信德的过去、现在和将来

回顾过去：艰苦创业

　　1．前辈神长和领导们的支持
　　2．当时教会的需要 
　　3．信德定位：立足地方，面向各地，服务省内外。

拥抱今天：求索奋斗

　　1、教会书籍
　　尽力满足不同读者群需要 
　　为基层神长教友着想
　　鼓励本土作者的写作
　　出版适合国情的图书
　　2、“信德”
　　树立了教会的正面形象，宣传了国家的宗教政策
　　从简单而单一的报道迈向专题、专版报道
　　3、多元化发展模式
　　5、人才建设

展望未来：迎接挑战

　　1、教会史上的辉煌与当前有限的地方教会文字福传
　　2、现代电子传媒、音像的挑战与机遇
　　3、来自商业经济的挑战
　　4、机构面临的挑战
　　5、地方教会传媒需要合作发展
　　加强地方教会媒体之间的交流合作
　　明确定位、形成身份
　　6. 与国家民族同行，突出和谐，致力文字福传，平衡发展教会

(全文见十五周年论文集)

 

The Past, the Present and the Future of the Faith Press
Also a Bird’s View of Mass Media and Evangelization 
Through Printed Words by the Local Church

By Fr. John B. Zhang

Things change with the passage of time and this year is the 15th Anniversary of the Faith Newspaper and the Faith Press. Today, we not only celebrate the anniversary of a local Media organization of the Catholic Church, our distinguish guests: scholars and experts, clergy and lay people, representatives from Catholic Press, correspondents of the Faith Press, and friends from various quarters come here to hold a symposium to discuss matters related to mass media of the local Catholic Church.

The period between 1980 and 1990 was the time when the Catholic Church in China was making headway for full recovery and also a period for the mass media of the Local Church to initiate its development. Many of us have experienced and witnessed the rapid development from the traditional mass communication on paper to technological achievements. There was a pressing need for the Church in China at that time to restore the basic requirements for faith, establishing parishes, regaining possession of Church properties, repairing and rebuilding churches, making great effort to promote religious vocations for men and women and their formation. It was not uncommon to find that many prayer meetings, Eucharistic celebrations were conducted out-door. We can now recall that Catholics have to copy prayers by hand or writing with stylus on stencil for duplicating, or alternatively using printing blocks manually for off-set printing in a printing house. When the Chinese typewriter was available, then it was employed to create columns, type-setting, and the Gestetner machine was used to duplicate biographies of saints. With the introduction of Xerox and computer, printing became more convenient. In the past, the practice of photo-copying liturgical books was also quite common.

Catholic Church in China (a bi-monthly periodical) was first published in 1981 and the Guang Qi Research Center of Shanghai Diocese was established in 1984, signifying the restoration of Catholic publication. At that time, the demand for printed Catholic liturgical books was urgent and the position was slightly eased when many Chinese Catholics from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, on their visits to the mainland, brought with them from overseas, prayer/liturgical books in traditional characters, arranged vertically. However, from 1990 onwards until today, following the rapid development of the local Church and the ever improving and ever changing modern technology in printing and electronic media, some local churches, set up their own publishing houses, one after another. Some started to print newspaper, and more websites were established continuously. Propagation through the media of the Chinese Catholic Church was strengthened and enriched. Evangelization through the Printed Word began a new phase.
To-day, we are privileged to have in this symposium, the participation of representatives from the mass media of various regions in this country, and also friends from overseas Chinese Catholic communities. It is an excellent opportunity for learning and exchange. I take this opportunity to give a brief report and to share with our brother clergy, government leaders and our guests, the struggles of Faith Press in the last 15 years, whereby we can look back into the past, embrace the present and looking forward to the future. There is a Chinese idiomatic expression “tossing out a brick in order to bring forth a jade” and this is exactly what we hope to do, to invite all of you to share and discuss. Let us give importance to and be concerned with the mass media of the Church, to welcome the challenge of the present era and the modern mass media, and to explore and discuss together the works of Evangelization of the local Church, through the mass media of the Printed Word

II. Review the Past – Difficult Beginning

Faith Press was set up in April 1991 and in September the same year, Faith Press published its inaugural edition.
Due to the absence of human resources, capital and work-place, Faith Press was set up under simple and crude condition, as such it could only start from the reprinting the popular religious books, to easily produced tabloids. To avoid duplication, Faith Press however did not concentrate on the reprinting of publications. The News Paper Digest of that time inspired us: a tabloid of 4 pages in 1 sheet could be produced and published easily. That was the beginning of Faith Newspaper.
The fact that the Faith Press and Faith Newspaper have been operational until today owes to the following circumstances:

(a) Support of Bishops and Government Leaders
Bishop Liu Jinghe of Tangshan, Bishop Liu Dinghan of Xianxian (Cangzhou), Bishop Chen Bolu of Handan, Bishop Fan Wenxing of Hengshui, Bishop Jiang Taoran of Shijiazhuang, Bishop Hou Jingde of Xingtai and Mr. Li Yong Lai, Director of the Bureau of Minority and Religious Affairs, gave approval for the setting up of Faith Press and the plan of publication and publicity. The location of Faith Press was determined after negotiation. The elderly Bishops accepted the blueprint proposed by Faith Press for evangelization through the Printed Word and encouraged the staff to be courageous in facing difficulties in starting an enterprise. The three Bishops, Liu Jinghe, Liu Dinghan, and Hou Jinde gave us full support, understanding and concern till the end. Our senior colleagues from the Guang Qi Press in Shanghai also gave us encouragement and loving support.

As we have no capital on the outset, we had to make a loan. Bishop Liu Dinghan, and the “Liang Hui” (Patriotic Association and the Bishops’ Conference) of Hebei, both helped us with the loan. The then Director of Religious Bureau, Mr. Li Yong Lai negotiated with the “Liang Hui” and obtained a room for the editorial office He also helped us with a grant of 1,000 yuans for installing wall partitions and doors, to provide a peaceful working environment . For this reason, it was named originally: “The Editorial Room for Hebei Catholic Faith Press”. All in all, it was just a single room with two tables and a few chairs. After more than ten years and in 2003, with the approval of relevant government departments, it became known as “Hebei Faith Press”.

(b) Specific Needs of the Chinese Catholic Church in China and the Local Churches in that Period

Towards the end of 1980, the strife between the official and unofficial Catholic Church in China became acute, leading to serious injury to many individuals, families and communities. Many people outside the Church wondered why the Catholic minority, being less than 1% of the population, was rumbling and grumbling amongst themselves. In particular, in 1989 the conflicts between the two communities at You Tong Village, Luancheng County, intensified, , leading to a serious clash between the government and the Church. Both the government and the Church at that time hoped for a stable and harmonious environment in society. Many clergy and laity became weary of those who lacked trust and were suspicious of one another, even to the extent of being hostile and harming others. The urgent need of society and the Church then was how to promote a stable religious milieu, not being critical, provocative, contentious, or at least not to aggravate conflicts or intensify contradictions but rather to witness faith more and to strengthen spirituality. 
It was against this background that Faith Press was established in 1990 and the Faith Newspaper produced its inaugural issue. Even though we found ourselves in a sensitive area of intensive conflicts between the official and unofficial Catholic Church in Northern China, the staff of Faith Press maintained the principle of not disputing, not participating and not running into extremes. Faith Press would promote reconciliation, concern for the marginalized groups in society, and social services, to build the new image of the Catholic Church through pure Faith, Spirituality, Pastoral and Evangelical activities, faith experiences of life, and beautiful testimonies. To a certain degree, Faith Press in persisting in such principles, helped to resolve conflicts in the local Churches, reduce tensions in society, and achieve stability in society. Through actions of charity, we united some clergy and laity and had won the recognition of the society on one hand and satisfied the actual need of the local Church on the other. The perspective of Faith Press has therefore been determined by the demand of the local Church, or even the whole Catholic Church in China under a specific historical background and situation.

If one would re-read the General Preface of the Faith Press Series in 1991, one would appreciate and understand the painstaking, unrelenting effort and aspiration of the past fifteen year to achieve our vision. 
“Our dedicated compatriots with living faith, whether they are in a tranquil environment or have gone through difficult trials in the past, or under the ideological assault of contemporary society or theological trends within the Catholic Church, have always the Lord in their hearts, always full of joy. In Faith, they discern God’s Words, follow His precepts and with the burning love for Jesus Christ bear witness for God with prudence and fidelity, in the midst of unpredictable storms,…….The choice of “Faith” as the name, was intended, through offering various kinds of religious books – the spiritual foods of the people of God – to increase and reinforce our belief, uphold the Truth, establish well the Church, understand one another and be united in the Lord; in glorifying His Name, serving humanity, and being patriotic and law-abiding, strengthen the nation, benefit the people, spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.”

Of course to-day, the plane, the three-dimensional and network media of the local Churches enjoy greater facility than ever before. At present, the Central Government is taking steps to deepen reforms and extend further openings for the construction of an affluent and harmonious society, the official and unofficial churches are advancing towards reconciliation, at least the number of conflicts is lessened, the mass media of the Church has new opportunity for development.

3. Orientation of Faith Press – Having a foothold in the region, facing the Country, and serving both within and outside the province.

Right from the start, Faith Press did not belong to a parish or a diocese, but under the jurisdiction of a group of bishops and attached to the Catholic Church Affairs Committee of the Hebei province. The identity and orientation of Faith Press was to have a foothold in the region, facing the whole country, and serving the clergy and laity in all regions within the country. Such juridical relation implied certain degree of localization but has also advantages in that it has wider scope for growth and for service and a stronger sense of identification. As a matter of fact, the Faith Press belongs not only to the local Church but also to the friends and readers in all regions. Above all, Faith Press belongs to God! Staff of the Faith Press identifies themselves as instruments of the Lord, helpers in evangelization for religious, priests and laity, and their primary duty, their personal obligation and their solemn responsibility is to serve the readers.

In 1991, Faith Press was the first tabloid among the religious circles in China. From a single- room office with two tables and three chairs, it has now improved its working conditions and staffed by a professional team. From the re-printing of two to three traditional religious book a year to one to two books a month today; from the initial inaugural issue of 5,000 copies to today’s circulation up to 51,000 copies, the birth and growth of the Faith Press is the opportunity brought about by the reformed and open polices of the country; the result of continuous trust and great love of the clergy, laity and readers from all over; the understanding, support and help of the local Churches, colleagues in the mass media, friends at home and abroad, from all strata of society. Of course the blessing and protection of our Lord is indispensable to the achievements of the Faith Press. As such, the staff of Faith Press and all our catholic friends is full of gratitude and thanksgiving and the determination to continuously search and work hard

III Embracing the Present: - To search and to Strive

(a) Publications of the Faith Series

The first publication of the Faith Press was “Month of the Sacred Heart”. In a span of fifteen years, the Press has published more than 3 million copies, of 17 categories and about 243 types of religious books. The Faith Series started its venture in the publication of books on spirituality and liturgy, which were urgently required for the daily use by the Church in China. Later on, we began publication of books regarding Holy Scripture, followed by church literature and history, religious arts and crafts, including some large volume of reference works. Take works on spirituality for instance. In the early 1990; the need for traditional spirituality was greatly in demand by the clergy and laity. From the “ Month of Holiness ” Series to “The Complete Works on Meditation”, we provided a timely spiritual food to those clergy and laity who had survived the ten years of chaos during the Cultural Revolution and hurt by the internal strife between the official and unofficial catholic communities, giving them comfort in their sufferings. “The Theology on Spirituality and Spirituality for Diocesan Clergy”provided spiritual guidance for the numerous seminarians and clergy..

The Spirituality Series: “Month of Holiness” – comprising Month of the Sacred Heart, Month of St. Joseph, Month of Mary, Month of the Holy Souls and the Complete Works for Meditation, Introduction to Spirituality, Forum on Spirituality, The Golden Words on Spirituality, Summa of Spirituality, Spring of the Heart, Theology of Spirituality, The Basic Catholic Spirituality, Spirituality for Diocesan Clergy, Guideline for Spiritual Formation of Clergy, Retreat with St. Teresa of Lisieux, Guide to Retreat, Loving Kindness – Life and Joy – manuscript for retreat, True Devotion to Mary, Models of Sanctity , Quotations from St. Freinadematz and Quotations from St. Arnold Janssen etc.

Liturgy and homiletic – Daily Missal, The Pasch, The Spirit of Eucharistic Celebration, Revised Version On Sacraments, Our Sacraments, Our Feast Days,, Our Eucharistic Celebration – Readings and homiletic of Sunday Mass (3 years cycle), Scoop from the Living Spring (Three Years Cycle). 
Companions to the Scipture: The Living Words spoken to Men, Journey of Faith, ( 1. The Pentateuch; 2. The History & Prophets; 3. The Wisdom Literature and Psalms, 4. The Good News of the Kingdom; 5. Fulfillment of the Words; 6. Letters of St. Paul; 7 The Last Letters of the Apostles), Formation Program for Witnesses of Christ (N.T. Section), The Salvation History, Sing Praises to the Lord, Study Guide to Bible, Quotations from the Bible, Discovery of the Holy Bible, Stories in the OT, Sharing of daily Scriptural Reading, Illustration of the Bible, Famous Artworks on the Bible, Listening Heart etc.

Catechumenate Series: The Creation, Guide to Catechumens, Catechism for Adults The Philosophy of Scientists, Scientific Proof of the Existence of God, The Mystery and Humility of Natural Science, The Macro-microscopic View of Life, Jesus,Who Are You? Questions and Answers, Questions and Answer on Catholic Liturgy, General Knowledge of Christians in the Modern World, Useful Knowledge of the Catholic Church, etc.

Book of Reference: The Breviar (3 volumes), Hardcover and pocket edition of Holy Hours –hardcover and simple edition of Catechism of the Catholic Church , Family Catechism (two volumes), Commentary on Canon Laws, hardcover and simple edition of Canon Laws, Sunday Missal and A4-size Roman Missal (I, II, and III.)

To meet the various needs of our readers: Much of the Faith Press Series was published at the recommendation of clergy and laity from various regions. As long as these books are beneficial to the readers, or helpful in the religious formation of sisters or seminarians, or popular amongst priests and laity we would do our best to publish. Some of the suggestions for publication came from senior members of the community, others from the younger generation. Certainly we will not overlook the opinions of our clergy. Faith Press tries its best to take into consideration the needs of the readers from different background, publishing books which are easy to read, suitable for the learned and for the common folks.

For the service of the grassroots (priests and laity) of the Church:
The majority of the Catholics live in rural areas and they are not affluent members of the society. Our publication will give consideration to their financial ability. Hence we have a policy of printing inexpensive but good literature for our readers. Faith Press had provided free copies to poor parishes, seminaries and convents to assist in their work of evangelization.
Because Faith Press is inclined to meet the needs of the grassroots of clergy and laity, improvement in quantity and quality of binding and graphic design has to be delayed. Increase in translations and editions of academic works will have to be postponed..

Encourage Works of indigenous writers/contributors
From reprinting traditional religious books, Faith Press has moved to publish indigenized religious literature. There are a number of indigenous writers who have been contributing articles. To promote indigenization, Faith Press encourages and publishes works of indigenous writers.

Publications of books suitable for national situation and needs of the Church
Faith Press guarantees the contents of all publication works to be compatible to the national situation. For example, in the process of publication of the Catechism of Catholic Church, on account of the content in No. 2425, we have waited for three years before we could publish the 3rd volume and then the complete set. As a publication Press for the Catholic Church in China, we cannot and should not publish, moreover impossible to publish in China, any material against the ruling party in government. If we do, we will have no prospect of development or any way out over that particular issue. Owing to the legality of copy-right, no country has made any addition or deletion to the Catechism text. We also have no right whatsoever to delete any sentence from the text. From 1998, all we could do was to pray, to appeal and to wait. Finally the late Pope John Paul II granted the request of China, breaking the rule, allowing the deletion of the sentence incompatible to the situation in China, in the China Edition and publishing the edition compatible to the situation in China, satisfying thus the actual need of the local Church. We have introduced an open space in lieu of the absent number, in recognition of the deletion of No. 2425, and after the deadlock of three years the problem was resolved satisfactorily, acceptable and pleasing to both sides. The Guide to Catechumens was recommended by the clergy and laity of the unofficial church from Boading and has been reprinted several times due to its popularity. The Ordo Missae was reprinted at the request of several tens of bishops in China. We also accepted the suggestion from the bishops to restore the original translated proper names of saints and at the same time provided a list of both translations for people to get used to slowly.
The emphasis of this editorial policy has evolved to be the characteristic of the Faith Press and together with other printing press of the local Church, has enriched the market for religious literature in the Chinese Catholic Church, thereby satisfying the needs of Evangelization through the printed word of the local Church.

2. The Faith Newspaper
In the beginning, the Faith Newspaper was a foolscap-size tabloid in four pages published at irregular intervals. In 1993, its pages doubled. In 1997, the number of pages increased to 16 and in 1998, it was published fortnightly. Full color publication became a reality in 2004. In 2006, it is published every ten days. The number of copies increased from the initial circulation of 5,000 copies to the present 51,000 copies. According to a sample survey, subscriptions come from all the dioceses in the country and a copy of the Faith Press is being circulated in a family or a community, thus its readership reaches over one million

Building a positive image of the Church and disseminating national policies of the government
Both clergy and laity had gone through generations of difficult trials, in particular during the ten years of Cultural Revolution, and the internal strife of the Church during the period of Reformed and Open Policies of the Government. Everyone was yearning for the creation of a positive image of the local Church. This basic feeling and hope are identical with the national policies of building an affluent and harmonious society. For the past 15 years, Faith Press has provided our readers with timely news of the Universal and Local Church, and rich and varied testimonies of the life of faith. To a certain degree, Faith Press has, ipso facto, become “a window for the Church in China, and a garden of rich living faith”. At the same time, Faith Press, through positive and continuous reporting, publicize strongly the major policies of the country. For example, news of completion of new churches, baptism of adult converts, ordination of priests and consecration of bishops, religious profession of sisters, etc. provides concrete evidence that the policy of freedom of religions is being effectively implemented.

From simple and single tract reporting to special features, special pages and series, integrated serial reporting
Faith Press has gone from a simple, single tract reporting to in-depth reporting; from care for the Church to social concern. For instance, we focus our attention on various challenges confronted by the local Church and young priests, and also the important events in or outside China. We published special topics or special features on “Reflections on Priestly Functions”, “Means of Evangelization”, “Evangelization Series”, “The Return of Macao”, “The Return of Hong Kong”; “The War Against SARS”, “The Death of Pope John Paul II”, “Election of Pope Benedict XVI”, “Consecration of New Bishops in China”; “the Registration of Jinde Charity and the 10th Anniversary of Vocation and Education Fund”; “The 30th Anniversary of Tangshan Earthquake” etc. Especially in recent years, we caused a strong wind of evangelization of the local churches through our focused and serial reporting on evangelization. 

3. A model for pluralistic development
From the time of the Faith Press to the Faith Newspaper, we have gone through many trials, covered many winding roads and even made errors in judgement. In summing up our experiences and continuously correcting our ways, we have fathomed a method of “walking with many feet”, a model for pluralistic development. On the eve of the new millenium on 31st December 1999, our web site http://www.chinacatholic.org became operational. We have opened up yet a new way of evangelization through the printed word. We have identified the weakness of our Church in academic research so it prompted us to set up in 2000 The Faith Institute for Cultural Studies and “Faith Review” was published in 2003. At the same times, Faith Arts and Crafts Workshop and Faith Audio/Visual Center were set up in 1999 and 2000 respectively.

Utilizing the Faith Press as a working platform, The Vocation Education Fund (1996), Jinde Charity (1997) and Jinde Home for the Age (2002) were set up respectively for social services and the latter two have been hived off as an independent and professional organization in its own right.

It is our ideology that when we grow in area of printed word, we have to put the love of Christ into action simultaneously. Consequently our diversification to social services has become a pivotal point of self-motivation in development. The social services of Jinde Charities have won recognition from various strata of society, indirectly giving booster in the development of the Faith Newspaper, enriching the contents of the Newspaper and the Web Site. Inversely, Faith Press has become the platform of publicity for Jinde Charity. There are mutual benefits for both and encouragement for each other for further development.

3. Social Services
Faith Press had placed in its front page the report of a local church in a city in Jiangnan, participating in salvaging refuse from the river bed, the donation of blood by priests and laity from Tai Yuan, the visits to poverty-stricken people by various local churches. These reports attracted considerable publicity and attention. The marginalized groups asking for assistance has been always been the main concern and attention of Faith Press staff. Sometimes we would assign our own reporters to disaster areas for front line fact-finding and reporting. For years, the staff of the Faith Press has for its first concern, assistance to the wounded and dying, and other social services. They made voluntary donation and encouraged others to do the same to be generous in helping the needy. There is a cost for everything but this promotion and participation does not affect our growth. On the contrary, social services have purified the hearts and minds of the staff of Faith Press and their friends, inspiring in others the spirit of self-giving, thereby enriching the contents of the Faith Newspaper. . For this reason, Faith Press has been blessed andwe have learned to be contented, grateful and joyful.

Staff Development
The growth of the Faith Press is the fruit of co-operation, hard work of the senior staff members and new recruits. Faith Press has no fixed criteria in selecting candidates. At first it was supported by the educated retirees, later on a group of dedicated people, and after that, it was nurtured by a younger generation, and especially with the addition of correspondents from various regions, we have set up what we have today a network of communication of Christian love. This is today’s Faith Family, a team which work for the glory of God, with their whole heart and whole strength, each fulfilling his/her duty with responsibility. We advocate the spirit of respect towards our profession, self-discipline, co-operation and spirit of self-giving, rejecting any bureaucratic practice and away from internal strife in any form. Together, we work, pray, gather news, edit, proof-read, and distribute, all for the service of our readers, our clergy and fellow workers in the media field.

IV. Vision of the Future – Accept New Challenges
1. The Glorious Past in the Church History and the Limitation of Evangelization Work through printed words of the Local Church
In the history of cultural exchange between East and West, from the time Fr. Mateo Ricci came to China, towards the end of the Ming Dynasty, until the Prohibition of Christian Religion two hundred years later, due to the Controversy of Rites, the Church in China has translated 473 printed works from the West, of which 251, about 57%, were classified as religion- related works. From 1811, when Pastor Morrison, published the first book translated from English to Chinese, to the last 100 years of the Qing Dynasty, China has translated and published a total of 2,291 works from the Western World. The fruit of these two translations and writings is the two climaxes of “Western Learning Coming to the East” in the Chinese history, promoted jointly by the Roman Catholic and the Christian Church, and they made a significant contribution to the Chinese society.
The contemporary Christian denominations when compared with the Roman Catholic Church during the Ming and Qing periods relied more heavily on printed words for the faith propagation, using translation, education and publication of newspaper as an indirect way of evangelization. For example, the publication of 970 issues of the International Bulletin (1868-1907) enjoyed great reputation. At present, the technical terms of Christianity have been taken mainly from the Christian traditional translation because of the great importance the Christian denominations attached to “translation, education and news-paper publication”. Of course, from the beginning of the 20th century, the social and charitable works of the Roman Catholic Church, news-paper publication and a few universities were also very outstanding. For example, Yi Wen Lu (later on changed to Hui Bao), (1879-1911) Sheng Jiao Za Zhi (Magazine of the Holy Church) (1912-1938), Sheng Xin Bao (Sacred Heart)(1887-1949). Among all, Yi Shi Bao (1915-1949) and Da Gong Bao, Shen Bao, and National Daily were known as the Four Big National Newspapers in China. The Yi Shi Bao and Da Gong Bao enjoyed equal status in the then media world.

There were many factors impeding the rapid evangelization of Catholic Church in China for the past four hundred years. The glory of the mass media of the good old days of the Catholic Church had become history. At present do our clergy and laity attach enough importance to the works of evangelization through the printed words? Has the printed word mass media of the local church exerted its due influence in evangelization and witnessing? Obviously, in a climate of reform and open policy of today, the mass media of the Church of China have met with many challenges, coming from society, from the present era and also from the Church itself.

2. New Technology of Mass Media has brought New Challenge and Opportunity to Traditional One-Dimensional Paper Medium

A group of statistics in China Internet is to be noted with interest. There were 50,000 accounts registered in 2005 with the Internet Operator and after ten years, the user accounts reached to 1.03 billion, being the second largest users after USA. This statistics shows that within a few years’ times, the number of internet users has gone over hundred fold, implying that among every 13 Chinese, there is one internet user. Obviously, China has entered the Era of the Internet. The effects of Internet have reached billions of homes, and the new culture brought forth by the Internet has great impact on the lives of many Chinese in modern times. Through the platform of Internet, China has merged into the international community and also the world has gone into China. At a time of globalization of Internet, people have the opportunity, at any time and anywhere, even immediately, communicate and share equally the resources.
Actually, as a new medium, the Internet has not only changed the way of life of the Chinese people but also challenged strongly the Church in China for her development, offering more opportunities in areas of pastoral ministry and evangelization of the grassroots. Evangelization by means of Internet will reach far and wide, possessing greater freedom of space and time, readily available to wider audience and readership in its service. Undoubtedly, this will bring difficulty for the government department for information control. In a fictitious world of Internet, a person has greater freedom of speech but correspondingly the sense of responsibility is considerably weakened.
The present new technology in mass media has made many media obsolete; from the three dimensional audio-visual media e.g. radio, movie, and TV; from the traditional printed paper medium to the Internet, mobile phones, digital TV, wired TV, and even outdoor medium. Not long ago, the VCD was still popular but it is now replaced by DVD. The video tape widely used in 1980s can no longer compete with DVD.

In recent times, due to challenges from the Internet, the newspaper circulation both in China and overseas has declined, and several major newspaper publication have to be closed. In 2006, a major newspaper in USA suffered an average daily fall of 2.8% in circulation. It is more shocking to learn that many well established newspapers in Taiwan had to be closed. The Da Cheng Bao (1990-2006) has 16 years of history; the Central Daily News (1928-2006) has 78 years of history, The Taiwan Daily (1928-2006) with 42 years in circulation, The Xing Bao (1999-2006) 7 years and Min Sheng Bao (1978-2006)28 years. The Central Daily News is the organ of Nationalist (Guo Min Dong) and has been in operation for more than half a century. The Taiwan Daily is the organ of Democratic Progressive Party. (Minjindang) yet all of them could not avoid the fate. There might be other reasons from competition, but the impact of Internet culture has claimed casualty from these well-established printing houses. At present, for reason of control by the administrative department in China, the circulation figure of each paper is not disclosed. However, it is known to be on a rather serious downward trend. 
How to integrate the traditional paper plane medium with the new mass media is the urgent need of every mass media organizations. The Holding Enterprise of the Liberation Daily in Shanghai has been strategically successful in integrating paper plane media with the new mass media. The process of integration is known as “4-i”. The “4-i” engineering consists of “mobile phone i-news , free electronic magazine, I-mook, electronic newspaper i-paper, serial public news i-street. According to reports, the electronic newspaper i-news has become the largest mobile-phone news in Shanghai.

Confronted by the challenges from new mass media, internet and their culture - including the Church newspaper, the local Church and its media organization in continuing to develop the traditional superiority of Church printed medium, must seize, at the same time, the opportunity to and also to utilize fully and develop the superiority of the new technology, planning as soon as possible, the development of integrated Catholic printed medium with new mass media, for the purpose of doing well the works of evangelization through the printed word.

3. Challenges from commercial finance and the organization itself

In 1997, a daily paper in Guangdong registered a loss of 3 billion Yuan but revenue from advertising amounted to 7 billion Yuan, making a net income of 4 billion Yuan. As a general practice, newspapers rely on advertising revenue. Most Catholic newspapers do not have the tradition of advertisements because circulation is mainly internal among church members. Moreover both the clergy and laity are not happy to have advertisements in the paper because there should be a clear separation between commercial advertisements and faith. At the present moment, catholic newspapers have no license to carry advertisements on their pages. Relying solely on subscription cannot maintain the growth of a newspaper and it has to rely on donations for its survival. With a circulation of 51,000, and providing one free issue per month, the financial strain on Faith Press is very heavy, as it relies chiefly on donations. Though the Faith Press has an editorial team, yet we have to raise the standard and strengthen them in the area of professionalism. We need qualified people and the support of participation of clergy and laity from different places, in order to form a more professional team including engaging someone for editor’s comments. Without enough personnel we are unable to develop into a weekly paper, unable to raise the standard of editing and proofreading (particularly the embarrassment of using incorrect words). The existing staff spends most of their time and efforts in the editing of the Faith Newspaper and is more busy and tired after it became a regular issue at 10 days interval.
To recruit and to retain suitable personnel is the soft-ware requirement for growth but we need also to pay attention to the hardware requirement: bigger office space , balanced development of the different organizations, with their specific characteristics and functions.

2. Conclusion : Mass Media of Local Churches requires co-operation for Growth
At present in the field of evangelization through printed words, apart from the Catholic Church in China a monthly magazine at national level, there are a number of publications at regional level, including Message and Parish News from provinces and cities,. There are different kinds of “Diocesan or Parish News” all over the world and the local Churches and laity can participate in different ways to build a bridge of communication. Our local Churches in China should learn from such experiences.
The mass media of the local Church should have an open mind for social integration and to journey with society. They should learn to appreciate and study the experiences of the mass media of society and other religious fraternities, and not to indulge in self-admiration, alienated from others, aware that the Church and one cannot go alone. For this reason, the Church mass media should have the foothold in the Church, facing society and continue to strengthen communication and cooperation. Starting from 1998, Faith Press and Guang Qi Press of Shanghai have made a tacit agreement: to communicate plans for publication. At that time Fr. Ma Daqin agreed with Faith Press over the annual plan of publication and programs. In this way, duplication in publication was avoided.
In strengthening the cooperation and communication among the mass media of the local Churches and through the platform of sharing, one can , not only discover one’s inadequacies, but also learn from and assimilate the experiences of others, at the same time can also discover and explore opportunities for growth. It is my conviction that following the importance given by the Church in China to the mass media, the local Churches will be more united and cooperative in earnestly advancing the use of mass media, in sharing resources and complementing the strength of one and another, in developing together, making new contributions to the works of evangelization in different places, through the written word

2. Define Status, Form Identity
It is not surprising at all, in an information-oriented society to have hundreds of web sites and a few or several tens of periodicals in a city at the same time. The number and category of news media form only part of the mass media. The linchpin of a newspaper or a web site is its status; its target value, the readers, and the resulting characteristics of its identity. For example, a periodical has to determine its main service user and, to develop its own characteristics of identity according to the needs of the readers..

3. Give prominence to Harmony, Concentrate on evangelization through the printed words and strive for a balanced development within the Church

On the closing day of the Sixth Session of the General Meeting of the 16th National Congress on 11th October 2006, proclamation of constructing a harmonious society was one of the nine policy targets of the country. This will be the main theme for the future development of this country. The concept of constructing a harmonious society is compatible with Christian faith. We always feel that the Faith in Christ is the best and most wonderful. However, this is not enough. We have to ask: What Christian Faith can do for China? This is what China now lays stress on.
The Catholic Church in China needs comprehensive and balanced growth, not only in the pastoral ministry and evangelization, but also in the propagation of faith through printed words, and modern mass media; not only in supporting social and charitable projects, but also in active participation in tertiary education and academic research studies. These are the two indispensable foundation stones of growth. The Catholic Church in China requires reform. 
We live in an new age of Information and Internet, and all people have equal opportunities to share and exchange resources. Great advance is being made in the mass media and evangelization through the printed words has become more important. In the new millenium, the Catholic Church should keep pace with the present era, and to exert sufficiently the function of mass media in the Church for the on-going process of building a civilized, affluent and harmonious society, and develop the pastoral ministry and evangelization of the Church in different places. 

Bibliography:
Ref: The Faith Newspaper
Web-site of “LianHeZaoBao” 23rd Jan. 2007/3/17
Xiong Yue Zhi, 《Western Learning to the East and Society in the Late Qing Period》page 14, Shanghai Renmin Publishing Press, (1994)