The Bishop of Hong Kong's Life and the China he lives in
TURIN: 3rd October 2007 -- The actual title of Fr Michele Ferrero's
book is "Il Cardinale Zen. Rosso Speranza": La Vita e la China del
Vescovo di Hong Kong. To the best of current knowledge, the
book,
published by Elledici, 232 pages including 8 with colour photographs,
is still in Italian.
A line in the book runs something like this: "Along
the banks of a
river, something is always happening - it's called life. It is up
to
us to decide which of its episodes we want to talk about". In
this
case the river is the mighty Yangtze, running through China. And
the
episode of life concerns Joseph Zen, bishop of Hong Kong, born in 1932
in Shanghai, the city where the Yangtze has almost run its course of
some five thousand kilometres.
The life and work of Joseph Zen, Salesian and an
extraordinary
witness of faith in difficult circumstances, is told by Michele Ferrero
in this new publication by Elledici. It speaks of a courageous
commitment to the Church, to ministry and to social action on the part
of one of Hong Kong's most influential and respected figures.
Not for nothing has Cardinal Zen been identified by
many as the
'moral conscience' of the ex-colony returned to the sovereignty of the
Chinese People's Republic in 1997. The book contains a preface by
Fr
Pascual Chavez, the Rector Major, with a reminder that the 'Celestial
Empire' "occupied an important place in the dreams and spiritual
testament of Don Bosco". He points out how in Cardinal Zen "the
elements of our charism mingle splendidly with the Chinese culture:
from temperance to optimism, from joy to a sense of Church, union with
God".
Thanks to Ferrero's deft pen and penetrating mind,
Cardinal Zen's
story is also one that begins with the period both terrible and
glorious for the Catholic Church in China between the 30's and 40's,
then swings into the 60's and 70's of Britain's heyday in the Colony,
moving to the 80's and 90's of China's reawakening, to finally settle
on the 24th March 2006 when the man holding the tiller of the Barque of
Peter midst the tempests of our time, Benedict XVI, "asked Joseph Zen
to give him a hand, appointing him Cardinal".
Michele Ferrero, Salesian priest, born Cuneo
(Italy), has worked in
Taiwan, Hong Kong and Shanghai, and today teaches theology in Jerusalem's
Studium
Theologicum Salesianum, otherwise known as Ratisbonne. _________________ AustraLasia is an
email
service
for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions
as an
agency for ANS based in
Rome.
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