Dear Readers,  

Today we present to you the fourth issue 2024 of Religions & Christianity in Today’s China (中国宗教评论). As usual it starts with the regular series of News Updates on recent events and general trends with regard to religions and especially Christianity in today’s China.

We continue with a number of contributions to the 11th European Catholic China Colloquium which was organized by the China-Zentrum and took place from 22 to 25 August 2024 in the Catholic-Social Institute in Siegburg/Germany. The topic of the colloquium was “Future Perspectives of the Catholic Church in China” with special focus on “Youth in China.” Over 100 participants from 13 countries and regions took part in the conference. In issue 3/2024 of RCTC we had already published a conference report as well as the address of Monsignor Mirosław S. Wachowski, Undersecretary for Relations with States in the Secretariat of State of the Holy See. In this issue you will find three more contributions:

A PPT by Cardinal Stephen Chow, S.J., Bishop of Hong Kong, on the vivid and manifold youth work in the Church of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong. Fr. Dr. Bruno Lepeu, M.E.P., researcher at the Holy Spirit Study Centre, Hong Kong, analyzes his findings of interviews with young Catholics in Mainland China. He presents a process of renewal of the life of the Church with the young people playing a decisive role. Dr. Antoine Ren, S.J., Centre for Catholic Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong / Holy Spirit Seminary College of Theology and Philosophy of the Hong Kong Diocese, on the other hand interviewed Catholic students from Mainland China who are studying in Europe. He shows how the European society and Church and the “outgoing experience” of these Chinese students have influenced their faith or affected the construction of their Christian identity. Ren says that this pastoral action can be considered as the “fourth revolution in mission” to Chinese Catholic overseas lay students, which will bring about a turning point in the destiny of the Church in China.

This number furthermore contains a very interesting article by Dr. Bibiana Wong, Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica / Fu Jen Faculty of Theology of St. Robert Bellarmine in Taiwan. After the First Chinese Council in 1924 in Shanghai, for the first time in the history of Catholic Christianity in modern China, a national and cross-congregational organization called Commissio Synodalis in Sinis (Synodal Commission in China) was set up. The paper gives a historical sketch of the Synodal Commission and its role in developing Catholic education under the leadership of the first Apostolic Delegate to China, Archbishop Celso Costantini (1876–1958, tenure 1922–1933).

The final contribution by Dr. Dirk Kuhlmann and Dr. Barbara Hoster, both Monumenta Serica Institute, Sankt Augustin, presents the Institute’s new publication Bibliotheca Sinica Christiana: Annotated Catalog of Divine Word Missionaries’ (S.V.D.) Publications in Shandong (1882–1950). The catalog with its over 450 entries offers a comprehensive research guide to the Society’s publishing enterprise in China at that time. The book project was started by the late Fr. Roman Malek, S.V.D. (1951–2019), the long-time director and editor-in-chief of the Monumenta Serica Institute – and also founding director of the China-Zentrum –, and posthumously completed by the Institute’s editorial team.

All articles of this and the previous issues are available for free on our website here. We are grateful for your interest and support and would also appreciate any donation to help us carry on with this endeavor.

Yours sincerely, 

The Editors

Religions & Christianity in Today’s China

2024, No. 4

Contents: 

Editorial

News Update on Religion and Church in China

June 21 – October 27, 2024

Cardinal Stephen Chow, S.J.
Church Ministry for Young People in Hong Kong

Bruno Lepeu, M.E.P.
The Youth in China Renew the Church

Antoine Ren, S.J.
The Fourth Revolution in Mission to Chinese Overseas Students: A Theology of “Outgoing” in the Light of a Survey of Chinese Catholic Youths in Europe

Bibiana Wong 
The First Chinese Council, the Synodal Commission and the Promotion of Catholic Education in China

Dirk Kuhlmann and Barbara Hoster
Bibliotheca Sinica Christiana, A Comprehensive Catalog of the Publications of the Divine Word Missionaries in Shandong Province (1882-1950) – A Workshop Report

In order to download these articles or the whole issue please click here.