Celebrating St. Paul in China

As is their custom, the Nantou parish celebrated the feast day of their parish's patron saint, St. Paul. This year was a particularly important observance because the Pope has declared this "Anno Paulino." From June 28 this year to June 29 next year, the 2000th anniversary of his birth, the Catholic Church will mark this Jubilee year with special events, and many Catholics all over the world are committing to a greater study of St. Paul this coming year. Our Sunday afternoon Mass was exceptionally crowded. Myles was more than happy to join the procession. Three of the four Shenzhen priests concelebrated. I was surprised to see both of these priests, one from Bao'an and the other from Longgang, because the heavy rain of the last week has flooded and damaged some of the roads out of these districts. On Friday, Randy had to leave work three hours early to get out of Bao'an.
After Mass we gathered around the statue of St. Paul for hymns and prayers.

A short example


Did your parish kick-off the Pauline Year with confetti cannons, too? Yeah, I didn't think so.





After Mass we feasted. Of course, since this was a special occasion, the cooks piled meat on top of every dish, including the plain vegetables. This was a great treat, I am sure, to many of the parishioners, especially since the price of pork has gone up incredibly in recent months. It was a great treat for Myles, too. Oh, and for your etiquette lesson of the day: it is apparently acceptable to eat all the fruit you want before the blessing is said before the meal. Thou shalt not touch the meat or veggies until after Grace.



I also scored some great Pauline swag. Everyone in the parish was given a cloth shopping bag with a cross printed on one side and this on the other.

I didn't have a chance to get a translation of the Bible quote on the other, but I am anxious to tote this all over Carrefour.
Some people, mostly the choir members, also received a t-shirt that said "St. Paul" in English on the sleeve, and this on the back. Again, I haven't had the chance to have it translated, but the English is pretty clear. I was admiring them after Mass, and suddenly I had one of my own.


Of course, the big question that I am sure is on a lot of people's minds is whether the Pope was mentioned, or the "Anno Paolino," or anything related to that. I cannot be certain that anything like that was mentioned, mostly because I think I was trying to listen for the wrong words as my vocabulary is still severely limited. However this year we received a hand-out before Mass. On the cover was this image of St. Paul, the same we have hanging in the back of Nantou church. The bottom section clearly refers to the 5/12 Sichuan earthquake.



On the third page, however, Pope Benedict is seen. This section could be about the Pauline Year. The first row of large characters under the left-hand picture of the Pope say, "Jiao huang Ben Du Shi Liu Shi," which is his name, Pope Benedict XVI, in Chinese. And the last line of the large characters is "something year."

And on this page, a clear reference to the Pauline Year, or at least the dates that book-end the Pauline Year. This is followed by an outline of something. Again, I need to get someone to translate this for me. After Mass it was just too chaotic to get any help on any of these.


These scans aren't the greatest, especially since my copy got damp in the heavy rain that followed Mass and dinner. The actual paper is still readable, but I thought some people might at least like to see this.

Hopefully sometime this week I'll get some of the stuff translated, especially the shirt and the bag.