Prof. Menegon Meets Leaders of Chinese Catholic Bishop Conference
On December 6, 2019, Professor Menegon coordinated a cordial and successful meeting with the leaders of the official and government-endorsed Catholic Chinese Bishop Conference at Boston College’s Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies (IAJS), where he is a Collaborative Scholar.
The delegation consisted of six members: Bishop Ma Yinglin 马英林 , President of the Bishop Conference of the Catholic Church in China (BCCCC) and Bishop of Kunming diocese (Yunnan Province); Bishop Zhan Silu 詹思禄, Vice President of BCCCC and Bishop of Mindong diocese (Fujian Province); Bishop He Zeqing 何泽清, Vice President of BCCCC and Bishop of Wanzhou diocese（Chongqing City）; Bishop Wang Renlei 王仁雷, Bishop of Xuzhou diocese（Jiangsu Province）; Bishop Li Suguang 李稣光, Bishop of Jiangxi diocese（Jiangxi Province）; and Rev. John Chen Guangqian 陈广前, their interpreter and Academic Dean of Shaanxi Catholic Major Seminary, (Shaanxi Province).
The purpose of the Chinese Bishops’ trip was:
- to study how Catholic dioceses are run in the USA, to learn about the development and education of vocations, and to understand how to improve the relationship between the Church and society. They also hoped to learn about the operations of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
- To introduce the accomplishments of the Catholic Church in China during the past thirty years.
- To invite bishops and other responsible figures within the American Church to visit the Church in China.
The delegation first visited Chicago (December 1-3) and then St. Vincent Archabbey outside of Pittsburgh (December 3-5). The final stop was Boston (December 5-7), where they visited the Catholic St. John Seminary and Boston College, and met with Boston’s Cardinal O’Malley
At BC, Menegon presented his 2010 monograph on Catholicism in Mindong, Ancestors, Virgins and Friars (Mindong is the diocese of visiting Bishop Vincent Zhan), and the China-related research he is involved with at the BU Center for Global Christianity and Mission (where he is Associated Faculty), including the Chinese Christian Posters website and the China Historical Christian Database in development.
See photos from the meeting, and the New Year “Happiness”（福）embroidery the Bishops offered for the IAJS holiday tree.
