At the conference “Youth and Faith in Greater China” that is promoting for December 3 in Milan, the Chinese translation of the theologian Severino Dianich’s book “Jesus. A story for those who know nothing… or have forgotten. A new initiative promoted by the PIME Foundation as an instrument of first evangelization for those who approach the places of Christian tradition in Italy and Europe.
Tomorrow, December 3 – on the feast of Saint Francis Xavier – the PIME Missionary Center of Milan will host a conference promoted by “Youth and faith in Greater China.” An event that will focus on the testimonies of some young people from different realities in the current Chinese world who have found Christ in their own lives. The evening will also be an opportunity to present a new initiative promoted by the PIME Foundation: the Chinese translation of the book «Jesus. A story for those who know nothing… or have forgotten» (pages 64, euro 8). It is a work by Don Severino Dianich, priest of Pisa, one of the founders of the Italian Theological Association, which is offered as a quick help for a first approach to the figure of Jesus to those who – perhaps entering a church as tourists Italian or European – want to know more. We publish below a presentation by the editorial director of , Father Gianni Criveller, who wanted this initiative.
‘Jesus. A story for those who know nothing… or have forgotten’: the title of the book that the Italian theologian Severino Dianich wrote a few years ago had caught my attention. In fact, he had been thinking for some time about how to offer the many Chinese who visit cathedrals and places of Christian tradition in Italy and Europe a subsidy that would help them understand the deeper meaning of the place they admired, that is, the Christian faith. I remember that many years ago, Father Fernando Galbiati, former Superior General of PIME, suggested to me the need for a text in Chinese aimed at tourists who, increasingly, come to Europe from China. For almost all of them, the content of the Christian faith is unknown, and visiting places of faith could be not only a cultural and artistic experience, but also an opportunity for evangelization.
I have never thought of offering a synthesis of Christian doctrine or, as was done in the 19th century, a text that proposed “the essence of Christianity.” Rather, I think it is necessary to start from the story of Jesus. I also do this in my classes with Chinese students at the Catholic University of Milan. Before doctrine and precepts, I am convinced that Christianity is the encounter with Jesus and the experience of friendship with him. Jesus is the very heart of the Christian faith, and we know him through the Gospels. What are narratives? Jesus was also a storyteller through which he communicated his message. For this reason, the literary genre of the story is the one that best describes its history and the origin of Christianity.
In the Bible this phrase appears: «Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come to him.’ I imagined that, through the Chinese translation of Fr. Dianich’s book, Jesus could discreetly knock on the reader’s door so that, if he so desired, he would open the door for him. For me, it is a project in continuity with my vocation as an evangelizer among the Chinese people.
The author is a prominent theologian and priest concerned with the communication of faith. He has dedicated himself to young people for many years, especially university students. He himself was the promoter of the Chinese translation of his book. Years ago we had made a trip together to China, which had consolidated our friendship and brought Fr. Severino closer to the topic of Christian history in the great Asian country. It was not difficult to obtain from the San Paolo publishing house the possibility of translating the text with the objective not of commercial success, but of an evangelization action.
Therefore, I took this initiative very seriously, entrusting the translation to the scholar Maria Hsu, from Taiwan, herself a guide for Chinese tourists in Rome, and asking Fr. Giovanni Battista Sun, director of the Li Madou Center (Matteo Ricci, in Macerata), who revised the translation, adapting it to the simplified characters and terminology used in the People’s Republic of China. The PIME Center in Milan then took care of the graphic part and published the book, as part of its commitment to offering evangelization opportunities.
The cover of the book reproduces an icon by the artist and PIME missionary Father Fulvio Giuliano. The image is in Hong Kong and contains Chinese characters: it represents Jesus, surrounded by the symbols of the four evangelists, saying: “Go and proclaim the Kingdom of God” (Luke 9:60). It is an agile book – a dozen chapters for about sixty pages – aimed at those who do not know Jesus. Now it is necessary to promote it: I have contacted the Chinese communities in Italy and Europe and their chaplains, inviting them to collaborate in the dissemination in their cities. I have spoken about it in two conferences in Germany and Spain. So far the response has been encouraging: some pastoral workers have told me that it is a useful text to accompany catechumens to the faith in Europe and that it will be enriched with a view to the Holy Year.
For more information about the volume, you can write to [email protected]
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