An aching heart inspires sister to begin Catholic Chinese outreach
As the Liaison to the Chinese Community for the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., Sr. Dong Hong Marie Zhang is reaching out to the Chinese community as a companion, guide, and witness of the Catholic faith. Through this multi-faceted ministry, Sr. Dong Hong lives out the model of accompaniment and total availability set by Felician Foundress Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska.
Born in Jinning City in northern China, Sr. Dong Hong’s family celebrated their Catholic heritage. Her great grandparents had survived the Boxer Uprising in 1900, when a Chinese organization known as the Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fists led a rebellion against the spread of Western and Japanese influence in China and killed many foreigners and Chinese Christians.
Having five priests and two nuns come from his family, Sr. Dong Hong’s father entered the seminary, but after it was closed by the local communist government, he entered medical school, where he met Sr. Dong Hong’s mother, also a physician.
Following in her parents’ footsteps, Sr. Dong Hong also graduated from medical school and worked as a doctor of internal medicine at a teaching hospital in Wuhan City, but she felt that her Christian values were at conflict with the culture in which she lived and worked.
It was difficult to make my faith public since the hospital where I worked belonged to the government. My heart was aching, and I was searching for the meaning of my life.
Sr. Dong Hong Marie Zhang
She was afraid to share her faith even with her friends. The popular opinion was that “religious belief was backwards and superstitious, and only illiterate and elderly people believed it,” Sr. Dong Hong recalled. “It was difficult to make my faith public since the hospital where I worked belonged to the government. My heart was aching, and I was searching for the meaning of my life. After numerous rosary prayers and discernment, I found His call — a call to a different path of life.”
Taking a leave from her medical career, Sr. Dong Hong worked as a lay missionary in the Philippines for two years, and in the fall of 2001, she came to the United States to pursue a master’s degree in pastoral studies at Loyola University in Chicago, Ill. It was there that she was introduced to the Felician Sisters.
In 2017, Sr. Dong Hong professed her perpetual vows and the following year, she submitted a proposal to Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R, of the Archdiocese of Newark, for the creation of a Chinese Apostolate, including a variety of outreach efforts designed to share the faith by putting it into action in the service of others.
Chinese Americans are only 1.5 percent of the United States population, and 31 percent of that population are Christian.
Sr. Dong Hong’s role as the liaison to the Chinese Community includes maintenance of a resource hub
on the Archdiocese of Newark’s website, coordination of Chinese Masses, translation of prayers and reflections, religious education, outreach to inmates at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women, youth program coordination with Asian Affairs of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and campus ministry at Seton Hall University.
Beyond her formal role, however, lies perhaps the most rewarding aspect of Sr. Dong Hong’s ministry: a ministry of presence to the Chinese community. Among other things, she offers rides to appointments, help with translation, and guidance through the immigration process.
One young man was so touched by the assistance she gave him during the pandemic that he told her, “Sister, I hope I can come back to the U.S. If I come back, I will get baptized in this church,” and recently, after a ride to JFK Airport, one woman told her, “Sister, through you, I see God. As soon as I return to China, I will look for a Catholic church.”
Learn more about the Chinese Apostolate for the Archdiocese of Newark at https://www.rcan.org/chinese-catholic-apostolate.
This article first appeared in the Fall 2020 edition of the The Felician magazine, and was reprinted with permission.
