The Augustinian Recollects opened their doors to the community of the Fareast on September 25, 2007. Two Recollect priests of Chinese origin, Juan Maria Guo and Jose Yan, began to work pastorally for their countrymen almost five years ago. At the beginning, their intention was to help them, with the celebration of the Eucharist and the sacraments, to live their faith in an authentic way, because before then, they used to go to their respective parishes and, as they did not understand the language, it occurred to them impossible.
Then, they realized that it was necessary to organize Spanish language courses so that the more than 300 Catholics in Madrid could find their way slowly into the Spanish society. “Many of our countrymen did not have the opportunity and time to study Spanish,” Juan Maria Guo explains. “As they almost do not speak Spanish, when they are going to do a paper and a document, when they are going to see the doctor, etc. everything is difficulty, and we wish to help them in everything that they need. This is possible because we dedicate our time,” Jose Yan assures.
Starting October 11, this chaplaincy, in agreement with what is established in Article 5 of the Instruction for Pastoral Care of immigrants in the diocese of the ecclesiastical province of Madrid, has already an identity and recognition of the Church.
Usera
The Chinese faithful who go to Santa Rita ordinarily reside in Madrid, especially in the district of Usera, where there are more Christians than elsewhere. The document with which the Archbishop of Madrid recognizes such Chinese chaplaincy has taken into consideration this reality, naming the Parish of Christ the King in the district of Usera as secondary seat of the chaplaincy.
But the services of the Augustinian Recollect chaplains have also been extended to groups of Chinese residents in the cities like Zaragoza or Toledo. They do not have their chaplains of their own language, and they cannot be attended to regularly by those from Madrid. During special occasions, they are the ones who would have to go to Madrid. It happened during the Christmas mass of 2011, in which some hundreds of faithful filled the Parish crypt. In this unique setting, thanks to the spectacular murals Juan Barba, they usually celebrate the mass every Sunday with around 60 persons, mostly Chinese, with a small group of Spanish faithful.
Chaplains
At the time when the Chinese chaplaincy was erected, the Archbishop of Madrid named the coordinating team: the coordinator is Juan Gao Hai Chang, 38 years old and a priest since 1997; his assistant is Manuel Piérola Mansoa, a Spaniard who has lived in Taiwan for more than 40 years. These two are Augustinian Recollects belonging to the community of Santa Rita. Juan continues the work of his predecessors, Juan Maria Guo and Jose Yan, young priests who headed the Chinese community at the time when they were doing their ecclesiastical studies.
China
The Order of Augustinian Recollects, with more than four centuries of history, is present in China since 1923. It has under its care the diocese of Shangqiu-Hezé, in which 12 out of its 13 priests are Augustinian Recollects. In total, the members of the Order, born in that country are 21 at present, and added to them are some 25 Chinese sisters of the Congregation of the Augustinian Recollect Missionaries (MAR).
In China, there are around eight to twelve million Catholics. The Church lives a complicated situation due to the disaccord between the Government and Vatican. In this Asian giant, two sectors of the Catholic Church live this way: one semi-clandestine, which is not authorized by the government and is faithful to Rome; the other, which is official and controlled by the authorities of Peking through the Patriotic Catholic Association since 1957. The religious freedom continues to be one of the pending subjects of the communist party governing there. Even though some gestures of hope have been shown, the difficulties continue. Pope Benedict XVI has asked the Catholics worldwide to pray for the Church in China.