First and Focused - College of Saint Benedict & Saint John's University
First and Focused - College of Saint Benedict & Saint John's University
First and Focused - College of Saint Benedict & Saint John's University
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<strong>Saint</strong><br />
John’s<br />
mendation <strong>of</strong> Chinese bishops, Maryknoll brings Chinese Church<br />
personnel to the United States for graduate study <strong>and</strong> spiritual<br />
training, helping them serve on their return as seminary teachers<br />
<strong>and</strong> spiritual leaders. <strong>Saint</strong> John’s became involved in 1993 <strong>and</strong> has<br />
enrolled 19 participants.<br />
Most program participants since 1998 have been ordained priests<br />
<strong>and</strong> vowed religious.They come from China with some English <strong>and</strong><br />
study at Gonzaga <strong>University</strong>, Spokane, Wash. Once pr<strong>of</strong>icient, they<br />
begin graduate studies at <strong>Saint</strong> John’s <strong>and</strong> elsewhere throughout the<br />
U.S. Their areas <strong>of</strong> specialization include Scripture, systematic theology,<br />
moral theology, liturgy <strong>and</strong> pastoral counseling. Participants<br />
gather at annual retreats <strong>and</strong> seminars at Maryknoll headquarters,<br />
Ossining, N.Y., <strong>and</strong> discuss subjects <strong>of</strong> concern to religious—<strong>and</strong><br />
to all <strong>of</strong> China—such as AIDS, domestic violence, psychological<br />
growth, spirituality <strong>and</strong> respecting the environment.<br />
A visit home is required during the four or five years participants<br />
usually take to finish their degree—to maintain contact with the<br />
changing social <strong>and</strong> church situations in China.<br />
At <strong>Saint</strong> John’s, S. Johanna continues to be a member <strong>of</strong> <strong>Saint</strong><br />
Joseph Convent <strong>of</strong> Beijing, a diocesan community, <strong>and</strong> S. Therese<br />
<strong>of</strong> a diocesan community called Holy Family—neither <strong>Benedict</strong>ine.<br />
<strong>Saint</strong> John’s impressed both.<br />
S. Therese will remember the School <strong>of</strong> Theology’s ready inclusion<br />
<strong>of</strong> non-Catholics <strong>and</strong> lay people. In China, she will welcome<br />
discussions with people <strong>of</strong> other faiths.<br />
On another front, she may organize support groups like the one<br />
at <strong>Saint</strong> John’s that helped her adjust <strong>and</strong> find her way. “I hope to<br />
use small-group sharing in China,” she says, “among people who<br />
need to be listened to.”<br />
Finally, at <strong>Saint</strong> John’s, S. Therese learned patience—with herself.<br />
At first she rushed to finish papers. Her frustration grew. Later, she<br />
says, she developed “a slow process <strong>of</strong> achieving something, without<br />
giving up.”<br />
In China, patience may serve her well. “I need to be patient with<br />
work <strong>and</strong> with myself, without giving up,” she repeats, as though<br />
reminding herself. “I put my trust in God <strong>and</strong> do my part.”<br />
15<br />
Jilin<br />
Beijing<br />
China’s Catholic community, estimated at<br />
12 million, is centuries old. The nestorians<br />
reached China in the 600s. By the early 16th<br />
century, Jesuits, Franciscans, Augustinians<br />
<strong>and</strong> Dominicans were active. By 1925 <strong>Benedict</strong>ines<br />
had established Fu Jen Catholic<br />
<strong>University</strong> in Beijing—the first Catholic<br />
university in China. Communist rule began<br />
in 1949 <strong>and</strong> for years public worship was<br />
banned. It is allowed now, <strong>and</strong> the School <strong>of</strong><br />
Theology is helping to train Chinese Catholic<br />
religious leaders.<br />
S. Therese <strong>and</strong> S. Johanna will join other School <strong>of</strong> Theology•<br />
Seminary graduates now serving in China, including two bishops, a<br />
seminary rector <strong>and</strong> several members <strong>of</strong> the commission translating<br />
liturgical texts into Chinese. Through them <strong>Saint</strong> John’s is touching<br />
the lives <strong>and</strong> shaping the faith <strong>of</strong> Catholics all across China.<br />
Marc Hequet is a Twin Cities-based journalist who writes about<br />
religion <strong>and</strong> other issues.<br />
S. Johanna talks to Walter Cardinal Kasper, who received the Pax Christi<br />
award in 2009 from <strong>Saint</strong> John’s Abbey <strong>and</strong> <strong>University</strong>. After earning her<br />
master’s <strong>of</strong> divinity degree at the SoT, she hopes to teach when she returns<br />
to the <strong>Saint</strong> Joseph Convent <strong>of</strong> Beijing.<br />
Paul Middlestaedt