China prepares for ordinations of three bishops, all with papal OK

Published: 2007-11-20

HONG KONG (CNS) -- The Catholic Church in China is expecting the ordination of three new government-recognized bishops, all in their 40s and with papal approval. The Guangzhou, Ningxia and Yichang dioceses are preparing for the ordinations, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News. Father Francis Lu Shouwang is set to be ordained Nov. 30 at St. Francis Cathedral in Yichang, a city along the Yangtze River in Hubei province. He became diocesan administrator after Bishop Paul Francis Zhang Mingqian of Yichang died in July 2005; diocesan priests, nuns and laypeople elected the priest as a candidate for bishop last December. Farther north, in Ningxia-Hui Autonomous Region, Bishop John Liu Jingshan of Ningxia told UCA News Nov. 19 that he will ordain Father Joseph Li Jing, 40, as his coadjutor. He said the ceremony is tentatively set for Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, at the cathedral in Yinchuan. Media outside mainland China reported that Father Joseph Gan Junqiu may be ordained in early December as bishop of Guangzhou, in southern China's Guangdong province. On Nov. 20, Bishop-elect Gan, 43, and other church officials in China told UCA News that no date had been fixed but preparations for the episcopal ordination were under way.

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