"When I became a parish priest at this church three years ago, I started celebrating the liturgy in Chinese instead of Latin, the language traditionally used on such occasions," said Feng Guoxin, a priest at the North Catholic Church in Beijing.

Feng, 33, was ordained as a Catholic priest in late 1993 after five years of formative study at the Beijing Seminary.

Like Feng, there are now about 1,500 Catholic priests in the country, who have been trained by the Catholic Church of China.

According to Bishop Fu Tieshan, chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, the development of Catholicism in China is looking vigorous due to the implementation of the country's policy of ensuring freedom of religious beliefs and the emergence of a new generation of priests.

There are now 100 Catholic dioceses and five million Christians in China. The Catholic Church of China runs 12 major seminaries and has sent 100 young priests to study abroad.

It also has 3,000 young nuns who have taken their initial vows and more than 200 nuns who have taken permanent vows.

Each year, more than 50,000 people are baptized in the Catholic churches throughout the country. And so far, over three million volumes of the Bible have been published and distributed in China.

"The young priests have played an important role in preaching the gospel of God," said Bishop Fu. "We are confident they can give outstanding performances in important positions inside the Church."

"The number of faithful taking part in the Lent retreat has increased from two dozen to the present 800, and they also watch religious VCD programs and read the Bible as well as praying," said Father Feng.

"People's ideas have changed dramatically as time goes on," said Gao Yang, a priest from the Beijing Catholic East Hall. "In the past, the senior priests only emphasized prayer and self-salvation, while now we young priests are dedicated to taking the spirit of the Gospel to others."

Gao Yang was born in a Catholic family in 1958, and became a Catholic priest in 1986 after finishing his professional studies in Beijing Seminary.

Gao also went to study in Ireland and Britain in 1995 and 1999 respectively.

In 1988, he organized his choir members to work with the China Central Philharmonic Orchestra to produce two tapes of religious songs and music, which are the first of their kind in the Beijing parish.

"The priests in the past were somewhat isolated from the outside world as they only stayed indoors and read books besides practicing the sacraments," Gao said.

"But now the situation is quite different. We priests have got more freedom to contact the outside world and can do more things to benefit society," Gao added.

(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2002)