Katharina Wenzel-Teuber
More than 100 participants from 13 countries and regions met from 22–25 August 2024 in the Catholic-Social Institute in Siegburg/Germany, to discuss the future of the Church in China. Chinese persons from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong formed half the participants – including priests and religious, as well as Christian lay persons, of whom many currently live in Europe as students or pastors. Contributing to the diversity of the dialogue was the fact that the participants belonged to different Christian denominations. Speakers at the conference included among others Cardinal Stephen Chow SJ of Hong Kong and Msgr. Mirosław Wachowski, Undersecretary for Relations with States in the Secretariat of State of the Holy See. Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki celebrated Holy Mass with the conference participants. The 11th European Catholic China Colloquium was organised by the China-Zentrum in St. Augustin.
How are young people in China, in society as well as in the Church? Their concerns and wishes are often more similar to those of young people elsewhere in the world than to those of older generations in China, according to several conference contributions. Since the pandemic, many young persons feel exhausted, depressed and disoriented. At the same time they are worried about not finding work. Unlike their parents’ generation, they no longer believe that they can achieve a constantly higher standard of living through their own efforts. Suicides among the young have increased. At the same time, more and more young people in China are refusing to meet the traditional expectations of their parents – marriage, family, career, property. In a world full of uncertainties, they are looking for the “narrow door” to their own, individual path in life – that is how a young Catholic woman from China described it. From Taiwan, Ms. Sun Shu-Kuan from the Youth Ministry Office of the Divine Word Missionaries in Chiayi reported that some young people have not wanted to take off their face masks since the pandemic and have retreated behind their mobile phones. At first, it is difficult to persuade them to build relationships and allow community.
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