Antonius Harnoko, cicm
Missionary in Japan
Since the beginning of its mandate in 2022, the Provincial Government of Asia has taken seriously the task of studying, reflecting, and planning for the future of the CICM-CH. As I continued the works that my predecessor, Anthony Lim, had begun, I was tasked to research, dialogue, discuss, and reflect for communal discernment the future of CICM-CH. One of my tasks was to visit CICM-CH on June 1-8, the land where our Founder's great dream sprang.
It was not without any anxiety that I set foot for the first time in CICM-CH. Joseph Jin and John Zhao (postulant) met Peter Koh, who flew from Singapore, and I, coming from Osaka, at the Beijing Capital Airport. We were brought to a hotel not far from the airport. After that, we went to a Chinese restaurant wherein the other 3 postulants,
a high school boy who was interested in joining, and a lady friend who
did the translation for us, had waited for our coming. For almost two hours, we had a delicious dinner while having a conversation with them in a low-profile manner.
On Sunday morning, the 4 of us attended the eucharistic celebration in the Cathedral. It was a wonderful experience to pray and to witness the Corpus Christi celebrated in a Chinese liturgy. After the mass, we went to visit St Joseph Church, which is not far from the cathedral. And then, Joseph Jin drove us to see the Great Wall. It took us a 5-hour drive to the mountain hotel and the Great Wall's entrance. It was an amazing experience to walk for 3 hours, enjoying the greatness of the Wall and the beautiful sunset. Joseph reminded us how hard it was for the confreres in those days passing the Great Wall. With awe, we spent a silent prayer for so many people sacrificing their lives for this kind of world wonder. Our surprise did not end there. We were brought to a small inn-resto whose owner is a Catholic who knew CICM in the old days.
After a Chinese breakfast and hotel check-out, we headed to Tiger Valley, where our Founder died and was buried. When we arrived at the church, we were welcomed by a lay leader and brought for a tour of the church, former CICM residence and the cemetery where 8 CICM confreres are laid eternally. We moved to Xiwanzi Chong Li after lunch in a small restaurant not far from the church. Amazed by the beauty of the city-mountain and city development in Xiwanzi Chong Li, the winter Olympic city of 2022, my imagination was brought back to those first confreres who dedicated their entire lives to this small city. We were in awe when we saw the development of the Xiwanzi church community, where CICM began its mission here.
When we visited the beautiful church of Xiwanzi, a parishioner brought us to the parish priest. In a very simple and humble way, he prepared Chinese tea while conversing about life in Xiwanzi today. He spoke in a low voice in a dimly lit tea room. We were brought to the cemetery of confreres on the hill a bit outside the city. From there we could see the whole city. With a burning heart, the parishioner who guided us to the site shared how much the CICM missionaries were loved and respected by the people. He invited us to have more confreres and other friends to visit their community in Xiwanzi.
In the evening, we drove out of Xiwanzi City for about 40 minutes towards a village called Gaojiayin. We had a very warm welcome and dinner. During the dinner, we shared and animated one another in being family of CICM. The families were very pleased and open to offering their sons the chance to join. We spent the night in a Catholic nursing home, which is managed personally by a family of our postulant. We were so inspired by their charitable dedication to taking care of abandoned elderly in the village, even without any support or subsidy from the outside. It was an authentic witnessing of Chinese Catholic families who put their faith into action despite their limitations.
The following day, we had a simple but delicious breakfast in the nursing home's kitchen. The families requested Joseph to celebrate morning mass in their chapel. Indeed, it was a humbling experience to share the table of the Lord in a simple chapel next to their cowshed. After the mass, we left the nursing home happy and proceeded to Hohhot, one of the most memorable mission stations of CICM.
When we arrived at the Cathedral of Hohhot and enjoyed the beauty of its surroundings, we were approached by someone we finally knew as the bishop of Hohhot. He looked so simple, so much so that we did not expect that he was the bishop. Even though we were a bit hesitant, he insisted on inviting us into his office for Chinese tea and conversation. It was quite a humble and friendly encounter with the bishop. He proudly shared how the CICM entered their life journey as Christian communities for many years. But, he was so honest that until today, foreign missionaries cannot come and work in the mainland as we always think of. After we left Hohhot, we drove another 5 hours to Yulin, and we proceeded to the hotel prepared by our confrere James Li. We found a small eatery nearby and ate a simple but delicious ordinary Chinese cuisine before retiring for the day.
James Li came to our breakfast at the hotel and helped us, especially Peter Koh and myself, to be registered in the city. The process of registration took us some time. As we moved to visit the parish church where James worked, he gave us a tour of his parish, which was under a major renovation. After a tour, I invited the two confreres to have a community sharing. Our praying together, our fraternal sharing, evaluation, and discussion brought us again as CICM religious missionaries to the mission land of our Founder. James' parishioners prepared a simple but delicious goat meat for our lunch. After lunch, James drove us to visit the first Christian Mongolian community founded by CICM in Boro Balghasu. Since the parish priest was not present, we simply took time to see the surroundings. We came back to James' parish and attended the Mass. A good friend of James treated us to dinner, and we had another new friend from CICM.
The next day, we departed from Yulin and moved to Shijiazhuang City. In the afternoon, three postulants came to meet us, and we had a very happy conversation, sometimes in English but most of the time in Chinese. Joseph brought us to a tourist spot, where we had a nice dinner together with the postulants.
We left Shijiazhuang in the morning, and after a 2-hour drive, we reached the house of Joseph Gao in Renqui Town. Joseph Gao's family invited us for lunch with some of his relatives and friends who were very much interested in the CICM works and formation. We were also introduced to a mother whose son is interested in joining CICM. After lunch, we proceeded to the house of Joseph Jin's brother, not so far from the house of Joseph Gao. After some rest and walking around visiting the parish church and a sister's convent, we were blessed with food and drinks brought by Joseph’s family. It was a good and happy CICM family gathering!
We left Joseph's house very early the next day. We reached the Beijing International Airport around 6 AM. After a long queue at the airport, Peter and I could fly back safely to our respective homes.
A ten-day trip to the mission land of our Founder made me realize that our CICM-CH is still alive in a very different way today. From the communal reflection of the CH Community, there are some important points worth mentioning:
Community Life
a. Two confreres working in the mainland are happy with their respective assignments. Because of the distance, they have some agreed time to gather together basically once every 2 months.
b. The information/communication coming from the General Secretariat and the Provincial Secretariat is smoothly done. This makes them connected to the rest of the Province. They are happy with some activities of the Province/District that include them.
c. Some activities, especially about congregational/church matters, are still sensitive concerns.
d. From time to time, they gather together with the postulants as a community.
CICM missionary project
a. At the moment, there is no specific communal project inside CH because of the restriction and of a small number of 2 confreres only. In the future, if more confreres work in CH, we can have common missionary projects.
b. Regarding the coming non-Chinese confreres, it is still difficult to consider a long-term missionary engagement inside CH.
Initial Formation
a. Joseph Jin has been excellent in promoting vocations and meeting families and the priests in the seminary. With the increasing number of CH confreres and vocations, there is a sense of hope for the future of CICM-CH. Some of these vocations originally came from Xiwanzi, where the Founder and his companions began the CICM mission. The fruits of vocation sowed by our Founder have begun.
b. There is an urgent need to review the initial program for CH postulancy/orientation year.
c. Confreres who have easy access can go to CH to animate the confreres and postulants and give them a bigger view of CICM.
d. Many Chinese Catholic families and friends continue to cherish the memories of the CICM's presence, both past and present.
The CH missionary community, particularly, and ASI Province in general, are not desperate but rather patient and content to continue the mission despite the many challenges we will face in the future, especially for our good and beautiful mission in CH. Lastly, to help our confreres better understand the situation and, at the same time, to animate confreres and people of God in CH, we are considering reviving the pilgrimage to the CICM Mission in CH as part of CICM ASI’s ongoing formation program.
« For the one who loves, nothing is difficult. » §
