Chinese Catholic community in nation's capital small but vibrant

Published: 2007-05-18

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In the corridors of power in Washington, there is wrangling over the U.S. trade imbalance with China. But, in the corridors of the District of Columbia's Chinatown neighborhood and Interstate 270 in Washington's northwestern suburbs, the talk is not of imports and exports but the culture of China and the Catholic faith. The Chinese Catholic community in Washington is relatively small -- about 75 families -- yet large enough to sustain three Sunday Masses: a Cantonese-language liturgy in Chinatown, and separate liturgies in English and in Mandarin in suburban Rockville, Md. Having two locations for Our Lady of China mission, though, isn't without its difficulties. Without a permanent home of its own, the Chinatown Mass is shoehorned between two Masses at an English-language parish church; sometimes the early English Mass doesn't end until the Cantonese Mass is supposed to begin. In Rockville, parking troubles at the church used for the Mandarin Mass forced it to move to 3 p.m. Sundays a year ago. "Right away, we lost a third of our people," said Paul Wang, president of Our Lady of China's parish council.

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