New York Times columnist Howard W. French writes about the poverty overshadowing China’s economic boom in its heartlands. He focuses on Henan Province, the country’s grain capital and also one of China’s poorest provinces. Read the article after the jump Continue Reading »
For those of you a little rusty on the heresies of 4th century Africa, Donatism flourished as the church experienced a dramatic reversal of fortunes, moving almost overnight from persecuted sect to state religion. The transition was a huge wrench for the faithful, particularly for those who had suffered, and the latter found it hard to share Communion with those who had fallen by the wayside. The Donatists insisted on rebaptism, which was condemned by the mainstream, and ended up splintering into all sorts of odd sub-cults before dying out at the beginning of the 5th century. The irony was that those most fervent under persecution proved to be unable to cope with the balmier environment of religious freedom (and later state protection) and spun off into dissent. Here endeth the lesson. Continue Reading »
IT’S PERSONAL.
It maybe the onset of maturity, (finally) or the first stages of dementia, but I think I am beginning to understand the Paschal Mystery and its role in my life, (or is that my role in it? Read on). Continue Reading »
Following the pre-visit to the snowstorm affected area in Guizhou Province from February 26-29, the relief team of Jinde Charities, with the steady help and support of the local government and local Church communities in Guizhou, delivered the relief goods to about 10,000 disaster-struck farming households in Shiqian and Sinan Counties. The relief goods include rice and corn seeds and fertilizer for the replanting work, food for some impoverished families and 15 cattle for those who lost their farming cattle during the storm. Bricks has contributed to Jinde Charities’ relief program.
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My own Veneration of the Cross completed, I began piously to prepare for the end a ceremony which was beginning to feel a tad too long. Suddenly, there was an unexpected Mexican wave-like movement through the congregation and attention turns 180 degrees to the very elaborate Altar of Repose to be found in the cordoned off main entrance. Clergy processed, canopies were raised, censers were swung and the Blessed Sacrament was brought through the church to the main altar. This all, of course, takes a long time. I wait quietly to escape. Suddenly, the sound of quiet sobbing demanded attention and looking up, I saw to my left a woman weeping into her prayer book. Continue Reading »
Every day there seem to be more of them pouring out of the railway stations, carrying their fragile hopes wrapped up in last year’s fertilizer bags. They arrive from far away, speaking funny dialects looking to make new lives for themselves in Beijing. Migrants are an increasing part of the bustle that is contemporary Beijing. They are the builders of the new landmarks of this Olympic-mad City, though they are rarely thanked for their pains. They are easy to spot, these “weidi ren” (out of towners) and they come in three basic guises. There are the grizzled old men, younger than myself, with weather-beaten faces. They have now exchanged the paddy field for a building site and the hope of using their wages to advance, not their own, but their children’s expectations. These rugged looking men have about themselves a certain maturity and the self-confidence of those who have already successfully negotiated life… Continue Reading »
When the snows came it brought the house down, literally. Mrs. Di seemed not to be fully aware of the reality as she brought us on a macabre tour of the house that was no longer there. Standing in the rubble of her home, she seemed bemused by the situation and had arranged a few pieces of salvaged crockery on a shelf in the outdoors, a pathetic caricature of the kitchen that had once stood on the site. Her home had not just been damaged by the unusual weather during the New Year Festival, it had been completely destroyed. With the house had gone the precarious security that she and her family had before the snows came. In January she and her unemployed husband had eked out a precarious livelihood in a tiny shop at the front of their home, her eldest, a daughter, had been recently married off and two younger ones were getting an education which gave hope of a brighter future. All of this disappeared when the snows came. Continue Reading »
Geng Geng (pronounced gung gung) is a happy looking boy, always smiling, and ever inquisitive. The moment he saw me taking pictures he asked Sr. Therese, the director of the Liming Family Rehabilitation Center, who I was. Sr. Therese said I was there to visit. Geng Geng refocuses on his lunch but steals momentary glances over at my direction. His obvious intelligence made me tremendously curious about the boy so I approached him and introduced myself. Smiling, he introduced himself and remarking on my light clothing in the poorly heated home, said that he found me strange. Everybody laughed at Geng Geng’s comment (me included). He told me he was 14 and, teased him, said that I was the same age. He was having none of it and he said that I was WAY older than him. He called me shu shu which means ‘uncle’ in Chinese. Geng Geng loves the camera so I took more pictures of him. He smiles.
Geng Geng never knew his birth parents. Continue Reading »