Scottish Catholic Observer

Thank you so much for your help.’ That is the message to Scotland’s Catholics from Sr Mary Niu of China who is behind the building of one of the first contemplative monasteries in the country for half a century.

The nun was recently in the UK for a 30-day retreat, and says her work in China is a ‘miracle’ that could only happen with the help of Catholics in Scotland and elsewhere.

In just four years she has been able to almost complete a combined contemplative monastery and nursing home, despite opposition from many in the Chinese Government.

It is only because the monastery is built alongside the retirement home that the Chinese authorities will allow it and although the monastery is complete, the nursing home is still to be finished.

“If we finish it all, I feel it will have been a miracle,” Sr Mary said. “We have overcome so much, it feels very much like God’s plan, which is greater than anything we know.”

Though there is still resistance to the Church from the Chinese Government she says the situation has improved greatly in the last few decades.

“During the cultural revolution there was terrible persecution,” she said. Her family who she says have been Catholic ‘for many generations’ suffered greatly.

She remembers her grandmother being taken by officers and beaten, her grandfather had to attend re-education classes each day and her mother burnt all the religious books the family had in its possession because they were known to be Catholics.

“My father lost his job because of his beliefs, and I was always put down by the teachers in the school though my exam results were top of the class,” she said. “We were strictly watched, but we never stopped praying at home and never denied our Faith. Every night the whole family gathered together to pray with very low voices, and we would stop when there was a sound outside, because someone might listen from the roof or under the window, and report us to the local leaders. My Faith grew in that environment under the influence of my family. My mother always told me stories of the saints, and I was particularly struck by the life of St Teresa of Lisieux.”

Sr Mary’s religious vocation grew out of that experience. “I wanted to conquer the hatred and persecution with forgiveness and love,” she said.

When the Cultural Revolution ended around 1980 she went to university, studied engineering and worked as an engineer for 11 years. In 1993, she decided to give up her job and go back to university to study medicine.

“I thought that being a doctor would be more practical for a religious, and would offer more opportunities to contact and serve people.”

She worked as a doctor in a hospital for some years while looking for a suitable religious community to enter. There were no convents in China at that time so she decided to live a religious life in society. It was at this time she first became aware that God might be calling her to live a contemplative life.

She was due to begin her residency in a hospital when she was given the opportunity to go to England to live in a contemplative monastery with the Augustinian sisters. Her uncle, a priest in Taiwan, had a friend in the order and she went and lived with the sisters in Ireland for three years.

“During my three years in formation I felt more and more a deep call to live a monastic life, and also a desire to go back to China to make a contribution to the Church there,” she said.

With help from her local diocese, Sr Mary purchased land from the government to build a monastery/nursing home. The site overlooks a small Catholic village nestled in a valley with a river running through it.

“We decided to buy the building materials ourselves, in order to save money and ensure the quality of the materials,” she said. “This involved extra work and things were often not easy. I had help from many people.”

The building of the monastery was of great importance among local Catholics.

“My father and uncle both helped with the building work, many friends gave us support in various ways, some worked for us as volunteers, others helped to find good materials at low prices,” she said. “Columban Fr Eamonn O’Brien from Cultural Exchange with China that sponsors Chinese Church personnel in overseas study, not only helped financially but also took time to visit the site on the day the County Mayor came to see the project.”

Fr O’Brien said that Sr Mary Niu was a remarkable woman who represented the huge spiritual hunger that exists in China

“Beyond the glitz, quest for wealth and all the negative images with which the western media portrays Chinese society, there is also a profound and sincere core of deep search for truth in a way that I have never experienced in any country I have worked in,” he said.

It is for this reason he believes the Church is beginning to bloom in China.

“At the base level in the Church of China, many marvellous things are happening—the Faith is being passed on and many of no faith are seeking entry to Christianity,” he said. “Although at the Government and Vatican level things are very strained with many detrimental consequences for ordinary people.”

As for Sr Mary Niu, she feels her remarkable life has led her to this point.

“I have learned so much,” she said. “And everything I did before, engineering, medicine, everything has all been really important so it is hard not to feel that it has all been part of God’s plan.”

— To support Sr Mary Niu via the Cultural Exchange with China call: 020 8202 2555 or e-mail: [email protected]

—[email protected]