Mrs. Eliza and I went to Sheshan Basilica (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheshan_Basilica), Shanghai on Sep 10, 2015. It’s located inside the Sheshan Forest Park. Around half of the Basilica is closed from
the visitors but one of the volunteers graciously led us to the Our Lady of
Sheshan statue (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Mother_of_Sheshan), which is placed on the left hand side of the altar. Another
volunteer led us another Church in the lower part of the hill as I want to give
a way booklets to the Sister and the Seminary compound. 
Our next
stop was St. Ignatius Cathedral Shanghai (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Ignatius_Cathedral,_Shanghai).
Unfortunately the Cathedral was under
renovation so we went to the Chapel at the Diocesan Centre.
We also
went to Waitan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bund)
and enjoyed the Xiao Long Bao (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiaolongbao).
Fr. Duan
was our host during our stay in Taiyuan. We went to the Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrow,
Dong Er Gou (http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/resources/shrines/China/China-OL-Sorrows.html);
the Church in the Liu He Village, which is the biggest Catholic Village in
China (95%
Catholics with total around 7,000 parishioners); the Church in Gu Cheng Yi Village (which
was the hometown of two of Martyr Saints of China) to meet Fr. Meng, whom I met in Hong
Kong; the family of Fr. Liu; the Church in Feng Xi Village to meet another Fr. Duan,
whom I met in Hong Kong, Br.
Xing’s family, the Church and the ex-convent of Beata Maria Assunta Pallota,
FMM (https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Assunta_Pallotta)
in Dong Er Gou Village; traditional
house of one of the parishioners, which was
built in Yaodong type (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaodong), and a grape farm. We arrived just in time for the Sunday Mass
at the Shrine of Our Lady of Grace (http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/resources/shrines/China/China-OL-Grace.html)
in Taiyuan dialect. One of the
pilgrimages walked without shoes for the 3-5
km station of the cross from the bottom hill to the Shrine of Our Lady of Grace and it’s a common practice in the old days even though the road was made of small stones. Half
of the pilgrims sit on the floor as the pews are not enough for the Sunday
Mass. There
are around 800 parishioners in one of the village Churches but only around 100
parishioners are still in the village, mostly elderly, because the rest of
parishioners moved out to the city. There
are only half of the parishioners are still in the other village Church. It’s rather
a common reality for the Churches in the villages in China as
the impact of urbanization. There are several Churches along the
way. 
We
went to St. Michael Cathedral Qingdao (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Michael%27s_Cathedral,_Qingdao),
which is one of the Window of Qingdao, on Sep 14. The entrance fee is RMB 10.00 with several
exception e.g. elderly. When we said
that we are Catholics, we got exception too. Fr. Feng and two sisters were at the entrance
counter when we left. There
were around 20 couples had their pre-wedding pictures in front of the
Cathedral. We also went to Small
Qingdao, Television Tower, Zhong Shan Park, Huang island, Zhan Bridge and
enjoyed the seafood including the Star Sea.
Here is the link of the pictures: https://www.shutterfly.com/
I am
grateful to Mrs. Eliza for her invitation for this pilgrimage to see the beauty, devotion and dynamic of several Churches in the northern part of China.
Hong Kong, September
21, 2015
Sr. Anastasia
B. Lindawati, M.M.
Let’s do
simple things with simple love to make God’s love visible
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