Taipei: 'Christian Life Communities' reflect on youth education
Taipei (AsiaNews) - Taiwan's Catholic Church is preparing to host the Regional Assembly of the 'Christian Life Community,' a group of lay communities linked in a special way to the Jesuit mission.
About 50 delegates from 13 Pacific region nations are expected at the gathering. During the event, participants will exchange ideas and discuss experiences about educating young people and developing their respective life communities.
The first 'Christian Life Community' (基督 生活 團) was first established in 1563 when a Jesuit priest, Fr Jean Leunis, gathered a group of students at the Roman College, the future Gregorian University, to create a 'Marian Congregation' (Sodality of our Lady, 聖母 會) with the aim of integrating the values of the Gospel in every aspect of daily life through the Ignatian spirituality.
In 1584, Pope Gregory XIII approved the Roman College's first congregation in his bull Omnipotentis Dei. Over the next centuries, fundamental developments occurred. In 1924, a secretariat was established at Jesuit headquarters in Rome. In 1953, Pope Pius XII approved the creation of the World Federation of Marian Congregations, whose first world conference was held in the Eternal City the following year.
In Beijing, Matteo Ricci founded the first Marian Congregation - the 'Pious Association of the Mother of God' (天主 之 母 善 會) - in 1609. In just 50 years after papal approval, worldwide membership topped 40,000.
Fr John Rao (饒志成 神父), who worked in Taipei for years, said, "As for Taiwan, the first Marian Congregation was founded in 1953 at the Holy Family Parish in Taipei. By 1963, we had 52 groups with over 700 members. Four years later, a national federation was officially created."
"Delegates," he added, "were sent to the 4th World Meeting where the group's name was changed from 'Marian Congregation' to 'Christian Life Community,' a move that did not go down well with everyone." Eventually, "a fifth of the overall membership left."
Still, "although the name changed," Fr Rao said, "the goals remained the same, which is to constitute an apostolic community whose members are encouraged to make a discernment, learn to find God in everything and understand better their lifestyle choice."
Currently, there are 63 national communities, 14 in East Asia. During last year's 16th World Assembly in Lebanon, Taiwanese delegates accepted an invitation to organise a meeting for Asia-Pacific in 2015, with the theme, "Youth and the training mission in our region today" (青年 及 培育 - 亞太 地區 今日 使命).
In order to enhance interaction and exchange between Taiwanese and foreign delegates, in addition to business meetings, this year's assembly will include two nighttime visits of Taipei to see the beauty of the city, famous across Asia for its great cuisine and its markets by night.
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