’Putting the Word of God into several million hands‘
Claretian Missionary Father Alberto Santiago Rossa was ordained a priest in Cordoba, Argentina, on 15 August 1971, the Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady. His 50 years of priestly life are a testimony to the “Great things the Mighty One has done” [cf. Luke 1:49] in and through the life of his chosen one. On the occasion of his sacerdotal golden jubilee, the Sunday Examiner spoke with him on his enviable journey as a priest.
The Claretian Publications in Manila and the Pastoral Bible Foundation [PBF], two wings of the publishing ministry of the Claretians, were his initiatives, begun with the objective of making quality religious, theological and biblical literature from around the world available to the readers in Asia at affordable prices. In 2006, Father Rossa began the Claretian mission in Macau and subsequently established Claretian Publications there. PBF has, to date, published several million copies of the Christian Community Bible in 12 languages.
When the Diocese of Hong Kong assigned the Claretian Missionaries to Epiphany Parish, Mui Wo, in 2015, Father Rossa moved from Macau to Hong Kong. From the initial days he had a clear vision of the pastoral project for the parish: “the parish was small, parishioners were few, but that shouldn’t restrict his missionary outreach.”
He was instrumental in initiating Bible study sessions in the parish and making them available online through blogs, webpages and YouTube channels. In the past six years of his life as an assistant pastor, he has spent thousands of hours, translating Bible classes and commentaries from Italian into Spanish and English. All these commentaries are now available also in traditional and simplified Chinese.
Despite the tediousness of the work, Father Rossa would spend well over 15 hours at his desk every day translating and recording the voiceovers for the commentaries on the Sunday liturgy. But he had two arguments for carrying on with this project. First, “I do it for myself and I benefit a lot from this,” he would repeat. At the age of 76, after 50 years of life as a priest, he is still learning the Bible! The second argument was that “my work is not meant only for today. Maybe future generations will benefit from it!”
Despite not knowing the Chinese language, Father Rossa has made tremendous contributions to the Church in the Chinese-speaking regions. It was his initiative to identify and coordinate qualified people with knowledge of the Bible, as well as fluency in the Chinese language, for the Daily Gospel project—the yearly booklet with daily gospel readings and reflections in traditional and simplified Chinese. Today tens of thousands of copies are printed and distributed among the Chinese-speaking faithful.
A new translation of the Bible into modern Chinese has been the dream project of Father Rossa. The first fruit of this, the New Testament with commentaries and the Lectio Divina in simplified and traditional Chinese was published in 2015. The books of the Old Testament are in the final stage of preparation. Father Rossa’s belief that his work will benefit coming generations in the future is not just a dream!
He felt the call to become a missionary when he was very young. At the age of 11, he entered the seminary of the Claretian Missionaries in Córdoba, Argentina. The discernment continued throughout the years and, fourteen years later, he was ordained a priest in 1971.
Father Rossa’s parents were children of Italian immigrants who arrived in Argentina at the beginning of the last century. They were very poor but rich in faith, He was the eldest of five brothers and his parents brought up their boys in the faith by word and example. At home, they affectionately called him ‘Beto.’
He felt the call to become a missionary when he was very young. At the age of 11, he entered the seminary of the Claretian Missionaries in Córdoba, Argentina. The discernment continued throughout the years and, fourteen years later, he was ordained a priest in 1971.
After a few years as a priest, working with university students in Córdoba, he was offered the chance to go to the Philippines. Talking to the Sunday Examiner about his initiation into the publishing ministry, Father Rossa said, “I soon discovered that the situation of ‘third-worldliness’ was very similar to our Latin American reality.”
A new model of being Church, after Vatican II, had emerged. He soon realised that they had few religious books in his new mission region. “All that we had came from the United States, and they were all in English. We also had another problem with the few books that were available: they were written for the readers in the US, where people were losing their faith but were economically well off. But the situation of the Philippines was the opposite: people had faith but were poor.”
Father Rossa realised that sharing his experiences of working with poor people in the Latin American Church was very similar to the situations in the Philippines. Listening to his experiences, people started asking for reading material—for books written from that perspective. This was Father Rossa’s call to start a publishing house.
“I had no training for that work and I learned by doing and by hiring lay people who could help,” he recalled. The first manuscripts were published with the help of the Society of St. Paul’s press in Manila.
As the number of titles published grew over the years, “I saw the need to have our own printing press, and with that, we printed and published more than 1,000 titles. I have always worked with qualified and committed lay people; they are the ones who taught me” to run a publication, he said.
“There is an anecdote I remember well, a talk I once had with my superior regarding this apostolate. He told me, ‘You are working in a parish—that’s your main job; you can work on manuscripts in your free time, and don’t you ever ask for money because we don’t have it’,” Father Rossa said reminiscing about those initial days. But, if there is a will, there is a way!
‘There is an anecdote I remember well, a talk I once had with my superior regarding this apostolate. He told me, ‘You are working in a parish—that’s your main job; you can work on manuscripts in your free time, and don’t you ever ask for money because we don’t have it’
Father Rossa
“We also embarked on social media. Working in the Diocese of Hong Kong, we saw the need for the ongoing biblical and theological formation of our people, especially of our pastoral agents, including priests and catechists. We launched a series of daily and weekly resources, all available for free. For example, at present, we have on YouTube more than 1,800 videos in six languages—all centred on biblical formation, especially on the gospels.”
When we asked him what makes Claretian Publications and the Pastoral Bible Foundation different from the rest of the other Catholic Publishing houses, he observed, “Wouldn’t it be difficult to survive if you decide to take an unpopular stand? Commercial publishers begin by studying how to market their books. I did not follow that. From the beginning, I decided to publish only books that would support and encourage a new model of being the Church after Vatican II.
“Our publishing house is known for the theological and pastoral line we take. A book is published not because it would will sell well but because of its content and message. People say, ‘If it is Claretian, we know what to expect.’ And, yes, at times we took take an unpopular stand.”
The decisiveness behind his words explains what makes his publication different from the rest!
The most significant contribution of Father Rossa to the Chinese Church would be the new translation of the Chinese Bible. Having very little understanding of the Chinese language, he speaks passionately about the project, which is in its final stages.
“As Claretian Missionaries, we are ‘Servants of the Word’ and ‘Rooted in Christ and Audacious in Mission’ as our last chapter reminded us. This is part of our DNA! Biblical ministry, including printing, translation, and publication, is rooted in our charism. Fifteen years ago he started the project of a new translation of the Bible into Chinese, both [traditional and simplified Chinese] with the collaboration of Chinese biblical scholars, especially late Jesuit Biblical scholar, Father Mark Fang.
“The New Testament was published in 2015 and was very well received by Chinese readers on the Mainland and elsewhere, as we have two different editions. At present, we are finishing the Old Testament. The translation is done directly from the original languages [Hebrew and Greek] into modern Chinese, accompanied by introductions, commentaries and a guide for the Lectio Divina for each chapter of the Bible.
“A project like this was has never been done before in any language. Languages evolve and there is always a need to update our translations while being faithful to the original languages, modern biblical scholarship, and the Church’s teaching.”
Father Rossa comes from the same region in Argentina as Pope Francis and, in their many meetings, they share pleasantries in their local slang. This raised some speculation that he might be a relative or close friend of the pope.
He laughs, “I am not a relative. I have met him several times and when talking to him, I always use a very informal way of talking, as with our friends in Argentina. For example, when I asked Pope Francis, using our familiar language, to sign a copy of the Chinese New Testament, he pointed the finger at me and said: ‘For you, I will sign anything, except a cheque’ We both laughed.”
