Do you know anyone who is passionate about building friendship among Catholics in the US and China? By becoming an Affiliate of the USCCA , our supporters can get involved with the USCCA's mission in an even deeper way. Throughout the year, Affiliates of the USCCA are invited to participate in Book Circle Discussions, to share their skills and abilities, and to participate in a variety of projects and initiatives. Conference attendees who sign up to become Affiliates at the conference will receive a copy of John C.H. Wu's Beyond East and West ! The USCCA Book Circle has been discussing the spiritual insights shared by John C.H. Wu and Thomas Merton in Merton & the Tao: Dialogues with John Wu and the Ancient Sages . As you plumb the depths of  Beyond East and West , we hope that you find wisdom in Wu's explorations of Taoist and Catholic spiritual traditions. The 29th USCCA International Conference will be held at DePaul University's Lincoln Park campus on August 2–4, 2024.  Register today  to ensure your opportunity to participate as an attendee at the upcoming conference! If you can't attend the Conference and would like to learn more about the USCCA Affiliate program, please complete the USCCA Affiliate Interest Form , and we'll contact you directly. We appreciate your interest.

This week, we conclude our series of   blog posts  introducing panelists and session chairs who will be presenting at the  29th USCCA International Conference . Learn more about them below: Qi Zeng, D.Sc .  was professionally involved for many years in the U.S. pharmaceutical and financial industries. She holds a Doctor of Science degree from Harvard School of Public Health, as well as dual MA degrees in philosophy and theology from Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in theological ethics in Boston college working on her dissertation titled “Toward a Chinese universal ethic.” John A. Worthley, Ph.D.  has taught courses at Wuhan University, the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, the Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade, and Hainan University. He authored the first article on Chinese public administration in Western literature in  Public Administration Review and has published articles in America  magazine on the church in China. He is a (retired) professor Seton Hall University. Wu Xiaoxin, Ed.D. , Director of Research at the Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History at Boston College. He has had relationship with the USCCA since its beginning, especially as understood through the personal relationship of Father Edward Malatesta, founder of the Ricci Institute and an early board member of the USCCA. The Ricci Institute is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2024. Fr. Joseph Yu Yang  obtained a Bachelor of Theology (S.T.B.) in May 1998, a Master of Divinity (M. Div) in May 1999, and a Master of Systematic Theology (S.T.L.) in June 2000. Since July 2000, he has been teaching systematic theology at the National Catholic Seminary and Beijing Catholic Seminary in China. He is the Secretary General of the Bishops’ Conference, where he has been working since 2011. Yujia (Sam) Zhai  is a Theology doctoral candidate at Boston College concentrated in Comparative Theology and Christian-Jewish Relations. Born and raised in Tianjin, China, Sam came to the USA as a college student majoring in Physics and Computer Science at University of Southern California. He became a Catholic in 2013 and went on to earn two Master's degrees at Boston College School of Theology and Ministry.  The 29th USCCA International Conference will be held at DePaul University's Lincoln Park campus on August 2–4, 2024.   Register today  to ensure your opportunity to participate as an attendee at the upcoming conference. After registering yourself, remember to share this information by forwarding it to your friends! We look forward to seeing you there.

Always grateful for your support and your interest in our mission, we would like to invite you to the Ricci Award Banquet and 35th Anniversary Celebration, scheduled for Saturday, August 3, as part of the  29th USCCA International Conference . The Award Ceremony will be chaired by Fr. Hugh O'Donnell and Fr. Francis Li, who is also the Conference Chair. The Ricci Award Dinner and 35th Anniversary Celebration will be a time of international festivity and fellowship among lay and religious conference attendees. It will be held at the New Furama restaurant in the Chinatown neighborhood of Chicago. Register today to ensure your opportunity to participate as an attendee and Ricci Award Dinner participant at the upcoming conference. After registering yourself, remember to share this information by forwarding it to your friends! We look forward to seeing you at DePaul University on August 2–4, 2024.

This week, we would like to introduce you to more of our conference panelists and session chairs: Mary Sluka  is one of the leaders of the USCCA Book Circles. She is a long-time Board member of the Association, has been its Secretary, and has helped work on its China Church Quarterly, its National Conferences, and a Study Tour to China. She has a B.A. in History, an M.A. in Asian Studies, and an M.A. in Scripture, Theology, and Liturgy. Huili (Kathy) Stout, Ph.D  received her Ph.D. in theology from the University of Dayton in December 2023. She has taught classes on theology and religious studies as well as Daoism, Buddhism, and Chinese traditions in general to undergraduate students at UD and the University of Oklahoma.  Peter Tan  is the Chair of the USCCA Board. He graduated from the University of Hawaii in 1977 with a double B.A. Degree in Business Administration and Political Science. He is a Knight of Columbus and a Knight Commander with Star of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. Since 2016, he and a small group of Catholics in Houston have raised funds for priests from China to study for their M.A. degrees. Fr. Heping Wang  was born in Ulanqab City, Inner Mongolia in 1968. He is a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Beijing and holds a Ph.D. in Theology from the Jesuit Theological Seminary in Berkeley, California. He currently works as a researcher in the Biblical Research Department of the CCPA & BCCCC, and teaches at the National Catholic Seminary and Beijing Catholic Seminary.  Carolyn Woo, Ph.D.  chairs Panel 4b, "Friendship as Ministry." She was born and raised in Hong Kong and educated by the Maryknoll Missionary Sisters. She attributes her faith formation to the joyful ministries of the Maryknoll Sisters to serve the vulnerable and most marginalized.  During her career, Carolyn Woo served as the Dean of the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame and as CEO of Catholic Relief Services.  The 29th USCCA International Conference will be held at DePaul University's Lincoln Park campus on August 2–4, 2024.   Register today  to ensure your opportunity to participate as an attendee at the upcoming conference. After registering yourself, remember to share this information with your friends! We look forward to seeing you there.

Did you know that the  29th USCCA International Conference  will conclude with a tour? After days of learning and building friendships among lay and religious keynote speakers and panelists, tour participants will become acquainted with Chicago's most unique holy and public sites.  This tour has capacity for 40 guests at a cost of $40 per person. The tour schedule is as follows: 1:00 Leave DePaul's Lincoln Park Campus 1:20 Arrive at Millennium Park: A park on Lake Michigan, featuring public art, including the famous Cloud Gate (the Bean; pictured above). 2:10 Leave Millennium Park 2:35 Arrive at St. Therese Chinese Catholic Church for a tour led by Fr. Francis Li: The home of the Chinese Catholic community in Chicago. 3:05 Leave St. Therese Chinese Catholic Church 3:30 Arrive at Old St. Patrick's Catholic Church for a tour: Chicago's oldest public building, decorated in the Celtic Revival style, based on the Book of Kells. 4:05 Leave Old St. Patrick's Catholic Church 4:20 Arrive at Holy Name Cathedral for a tour led by Fr. Andy Matijevic: The Gothic revival cathedral of the Archdiocese of Chicago, built after the Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed the old cathedral. 5:00 Return to DePaul's Lincoln Park campus Register today to ensure your opportunity to participate as an attendee and tour participant at the upcoming conference. After registering yourself, remember to share this information by forwarding it to your friends! We look forward to seeing you at DePaul University on August 2–4, 2024.

In its last meeting of this semester, the USCCA Book Circle discussed the collected letters of correspondence between John Wu and Thomas Merton, accompanied by an introductory essay by Lucien Miller entitled "The Thomas Merton—John C.H. Wu Letters: The Lord as Postman." These readings were drawn from Merton & the Tao: Dialogues with John Wu and the Ancient Sages , the book which has been the focus of our Book Circle over the course of the semester. A lively discussion ensued on Saturday, June 29, 2024, in which scholars and lay readers reflected on the depth of mutual enrichment that can come from dialogue between spiritual traditions Eastern and Western in origin. Participants engaged in a compelling discussion of how Buddhism's insights can open up new possibilities for understanding Catholicism and Christianity in general. We talked about Merton's reflection on the "strange dialectic" of personal identity, wherein "It is what is seemingly not present, the void, that is really I...It is the No-I [not I] that is most of all I in each one of us" (p. 161). Another thought-provoking passage was found in Wu's suggestion that The ancient Zen masters would be better Christians than many today, because had they heard Christ's teachings they would have understood them, while Christians have lost their ear for the words of the Gospel and the 'impractical' living counsels of the Living LOGOS. (p. 160) These comparisons on the topics of ethics and personal identity were complemented by further discussion on the value of immanence and nature in Eastern thought, which the West can only disregard at a significant spiritual cost. Were you unable to make it to the Book Circle on June 29, 2024? We encourage you to sign up for email updates for the latest from the USCCA , including Book Circle updates for its Fall 2024 semester. You can also stay involved with the USCCA by supporting our mission with a donation or by learning with us and building friendships at the 29th USCCA International Conference . The Conference will be held on August 2–4, 2024, at DePaul University's Lincoln Park campus in Chicago. If you have any questions about the conference, please feel free to reach out to our Interim Chief Administrative Officer, Gerald Doyle, at director@uscatholicchina.org .

Will you be joining us to celebrate 35 years of the USCCA at the  29th USCCA International Conference ? This week, we would like to introduce you to more of the panelists and session chairs who will be there at DePaul University's Lincoln Park campus on August 2–4, 2024: Dr. Jin Lu  received her PhD in French Literature from Boston College. As a trilingual writer, she has authored a monograph on the concept of philosophe in French Enlightenment, served as an editor, contributor and co-translator for a book on the images of France during the Qing dynasty and co-authored a book on intercultural dialogue.  Her forthcoming monograph is entitled Translingual Catholics: Chinese Theologians before Vatican II . Rev. Jeremiah Jiangtao Li  is a priest from Hebei, China. He was ordained to the priesthood in 2014. Before coming to the US for further studies, he served at Hebei Catholic Seminary as a faculty member. He earned his Licentiate (S.T.L.) in Biblical studies and the Master of Theology from Boston College. He is currently sponsored by the Maryknoll China Project and is a doctoral candidate in homiletics at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Missouri. Fr. Joseph Lin  belongs to the China Province of the Congregation of Mission founded by St. Vincent de Paul. Fr. Lin received his master's degree in Scripture at St John’s University in 2011 and Pastoral Counseling at Fordham University in 2020. He served the Chinese community at the Church of St. Joseph in Manhattan until 2015, and now he serves the Chinese community as parochial vicar at the Basilica of Regina Pacis in Brooklyn. Richard (Dick) Madsen, Ph.D.  is Professor University of California, San Diego. He is also the Vice Chair of the USCCA Board. He went on a mission to Taiwan in 1968. While there he discerned a vocation to be a bridge builder between China and the West by fostering mutual understanding between their cultures and reconciliation from past estrangements.  He has been involved with USCCA since its founding. Tom McGuire ’s friendship with Chinese people dates back to his days as a Maryknoll Missionary in Hong Kong. When he returned to the U.S., participating in USCCA Conferences helped to maintain his friendships with Chinese people. From 2018 to 2024, he served as USCCA Board Chair and now as a Board Emeritus Director. Tom has also served as Director of Campus Ministry at the University of Detroit Mercy. Register today   to ensure your opportunity to participate as an attendee at the upcoming conference. After registering yourself, remember to share this information by forwarding it to your friends! We look forward to seeing you at DePaul University on August 2–4, 2024.

Have you registered yet as an attendee of  29th USCCA International Conference ? This week, we would like to introduce you to more of the panelists and session chairs who will be there at DePaul University's Lincoln Park campus on August 2–4, 2024: Fr. Lance P. Nadeau, M.M.  was elected Superior General of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers in July 2021.  Prior to his election, Fr. Nadeau served as Maryknoll missioner in Tanzania, Egypt, and Kenya.  He was the Regional Superior of Maryknoll’s Africa Region from 2010 – 2016.  In Tanzania and Egypt, he was involved in parochial and educational ministries. In Kenya, he was engaged in HIV communal health ministry and university chaplaincy. Kathleen O’Brien ’s commitment to her Catholic faith and passion for Chinese culture were nurtured during her time at Bradley University; she also has a Master’s in systematic theology from Catholic Theological Union. Kathleen has served as a Maryknoll Missionary in China, as a USCCA staff member, and as staff for Maryknoll in the Mission Formation Department, where she is currently involved with her local parish as the co-chair of the Parish Council.  Rev. Hugh O’Donnell, CM is an Emeritus Director of USCCA. He joined the Vincentians in 1952, was ordained a priest in 1961, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Fribourg in 1966. In 1993, he accepted a mission to Taiwan as provincial superior; under his tenure, the Vincentians re-entered China for the first time since 1950. Today, Fr. O'Donnell heads up a leadership program at DePaul University for sisters and priests from China. Fr. Peter Shen is from Xingtai Diocese of Hebei Province, China. He graduated from Jilin Catholic Major Seminary in 2012, and was ordained to the priesthood in China in 2016; he received a master's degree in Pastoral Theology at National Catholic Seminary in China in 2023. He is currently sponsored by the Maryknoll China Project and is studying for a master’s degree in International Communications at St. John’s University in New York City. Register today to ensure your opportunity to participate as an attendee at the upcoming conference. After registering yourself, remember to share this information by forwarding it to your friends! We look forward to seeing you at DePaul University on August 2–4, 2024.

Introducing Interior Taiji by Simeiqi He, Ph.D Immersed within the ancient tradition of Taiji (Tai Chi) (2), Interior Taiji has been transforming contemporary China's personal and social lives for over a decade. It is a unitive praxis created by the Chinese Catholic Gong Yan with love and life as its central expression. The praxis of Interior Taiji has two faces. It faces the Chinese Catholic Church as “unitive spirituality. It also faces the broader Chinese society as “unitive therapy.” It was birthed from and first enacted in Gong’s life during a period when his experiences of tremendous suffering were profoundly transformed through a creative process of doing Taiji with God and with oneself. The praxis of Interior Taiji has two faces. It faces the Chinese Catholic Church as “unitive spirituality.” It also faces the broader Chinese society as “unitive therapy.” Interior Taiji is well received in China, having been implemented into Catholic seminaries, retreats, faith formation, etc. Chinese psychotherapists have widely incorporated it into individual, family, and group counseling practices. Central to Interior Taiji is the movement and transformation of affect concerning the human capacity and desire to love and be loved unconditionally. For Gong, affect originates in God and exists essentially in every human being and God. Interior Taiji's goal is transforming the human effect through which one attains union with God (or unity between heaven and human beings as denoted by the Chinese concept Tianrenheyi), achieves integral health, and becomes an authentic self. While Gong considers the centrality of effect as unique to the Chinese cultural sentiment, his approach can find resonance in mystical theology, where the effect is fundamental to the soul’s divinizing transformation and union with God. In the twelfth century, St. Bernard of Clairvaux used the term to refer to our active capacity to desire and love and our passive capacity to receive love. (3) Gong’s conception of affect as essential to human nature with the capacity to be transformed through divine union shares a deep affinity with St. Bernard. Inherent to Interior Taiji is a comprehensive structure of professional supervision. He emphasizes that Interior Taiji is an open learning process in the community and serving God and the world. Interior Taiji expresses a social vision of personal communion and is forming conscience not through external forces but by discerning the love of God in the community. Gong’s vision for therapists and spiritual directors is akin to Pope Francis’s notion of spiritual accompaniers, as those who “do not do the work in the place of the person accompanied but walk alongside him or her or them, encouraging them to interpret what is stirring in their heart.” (4) Further, Interior Taiji presents a promising development in the Chinese Catholic Church and a contribution to the universal Church. It enacts the Catholic tradition of mystical theology while expanding its horizon to bear upon contemporary life. It demonstrates the contours of Chinese Catholic theology as an expression of the unbearable sorrows and the profound joys. Interior Taiji is a praxis of a new generation striving to heal both itself and the world. ------ This essay is a summary of the May Forum article under the same name first published by the Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church Taiji is the pinyin romanization of the Chinese term 太极. It is often called “Tai Chi” based on the Wade-Giles romanization system in the West. Given that Wade–Giles has been replaced mainly by pinyin in mainland China, Taiji is used in this article. Gordon Rudy, Mystical Language of Sensation in the Later Middle Ages (New York: Routledge, 2002), 59. Pope Francis, General Audience, 4 January 2023 ----------- About He Simeiqi, 何斯美琪 Simeiqi He is a theological ethicist and Catholic laywoman from mainland China. Her childhood love for science led her to pursue a Bachelor of Science in materials physics degree at Sichuan University. After a profound experience of love during their sophomore year in college, she professed her life-long commitment to the Christian faith. She was later baptized at Hope Foursquare Church in Snohomish, WA, in her junior year while studying at the University of Washington as part of an exchange program. Determined to grow deeper in her love of God and neighbor, she pursued theological education at Brite Divinity School, earning a Master of Arts in Theology and Ministry degree, while also obtaining a Master of Social Work degree and a graduate certificate in women and gender’s studies from Texas Christian University. As a part of her graduate study, He gained professional experiences through internship opportunities, serving as a student minister, a school social worker, and a psychotherapist. He continued her theological formation at Drew University, earning a Ph.D. in Christian ethics in 2023 with a dissertation on the Catholic moral theology of marriage. She was first introduced to the Roman Catholic tradition through the work of Thomas Merton and the Carmelite tradition. After intense discernment, Simeiqi He was fully communed with the Roman Catholic Church in 2019. Since then, she has been diving ever deeper into the life and wisdom of the Universal Church, its global intellectual tradition, and its creative manifestations through diverse encounters.

As we look forward to celebrating the USCCA's 35th anniversary at the   29th International USCCA Conference , we invite you this week to learn about more of the panelists and session chairs presenting on topics pertaining to theology, history, and the life of the Church in China: Dr. Brent Fulton  is Founder of ChinaSource, which serves as a platform for facilitating informed discussion around critical issues facing China and its church. His publications include China’s Urban Christians: A Light That Cannot Be Hidden  (Pickwick, 2015). Dr. Fulton holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in political science from the University of Southern California and a BA in radio-TV-film from Messiah College. Sr. Xiaoping Guo  is a religious sister from the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Mary in China. She has earned two Masters and a Ph.D. from Boston College. In the past thirty years of religious life, she has carried out various ministries, such as teaching at Catholic Seminary, leading retreat, and serving as general superior of the congregation. She is currently teaching at Sheshan Seminary in Shanghai.  Sr. Antoinette Gutzler , a Maryknoll Sister, holds a doctorate in systematic theology from Fordham University.  She has served in mission in Tanzania, East Africa and in Taiwan where she first directed a center for factory workers. After completing her theology studies, Sr. Gutzler was associate professor of theology at St. Robert Bellarmine School of Theology in Taipei until her election to the Leadership Team of the Maryknoll Sisters in 2014.  Jan Kwee  graduated with a degree in China Studies from the University of Cologne, Germany, with a one-year study visit at Nanjing University (2005 to 2006) in China. Since February 2010 he has been working at the Catholic China-Zentrum e.V. in Sankt Augustin, Germany, where he is—among other things—responsible for mediating a variety of Chinese Church project requests to the according aid agencies, dioceses and religious orders. Andrea Lee  is Content Manager at ChinaSource. Holding a B.A. in Chinese Language and Literature from Tunghai University and an M.A. in Comparative Literature from SOAS, UK, she has a profound understanding of cultural narratives, which she applied in academic and editorial contexts before joining ChinaSource. Originally from Taiwan, Andrea's career spans significant contributions to Chinese Christian ministries and extensive editorial work.  Register today  to ensure your opportunity to participate as an attendee at the upcoming conference. After registering yourself, remember to share this information by forwarding it to your friends! We look forward to seeing you at DePaul University on August 2–4, 2024.

Keynote speakers have played an important part in USCCA conferences throughout the years. We are pleased to share a bit about each of the keynote speakers scheduled to present at the 29th International USCCA Conference: Anthony E. Clark  is the Edward B. Lindaman Endowed Chair at Whitworth University, the Distinguished Combe Trust Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, and an elected Fellow of both the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Asiatic Society. The topic of Dr. Clark's keynote speech is "Keeping the Hill Green: China’s Hopeful Catholic Future." Bishop Paul Junmin Pei  is Vice President of the Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in China, Director of the Overseas Exchange Committee, and Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Liaoning. The topic of Bishop Pei's keynote speech is "Challenges and Opportunities of the Catholic Church in China." Naomi Thurston teaches and researches the history of Christianity in China and contemporary Chinese Christianities at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. The topic of Dr. Thurston's keynote speech is "Echoes of Hope: Chinese-Christian Debates in Republican and Post-Reform-Era China." Father Augustine Tsang has been teaching at Fu Jen Faculty of Theology of Saint Robert Bellarmine in Taiwan since 2001. The topic of Fr. Tsang's keynote speech is "Hope in the Present: Pastoral Work in and for Chinese Christians in Recent Years." Register today to ensure your opportunity to learn from these keynote presentations at the upcoming conference. We look forward to seeing you at DePaul University on August 2–4, 2024.

On June 10, 2024, the USCCA was pleased to collaborate with ChinaSource and the China Academic Consortium in hosting the latest Speaker Series, featuring Dr. José Casanova. Dr. Casanova lectured on the topic of "The Three Phases of the Globalization of Catholicism in Asia, with special focus on developments in China." Drawing from his extensive knowledge of the history of Catholic encounters in Asia, Dr. Casanova outlined three phases of globalization, each marked by its own particular challenges and controversies within the Church and adjacent communities: The first phase of globalization, including the "golden age" of global Catholic missions, started in the 1500s and endured through the 1770s The second phase, characterized by Western global hegemony, started in 1780s and extended to the 1960s The third phase started with Vatican II in the 1960s, and is marked by increasing recognition of the need for collaboration and cooperation between peoples Recalling a Jesuit missiology of "accommodation and enculturation," Dr. Casanova revealed how the history of Catholicism's globalization can inform efforts to build bridges of friendship across national and continental boundaries. Ultimately, he illustrated how Catholicism can continue to act as a force of global fraternity and as an advocate for those who are most negatively impacted by processes of globalization. After the lecture, Dr. Casanova answered questions submitted by attendees. This question-and-answer session was facilitated by Dr. Richard Madsen, USCCA Board Member and Distinguished Professor of Sociology at University of California San Diego. Dr. Casanova answered questions on topics including the scandal of Christ's resurrection, the crucial role of dialogue and accompaniment for intercultural encounters, and the Catholic response to secularization. Dr. Casanova's latest book, Asian Pacific Catholicism and Globalization , was published in December 2023 through Georgetown University Press. For additional opportunities to learn about the history, theology, and the Church in China, be sure to register as an attendee at the 29th USCCA International Conference , to be held in Chicago on August 2 – 4, 2024! Even if you are unable to attend the conference, you can still help us build bridges of understanding by volunteering or by donating to the USCCA .