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IMAGE: CNS photo/David Maung

By Brooke Binkowski

TIJUANA, Mexico (CNS) -- The men trudged down the dusty road of an impoverished Tijuana neighborhood. The Sunday morning air was already arid and hot, but the small group was on a mission: They were heading to a tiny neighborhood community center, bearing lemonade, food and prayers for the local families.

The men are members of the Missionaries of Charity Fathers, founded by Blessed Teresa of Kolkata. The Fathers' generalate house has been in Tijuana since 1988.

As preparations for Mother Teresa's Sept. 4 canonization continue, priests and volunteers carry out her work in Tijuana's most ragged and forgotten corners: in its makeshift plywood towns built over dirt roads with sewage trickling through them; among its addicts and deportees; and among those living amid trash and desolation.

"Here, there are not many changes," said Father Zbigniew Szczotka, indicating the dusty roads as he and his crew drove through the neighborhood, dodging roosters, puppies and children. Father Szczotka, known locally as "Father Zibi," first came to Tijuana in 1989 and has watched it grow and change since. Only the poorest areas remain the same.

The Missionaries of Charity not only hold Masses and teach religion; they also operate a soup kitchen, tend to the ill, and help the poorest of the poor in other spiritual and material ways.

In Tijuana, continuing Mother Teresa's legacy often means taking in and helping people who have been deported from the United States, who are physically separated from their friends and families by border laws and stranded with no support network. Some of them even join, offering their services and donning the blue T-shirts emblazoned with a picture of Mother Teresa.

"We pray about this," said Leonardo Guerrero, 36, a volunteer with the Missionaries of Charity and who was deported from the United States about two years earlier. "This community of Catholics, they emphasize people that are immigrants, that have gotten deported ... they emphasize that they need help."

He credits the group with enormous positive changes in his life. The onetime addict has given up drugs and is now getting his tattoos removed. He also said that he plans to stay in Mexico to do what he can to help.

"If I go back, I'm going to be labeled as an illegal immigrant, and I don't want that anymore," Guerrero said. "I just want to try to live life as a law-abiding citizen and try to make the best of it. I've had a lot of jobs here, and throughout all of it there's prejudice, they look at me differently...

"Now that I'm here with the disciples of Christ ... you have to put your feelings a little bit to the side. Now that I'm going back to my roots, my religious ways, I want to do things in a spiritual sense. Let God do his divine work."

The Tijuana Missionaries of Charity Fathers helped make the case for Mother Teresa's canonization. Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, who divides his time between Tijuana and Rome, is currently in Rome for the ceremony. He has been preparing evidence of her sainthood for 17 years.

Meanwhile, her work quietly continues in the places that the rest of the world forgot.

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(Vatican Radio) The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin has expressed his hopes for "a new season in relations" between China and the Holy See. The cardinal's words came during an address to the diocesan seminary of Pordenone in northern Italy on Saturday.

Similar expectations are also expressed in a book entitled ‘The Gospel beyond the Great Wall’ which explores the many challenges facing the Catholic Church in China today. Its author, Hong Kong born Kin Sheung Chiaretto Yan, belongs to a lay Christian community and works as a teacher in seminaries and colleges in Beijing and Shanghai. He is optimistic about the substantial progress made recently in the difficult relationship between China and the Holy See. He also expects there may be further developments – within this Year of Mercy - that can overcome tensions between members of the official and ‘underground’ Churches in China.

Chiaretto recently returned to Hong Kong to attend an international conference, organised by the Ecclesiological Investigations Research Network, focused on the future of Christianity in China. Philippa Hitchen talked to him on the sidelines of the meeting to find out more about his hopes and expectations….

Listen 

Chiaretto says the Church in China is still quite traditional, partly because it missed out on the period of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. That was the era of the Cultural Revolution in China and although many churches were reopened in the 1980s, he says the Church still faces many challenges.

He notes that some Catholics have preserved the faith over many generations, while others are recent converts and he says there are still tensions between the so-called ‘underground Church’ and those who are registered with the government approved Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association. He explains that his community works to promote greater dialogue and understanding to overcome past prejudices.

Under Pope Francis, Chiaretto says, the image of the Catholic Church has improved and he believes there will be further progress during this Year of Mercy, as people don’t just go through a Holy Door but learn "to look at other people with new eyes”.

Appointment of bishops

Asked what steps he expects to see in the dialogue between the Vatican and the Holy See, Chiaretto replies that “a journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step”. He speaks of the continuing negotiations to find “an acceptable formula” for the appointment of bishops in China and says he’s convinced that the Chinese government is realising the distinction between political sovereignty and religious oversight.

Normalising relations

Chiaretto notes that the Chinese are “quite pragmatic” and says there has been a “whole change of tune” in statements coming from the Chinese foreign ministry regarding relations with the Holy See. He says there is “good will from both sides” and the Chinese government has repeatedly spoken of “positive efforts” that have been made towards the normalisation of relations. While the cultural differences continue to challenge both sides, he says “we need to pray for wisdom” to help “sort these things out”. 

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Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta is set to be canonized on Sunday, September 4th.

Mother Teresa founded the religious order Missionaries of Charity, which is based in Calcutta, India. She dedicated her life to helping the poorest of the poor.

She was beatified by John Paul II in 2003, just 6 years after her death at the age of 87.

The current Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity is Sister Mary Prema Pierick, who first met Mother Teresa in 1980.

Listen to part 1 of the interview with Sister Prema: 

She told Vatican Radio Mother Teresa’s holiness was so present in her life, the members of the congregation took it for granted.

“We lived with Mother and we took it for granted that she is available and that she is always attentive to us,” she said.

Listen to Part 2 of the interview with Sister Prema:

“We enjoyed her presence and we wanted to know from her how she lived the day, and how she went about the work she was doing,” Sister Prema continued.

“But deeply, I did not know how she was united with Jesus, and how deeply she lived the Gospel message of Jesus,” – Sister Prema said – “I can see that the works of mercy had become like a second nature to Mother, but that was Mother, and we took it for granted.”

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Anthony Naveed, a Catholic cabinet member in the Sindh province of Pakistan  has been promoted to serve as the Chief Minister’s special assistant with particular responsibilities in the interfaith harmony office. 

He is the first Christian member in Sindh reach this post and the only Catholic in Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah's Cabinet.

Naveed, who belongs to the Pakistan People’s Party, said he looks forward to promoting interfaith harmony in a country that is currently suffering from extremism.

"Since 2012 in Sindh Province our government has been working hard to move forward to promote interfaith harmony and develop a tolerant society for people from different religions, faiths and sects," said Neveed.

"It was a very challenging task to gather members from all religions together," said Naveed. "The next step is to organize workshops and seminars for the clergy of various faiths and form groups at the district level to facilitate interfaith harmony at grassroots level."

Mr. Naveed has been a distinguished Human Rights activist; who has a track record  of  efforts made to  safeguard  Human Rights of the Christians in Pakistan. As a politician, he has toiled to ensure provision of fundamental democratic rights of the Pakistani Christians. Naveed was also  an active member of the Catholic Youth Commission in the Archdiocese of Karachi from 1998 to 2005.

 

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