Great Chinese theologian, Fr. Berchmans Aloysius Chang, has died
Taipei (AsiaNews) - Today, in the parish of the Holy Family in Taipei, the funeral is taking place of Fr. Aloysius Chang Berchmans (張春申 神父, affectionately called "Father ABC").
Born in 1929 in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province (中國 江蘇 省 蘇州) in mainland China he was one of the
most famous theologians of Chinese language and culture. He died Sunday, March
15 at the age of 86, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1947, studied theology
in Rome and graduated in 1966, shortly after the end of the Second Vatican
Council.
"The author of over 60 books, he was a very honest and friendly
person" the head of the library where, even after he retired, Fr Chang
went to consult books says. "After studying in Europe and in the
Philippines, in 1967 he returned to Taiwan and began to teach and write books
to spread the new theology among ordinary people, parishes and new converts to
Christianity."
Father Chang has guided countless theological seminars,
for example a very famous one held in 1982 on "Sexuality, Marriage and
Family" which was widely republished, and especially that of 1976 which
brought together many experts, entitled "Building the local church."
From 1969 he began a series of theological essays published every three months
entitled: "Theological Collection " (神學 論 集). That series gathered the contributions
of many theologians, to a total of 116 collaborators within the first two
years.
"There no more prolific a writer or theologian who
could collaborate and engage colleagues as Father Chang did. We owe him a lot.
What he did in the seventies laid the foundations for the lessons of theology
that we still carry today "says Father Mark Fang (房 志榮 神父) one of his dearest friends.
Father Chang has taught for 41 years in the Faculty of Theology of New Taipei
City, within Furen University (輔仁 大學), retiring in 2008.
In particular, two of his books have become widely used,
popular and widespread in the Chinese community: "The Inspiration of
Scripture" (聖經 的 寫作 靈感) which presents
in a simple but detailed fashion the basics of Christian revelation and
"Chinese meditations" (中國 靈 修芻 議) which addresses
the subject of prayer and meditation from the culture of the Song Dynasty (in
the fourteenth century), comparing it with the more Western style. This book has
become a best seller because, written from a Chinese perspective it is able to
penetrate the core of the Christian tradition and decipher the essentials
translatable in Eastern culture.
"He was a very simple person, his room was nearly empty when he published
a book donated it to the library, where he carried out his research and wrote
his new works. He was hardworking and in touch with real people, he did not
write for the sake of publishing and did not teach for the sake of making his
voice heard. His aim was always to meet problems and real situations,
"says Father Luciano Morra (墨 郎 神父), for many years his community superior.
.png)
05/07/2017 13:58
