Bureau's focus is long missionary relationship between U.S., China

Published: 2007-05-18

ATLANTA (CNS) -- Since it was established in 1989, the U.S. Catholic China Bureau has worked to continue the long-standing missionary relationship between China and American Catholics. It focuses on educating U.S. Catholics about China and acts as a liaison to the church in China. The bureau, based at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., is a joint initiative of the Society of Jesus and the Maryknoll Society. One of its goals is "to enable the church in China to stand up on its own two feet and be evangelizing agents to the Chinese people," said Maryknoll Sister Janet Carroll, the bureau's senior programs associate. "It's a living, dynamic church that is growing, developing and suffering," she told The Georgia Bulletin, newspaper of the Atlanta Archdiocese. "There's a hunger for meaning and purpose." Sister Carroll, who was executive director from 1989 to 2003, travels frequently to China. The bureau sponsors religious study trips, allowing participants to view the growth of faith, lay involvement and vocations in China. In March it sponsored its 10th such trip.

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