, hand in hand,” on inculturation and cooperation, Fides reported on May 29.
Some 100 priests, academics and lay people joined the seminar at the Diocese of Xiamen in Fujian province in southeast China,
The May 22 to 25 seminar sought to forge better ties between Churches in mainland China and Taiwan, and brought together experts from the dioceses of Taipei, Tainan, and Kiayi in Taiwan and Xiamen, as well as academics from Xiamen University, Huaqiao University, and Furen University, in Taipei.
Bishop Joseph Cai Bingrui of Xiamen said he was heartened to welcome “the brothers and sisters” of the large delegation from Taiwan led by Archbishop Thomas Chung An-zhu of Taipei and Bishop John Baptist Huang Min-Cheng of the of Tainan.
The experts spoke and debated on the central theme, “The historical origins, the development of the Church and the process of inculturation of Catholicism in Fujian and Taiwan.”
The discussion also touched on the interactions between both sides and the achievements of the respective Churches in the inculturation process.
Some interventions focused on the possible developments of an “inculturated Catholic theology” in the Chinese context, starting from its roots in tradition.
On May 24, the feast of St. Mary Help of Christians and the date of the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China, the Taiwanese delegation made a pilgrimage to Gaopu, in Xiamen, the birthplace of Archbishop Joseph Cheng Zaifa of Taipei from 2004 to 2007, who died in 2022.
After visiting the churches and the commercial port, the event concluded with a Eucharistic liturgy concelebrated in the church of Hou Ban, the birthplace of Li Buchi who arrived in Taiwan in 1859, and is recognised as a pioneer of the second phase of the island’s evangelisation, along with the Spanish Dominicans, who had already been based in Fujian province for two centuries.
