The Chinese represent one of the largest groups of immigrants currently coming to our diocese. There are more than 380,000 Chinese immigrants living in Brooklyn and Queens. Among them are many Catholics, who bring with them their religious traditions and practices.

Last weekend in Flushing, hundreds of Chinese Catholics gathered for the fifth annual procession that honors Our Lady of She-Shan. Unlike many other Marian devotions, this one does not commemorate an apparition of the Blessed Mother. Rather She-Shan is a mountainside site in a suburb of Shanghai, China, where a basilica that honors Mary attracts many Chinese pilgrims. The basilica houses a re-interpreted image of Mary, Help of Christians.

The title traces its history back to 1863 when the first church was built there. Jesuits had bought the site where a dilapidated Buddhist temple stood. Unrest in the Tianjin region led to the burning of churches there. The Jesuits prayed at the statue of the Madonna and pledged to build a church in return for protection.

In 1925, construction began on the current church building, which took 10 years to complete. Pope Pius XII named it a minor basilica in 1942.

The Communist Revolution confiscated the grounds in 1949, and the cathedral was heavily damaged. It was handed over to the national Patriotic Church. Following the Cultural Revolution, the shrine made its way back to the Roman Catholic Church. In 2008, Pope Benedict implored the title of Our Lady of She-Shan in a prayer he personally composed.

Today, She-Shan is the only active pilgrimage site for Roman Catholics in China.

The diocesan pilgrimage in Flushing featured a sleek wooden statue of Our Lady. Auxiliary Bishop Paul Sanchez blessed the image at St. John Vianney Church where the procession began its two-and-a-half hour way through the streets of the neighborhood.

The line of procession included members of St. Joseph’s Knights of Columbus, Flushing, which demonstrated solidarity with the Chinese Catholics. Also there were large contingents from Transfiguration parish and Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral, both in Manhattan, where large numbers of Chinese worship. A band dressed in bright red costumes played traditional Marian hymns.

Stops were made at St. Paul Chong Ha-Sang Church, the Korean parish; and also at St. Michael’s Church. At each parish, enthusiastic groups of parishioners, accompanied by their pastors, met the parade for a prayer service. Father Antonius Ho, C.S.J.B., administrator of St. John Vianney, presented miniature statues of Our Lady of She-Shan to Father Gabriel Lee and Msgr. Edward Wetterer at the respective sites.

At each parish, prayers were offered for the unification of the Catholic Church in China and for the evangelization efforts among the Chinese in Brooklyn and Queens.

“We cannot live out freely our faith in China. We enjoy freedom of religion here,” explained Father Ho. “So, I think we have to live our witness for the Catholic faith, for Jesus and for the Gospel.

“We have everything here to express our faith. It’s a big gift.

“We pray for the unity and the freedom of religion in China, and maybe one day the Chinese people will enjoy the freedom of religion just as in the United States,” he said.

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