ROME, NOV. 4, 2001 (Zenit.org).- China is opening its doors to a Catholic congregation that will work with terminally ill cancer patients.
Korean Brother Thadu Kang, of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God, has been given the task to open a center for the patients, the neediest in the province of Jinin.
Local health authorities issued the invitation to the St. John of God brothers. The officials said that every year 3,000 people get cancer in the city of Yanji, 1,000 of whom are poor and have no ability to obtain treatment.
Brother Thadu Kang will be joined in December by Irish Brother Brendan Flahive and, early in 2002, by an additional three religious brothers — one Korean and two Vietnamese — who will help to train Chinese personnel.
The invitation was made following a meeting two years ago, when Brother Flahive was first in touch with the Chinese health authorities of nine hospitals of Jinin province, including the Yanji oncology center. The Irish brother, a nurse, is specialized in the palliative care of cancer patients.
Chinese health representatives visited the St. John of God center for terminally ill cancer patients in the Korean city of Kwangju, and were so impressed that they asked the religious to open a similar facility in China.
Although the brothers will not be able to engage in religious activities publicly, they will be able to pray in their religious community, and with the sick and their relatives, so long as the latter request this explicitly.
