Faith Brings Us Together, Friendship Leads Us Forward
- 4 days ago
- 11 min read
In his latest bilingual blog, Fr. Joseph Ruan reflects on the recent gathering in Texas of Chinese priests serving in the United States. We invite you to read Fr. Joseph's reflection below (click here for Chinese 点击这里查看中文):
Faith Brings Us Together, Friendship Leads Us Forward
The 2026 Houston Gathering of Chinese Priests, Religious Sisters, and Deacons in the United States
—From Houston to San Antonio: Renewing the Priestly Mission through Prayer, Fellowship, and the Footsteps of Evangelization
August 3–7, 2026 | Houston–San Antonio, Texas, USA
From August 3 to 7, 2026, the annual gathering of Chinese priests serving in the United States took place in Houston, Texas. Chinese priests from dioceses across the country joined priests and religious sisters from China who were studying or pursuing further formation in the United States, together with two deacons. Through prayer, Mass, shared reflection, visits, and fraternal fellowship, they considered how to live their priestly vocation more fully within the Church’s multicultural setting and how to advance the mission of evangelization among Chinese communities.
The gathering was organized and coordinated by Fr. Roger Shuxin Zhang and was based primarily at Holy Name Passionist Retreat Center in Houston. Participants arrived on August 3 and departed on August 7. The program included concelebrated Masses, exchanges on pastoral ministry and evangelization, a nature outing, and visits to historic Catholic sites in San Antonio, Houston, and Galveston.
The gathering followed naturally upon the 30th International Conference of the US-China Catholic Association (USCCA). Some participants attended the conference in Houston from July 31 to August 2 and then continued with the August 3–7 gathering. Priests and religious sisters who had taken part in the conference were invited to remain, while Chinese priests and sisters studying in the United States, along with two deacons, also joined the group. Bringing together people of different vocations, ages, and pastoral experiences, the gathering became a truly ecclesial encounter across regions, dioceses, and forms of consecrated service.
In the Passionist Spiritual Tradition: Learning Again to “Pause and Remain with the Lord”
Holy Name Passionist Retreat Center, where the gathering was based, is rooted in a rich spiritual tradition. In 1946, Christopher Byrne, the fourth Bishop of Galveston, invited Passionist priests and brothers to establish a retreat center there. Expanded facilities opened in 1953, and the center gradually became an important place of prayer, retreat, and spiritual formation in the Houston area. Founded by St. Paul of the Cross, the Passionists place particular emphasis on contemplating the Passion of Christ and recognizing in the Cross the love and saving mercy of God.
Holding a gathering of Chinese priests in this setting therefore carried special meaning. In their own parishes, participants are ordinarily occupied with Masses, the sacraments, pastoral visits, catechesis, and administration. They rarely have an opportunity simply to pause and speak with one another as brothers. Several days of common life created such a space: to pray together, eat together, travel together, and share the joys, difficulties, and hopes of pastoral ministry.
One of the gathering’s central themes was a renewed reflection on “mission,” moderated by Fr. Chunxiang Zhang. On the evening of August 4, participants discussed how the Church might better carry out and promote her missionary vocation. On the morning of August 6, they continued with a reflection on the meaning of mission itself.
Chinese immigrant communities are continually changing. Younger generations use English more frequently, intercultural marriages are increasingly common, and parish life is becoming ever more diverse. Chinese pastoral ministry must cherish its linguistic and cultural heritage while also entering actively into the life of the local Church and bearing witness in communion with other communities.
Into the Depths of the Earth: A Nature Outing and Unhurried Fellowship
On the morning of August 5, the group departed at 9:00 a.m. for Cascade Caverns in Boerne, Texas, and began the tour at 10:00 a.m. The guided visit lasted approximately 45 minutes to one hour and followed a walking route of about 1,100 feet through five chambers. As the group descended, rock walls, stalactites, and underground spaces offered a landscape very different from the cities and churches of the preceding days, adding a relaxed and refreshing experience to the program.
The visit to the caverns was a nature outing and community activity within the gathering. Walking, waiting, and looking out for one another gave participants further opportunities for conversation and helped them become better acquainted in an easygoing atmosphere. There was no need to impose an exaggerated religious symbolism upon the experience. Precisely as a simple journey shared together, it provided a welcome change of pace before the historical and ecclesial visits that followed and allowed fellowship to unfold naturally.
Along the San Antonio Mission Trail: Seeking Answers for Evangelization Today
One of the most historically significant parts of the gathering was the journey to San Antonio and the renowned San Antonio Missions. In the early eighteenth century, Spanish Franciscan missionaries established a series of missions along the San Antonio River. These communities combined churches, friaries, residential life, agriculture, and catechetical formation, while also profoundly altering the lives and cultures of Indigenous peoples. Today, Mission Concepción, Mission San José, Mission San Juan Capistrano, and Mission Espada are preserved within San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. Together with The Alamo—originally Mission San Antonio de Valero—they form the first and, to date, only UNESCO World Heritage Site in Texas. The four churches within the national historical park remain active Catholic parishes.
The centuries-old stone walls, bell towers, altars, and courtyards naturally called to mind the early missionaries who arrived in an unfamiliar land, facing differences of language and culture, difficult living conditions, and an uncertain future. Yet they chose to remain, to learn local languages, to build communities, and to sow the seeds of the Gospel from one generation to the next. An honest view of this history must also acknowledge the complex entanglement of the mission system with colonial expansion and the profound changes endured by Indigenous peoples. Only by looking back with truthfulness and respect can history genuinely illuminate evangelization today.
Mission San José was founded in 1720 and later became one of the largest and best-preserved centers in the San Antonio mission system, earning the title “Queen of the Missions.” The origins of Mission Concepción date to 1716; it was moved to the San Antonio area in 1731, and its original stone church and traces of colonial-era frescoes remain. Mission San Juan Capistrano was likewise relocated there in 1731, and agriculture, irrigation, and community life became defining features. Mission Espada traces its beginnings to an earlier mission founded in 1690 and moved to the San Antonio River in 1731; its acequia and community remains bear witness to the common life of its early inhabitants. Taken together, the four missions reveal a network of faith, production, and social life that developed along the river.
The group also visited the celebrated Alamo. Originally the Catholic mission of San Antonio de Valero, it was founded in 1718 and later became a widely recognized Texas landmark because of the Battle of the Alamo in 1836. For the participants, The Alamo connected modern Texas history with an earlier past marked by the shared life, prayer, and labor of missionaries and Indigenous communities.
Three centuries ago, missionaries came to a land unknown to them. Today, three hundred years later, priests, religious sisters, and deacons from China live and serve in the United States. Times, social conditions, and methods of evangelization have changed, but the mission entrusted by Christ to the Church continues. The lesson of the old missions is not to reproduce the past, but to seek forms of witness that are faithful and humble today—always respecting particular cultures, human dignity, and the experience of the local Church.
In the “Heart” of San Antonio: Faith and the City Growing Together
The group also visited downtown San Antonio. San Fernando Cathedral was established in 1731 by sixteen families from the Canary Islands. The parish identifies itself as the oldest continuously functioning religious community in Texas. For generations, the cathedral has stood at the center of San Antonio’s religious, cultural, and civic life. Those who enter each day to pray, together with residents and visitors crossing the plaza, form the daily scene of this city’s “heart.”
After nightfall, participants strolled along the famous San Antonio River Walk. The river, bridges, lights, restaurants, and visitors displayed the vitality of modern San Antonio, while a cathedral and mission sites nearly three centuries old stood only a short distance away. Here, the ancient and the modern meet. The scene offered a fresh reminder that the Gospel is not an abstract idea removed from life; it becomes life within the cities, languages, and cultures people actually inhabit.
From Historic Sites to a Living Chinese Catholic Community
On August 6, the gathering returned to Houston and celebrated Mass at Ascension Chinese Mission. An important community serving Chinese Catholics in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, the mission is currently led by Fr. Roger Shuxin Zhang. If the old missions of San Antonio offered a glimpse of evangelization three centuries ago, Houston’s Chinese Catholic community showed that the same mission continues today. Every Mass celebrated in Chinese, every catechumenate class, every visit to the sick, every accompaniment of a newly arrived immigrant family, and every effort in youth formation writes a new chapter in the life of the local Church.
Following the itinerary, the group also traveled to the Galveston waterfront and visited St. Mary Cathedral Basilica. In 1842, Fr. Jean Marie Odin dedicated Galveston’s first simple church of St. Mary. After the Diocese of Galveston was established in 1847, construction began on a new church, which was consecrated in 1848. One of the two cathedrals of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, it is also known as the “Mother Church” of Catholicism in Texas. In 1979, Pope St. John Paul II elevated it to the dignity of a minor basilica. The cathedral survived the Great Storm of 1900 and suffered severe damage during Hurricane Ike in 2008; following restoration, it reopened fully in 2014. Its history extended the journey from the mission heritage of Spanish colonial Texas to the growth, trials, and renewal of the local Church.
Friendship Itself Is a Form of Evangelization
Another indispensable part of the gathering was simply eating together, talking together, and laughing together. Smiling faces, raised glasses, and shared dishes captured a fraternity both simple and precious. Priestly life often means carrying responsibility, and it can also mean facing many parish challenges alone. What a joy, then, to set ordinary duties aside for a while and speak honestly with brother priests about life and ministry.
Special thanks are due to Fr. Roger Shuxin Zhang for the care he devoted to the gathering. From early communications, registration, lodging, and transportation to the itinerary between Houston and San Antonio, he extended generous hospitality and warmly welcomed brothers and sisters from many places, making the entire gathering possible.
Special thanks are also due to Mr. Jiong Lin of the parish, whose generous sponsorship provided essential financial support for the gathering.
During the gathering, parishioner Xiongguan Liu and his family, together with parishioner Xuemei Chen, invited the participating priests, religious sisters, and two deacons to dine at their restaurant and insisted on covering the entire meal. Behind the abundant dishes was the simple and sincere love of Chinese lay Catholics for the Church, for priestly and religious vocations, and for the ordained ministry of deacons.
Heartfelt thanks are likewise offered to Professor and Mrs. Liang and to Ruben Luna and his wife for their gracious hospitality. They opened their homes and welcomed everyone as friends and brothers and sisters in Christ. A family meal, a cup of tea, and an unhurried conversation can bring people closer than a formal meeting, allowing participants from different places to experience firsthand the warmth of Houston’s Chinese Catholic community.
The many Chinese parishioners of Ascension Chinese Mission also deserve sincere thanks. Some assisted with transportation, others prepared meals or welcomed guests, and still others served quietly behind the scenes. Many names did not appear in the schedule or this report, yet together they made these beautiful days of fellowship possible.
Concluding the Gathering in the Glory of the Transfiguration
As the gathering drew to a close, the priests joined the community at Ascension Chinese Mission for a solemn celebration of the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. The liturgy gave the entire gathering a particularly beautiful spiritual meaning.
On Mount Tabor, Peter, James, and John saw the face of Jesus shine and His garments become dazzling white. Moses and Elijah appeared and spoke with Him, and the Father’s voice came from the cloud: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” The disciples were permitted a brief vision of Christ’s glory, but they still had to follow Jesus down the mountain toward Jerusalem, the Cross, and finally the glory of the Resurrection.
The days of the gathering carried something of that “Mount Tabor” experience. Participants stepped away briefly from the demands of parish life to gather, pray, share, and laugh. They looked back upon the history of the Church at San Antonio’s ancient missions, contemplated Christ anew in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, and rediscovered the joy of vocation through the friendship of brothers and sisters. When the gathering ended, each person still had to “go down the mountain” and return to a diocese, parish, school, or pastoral assignment. Yet they descended with renewed strength.
At the final Mass, the priests brought before the altar all the benefactors, families, and parishioners who had supported the gathering and prayed for them: for Fr. Roger Shuxin Zhang and his organization and hospitality; for the generous banquet offered by Xiongguan Liu and his family and by Xuemei Chen; for the financial support of Mr. Jiong Lin; for the gracious welcome extended by Professor and Mrs. Liang and by Ruben Luna and his wife; and for all the members of Ascension Chinese Mission and Houston’s Chinese Catholic community who helped publicly or quietly behind the scenes.
The Gathering Ends; the Mission Continues
What remains after a truly ecclesial gathering is not merely a collection of photographs and an itinerary, but the communion formed between people. From the 30th USCCA International Conference to the gathering of Chinese priests, religious sisters, and deacons in the United States; from a Houston retreat center to three-hundred-year-old missions in San Antonio; from the natural wonder of underground caverns to ancient stone churches and a vibrant Chinese Catholic community today—the experiences of these days spoke with one voice: the Gospel is handed on as one generation walks beside the next.
Three centuries ago, people came to Texas and sowed the seeds of the Gospel. Today, priests, religious sisters, and deacons from China continue to serve on this land. In the future, the same mission will be entrusted to another generation. May Christ transfigured shine His light upon every Chinese priest, religious sister, and deacon serving in the United States. May God bless all benefactors and lay faithful who support Chinese evangelization. And may the fraternal friendship formed in Christ give everyone strength to continue the journey.
“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:15)
Fr. (Joseph) Guozhang Ruan was born and ordained in China. After serving in parish ministry in the Diocese of Mindong, Fujian, he pursued advanced studies in moral theology in Rome, earning a doctorate from the Pontifical Lateran University. Since coming to the United States in 2004, he has served in several parishes in the Archdiocese of New York. He is currently the Director of the Chinese Apostolate for the Archdiocese of New York and Parochial Vicar of Holy Rosary Church on Staten Island. His ministry focuses on serving Chinese Catholics, promoting evangelization, and fostering greater understanding between the Church in China and the universal Church.
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