Mags GarganDear Editor, We should never give up hope on religion or vocations. The Church always had its high and low phases and survived to tell the Christian tale. We are aware of the weakness that pertains in the Irish Church over the past two decades and the more obvious reasons for this.
I recently spoke to a priest who went to Kenya 50 years ago when religion on the ground there was so sparse as to be non-existent. That man is only home on a holiday now and amazed me with stories of all the new seminaries in Nairobi packed to the seams with candidates for the priesthood, and new parishes being opened up regularly. He assured me it was similar in other African countries.
The Chinese Communist Party has recently rejected claims made in an English newspaper that Communist China could have the world’s largest Christian population within 20 or 30 years. The reality is that many of China’s 1.3 billion population are now seeking a real meaning in life that neither atheism nor capitalism is capable of providing.
Professor Fan Gang Young, a leading expert on religion in China told the Sunday Telegraph, he predicted that by 2030, China’s total Christian population, including Catholics, would exceed 247 million, placing it above Mexico, Brazil and the US as the largest Christian congregation in the world. Former Chinese ruler Mao Zedong, who thought he could completely eliminate religion, would surely turn in his vault at such religious replenishment!
Yours etc.,
James Gleeson,
Thurles,
Co. Tipperary.