Christian Dehmel（NO. 2 from right） from Caritas Germany and Portugal friend Vitório Cardoso on inspection site in Lisbon.

Faith Weekly News

Recently, Caritas Germany with Chinese Catholic priests, church members, friends from society at large and Jinde Charities ordered a batch of 3,400 sets of medical protective clothing and 10,000 medical isolation masks and 15,000 disposable surgical masks in Lisbon, Portugal. On Monday, these supplies which are worth 14,225 Euros (about 1.08 million RMB) and meet the standards of WHO and Chinese anti-epidemic requirements, were delivered to China from Lisbon Portugal by air, passing through Istanbul (Turkey), Seoul (South Korea). How was this batch of precious materials successfully ordered and delivered to China, to the front-line of the affected area? How did the contact, communication and negotiation among Shijiazhuang, Macao, Beijing, Wuhan, Lisbon Portugal, Freiburg Germany come about? How did the active participation of international friends and charities support China's anti-epidemic work?

Link of love from Macao to Mainland China

The days after the Chinese Spring Festival were very tense. Alarming news about the novel pneumonia corona-virus and isolation made people feel powerless. The closure of the churches made it even more frightening. 

On the night of 1 Feb, a priest of the Comboni Missionaries in Macao, found himself tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep. The thought of the deteriorating epidemic situation and the severe impact on people pushed him to ask himself, “As a member of the religious community, besides praying, what other work should we do?” Just after midnight, he decided to take some action, no matter how insignificant it seemed, to get rid of the feeling of paralysis and powerlessness. At 00:05 on Feb 2nd, despite the hour, he still decided to send a message to the friend of Jinde Charities. “Friend, could we help? Please tell us. We’re praying for you.” To his surprise, his friend replied to him immediately and sent him the list of medical supplies that were needed urgently in the Wuhan epidemic area... A chain of solidarity was thus created.

After daybreak, the two sides began to talk on the phone, discussing the detailed methods of procurement and donation. After learning about the active response of the mainland church, the priest was moved by the concerned response of Chinese priests, church members, and friends from society at large. While the Combonian father forwarded Jinde Charities’ “Urgent appeal from China,” he also made an appeal to relatives and friends in his native country Italy and to other groups around the world to respond positively and support China.

In the process, this priest said that he has learned a lot, “even if we do not have a lot of resources, if we can help others, God will do His great job through us.” The unity and cooperation of the many brothers and sisters has shown the care and support of the universal church and the international communities for China.

Martin Luther King Jr. said, “We are caught up in an inescapable web of interconnectedness, bound in a garment of common destiny. Anything that affects one person directly affects all of us indirectly.”

The Combonian father wrote in an article, “Now, novel coronavirus has been spreading in many other countries. Preventing and containing the epidemic calls us to work together for the benefit of the whole world. The evil power of the virus will not be contained by national boundaries. So we only have love, may love prevail. Our mission says this: ‘if you want to live a meaningful life, get out of your own world and embrace the big world!’”

Love from Lisbon to Macau

Since the epidemic outbreak in Wuhan, Fr. Joey (Jose Mario) Mandia from the Prelature of Opus Dei like many others was praying and caring for the needs of the affected area. On 3 Feb, Fr. Mandia saw the Jinde Charities emergency appeal from the Comboni father, and he immediately posted it on his Facebook page. He reached more than 100 Catholic and non-catholic friends, whom he hoped could help seek supplies for China.

The next day, 4 February, Mr. Vitório Rosário Cardoso, a cooperator of Opus Dei in Portugal, saw Father Mandia’s Facebook post and told him that he was in touch with distributors of surgical masks and protective clothing in Portugal.

On 8 Feb, to streamline the ordering, quality assurance and inspection of the materials, Jinde Charities enlisted the help of Caritas Germany and introduced Fr. Mandia and Mr. Vitório Rosário Cardoso to colleagues in Caritas Germany.

When interviewed by Faith Weekly, Fr. Mandia said he had to hurdle some challenges in communication due to the differences of time and languages. But he admitted that he also learned a lot from the whole process.

“I feel it more deeply that in facing the virus threat, Loved united us, not only us Catholics, but also the whole world. The whole world is a family. I’m only a bridge, which is the mission of a priest,” Fr. Mandia said modestly.

During the interview, Fr. Mandia focused on the importance of “prayer” several times, saying that through this whole process, he deeply experienced the mission of a priest: to pray and to serve.

On 17 Feb, Fr. Alex Colmeiro, a Spanish priest of Opus Dei serving in the Philippines told Fr. Mandia that he had forwarded Jinde Charities’ “urgent appeal from China” letter to his 40 friends, who are doctors and nurses. One of them replied, “Fr. Alex, we’ll pray with you for friends in Wuhan, China who are suffering from the virus. We’ll provide 50 boxes of medical masks from Poland and contact Jinde Charities.”

Love between Lisbon and Freiburg

Actually, in early Jan 27, Jinde Charities had been in contact with its long-term partner, Caritas Germany, discussing cooperation, the epidemic situation and ordering the urgently-needed masks and protecting clothing. Julia Gietmann, the person in charge of the Asia Dept of Caritas Germany, was on a business trip abroad. But she immediately arranged for her colleague to contact their partners who supply medical material. From Jan 28 to Feb 1, Caritas Germany had contacted many suppliers, ordering the urgently needed medical masks and protective clothing and goggles according to the requirements and standards in China, but each time, before payment could be arranged, the suppliers rejected the payment due to lack of goods. On Feb 1, Julia regretfully informed Jinde Charities that Caritas Germany had to abandon its order plan in Germany after trying several suppliers without success.

When it was hopeless to place a large order, Jinde Charities had to issue a public appeal on February 2 to overseas religious leaders, church members and friends, inviting everyone to find supplies in the name of individuals and groups, and order masks and protective clothing for the affected areas in China. The appeal received a positive response from overseas friends who circulated and forwarded it to many including international media. From these came responses from Macao and Lisbon.

With the links connecting Macao, Lisbon and Freiburg, there was hope that the difficulties of procuring medical supplies would be solved. After several days of contact, communication and negotiation between the Caritas Germany team and Portuguese friends, the team sent Christian Dehmel from Germany to Lisbon for inspection, signing of the contract to guarantee the quality and final purchase of this batch of valuable medical supplies.

Ms. Julia said that since they decided to order and donate this batch of medical supplies for the affected areas of China at the invitation of Jinde Charities, they must first ensure the reliability of the supplier to avoid fraud. Secondly, they had to ensure the quality of medical supplies. Because China was very strict on the standards and requirements of medical supplies for fighting against the novel corona-virus, Caritas Germany made a very strict examination and verification of the professional qualifications, product quality and standards of the manufacturers and suppliers, to ensure that this batch of medical supplies meet both WHO standards and high Chinese standards for epidemic prevention. Finally, Julia admitted the difficulties during the period: due to the urgent need of the epidemic areas in China and the severe shortage of goods in Europe, the price changed every day. There was a need to make decisions within a short period of time, but they also had to ensure the quality and the purchase had to be foolproof, which brought communication difficulties for the different parties who were living in four cities in the east and west, covering three time zones.

The goods were finally purchased, but getting them to China was another problem. Due to the decreasing number of flights, the shipment experienced many twists and turns. Through constant coordination and communication, they were transported through three countries (Lisbon, Portugal -- Istanbul, Turkey -- Seoul, South Korea -- Beijing, China). They finally arrived in China this week. The goods will be sent to each of the affected areas.

(According to Julia, Caritas Germany will donate 30,000 euros, and some partners such as Italy’s The Asia, the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus, the Chinese parish in Chicago and the Chinese parish in Toronto will also donate to China through Caritas Germany.)

Distance cannot separate us, and we all live in a united world. Although the procurement of these materials in foreign countries is difficult, in the face of the common enemy of the human family - the novel corona-virus - success was possible through the sincere cooperation of people from different countries, transmitting love in eight cities and five countries, a precious gift of love to those fighting in the frontlines of the epidemic.

Medical supplies in Lisbon which are going to be delivered to China

2018, Fr. José Mario O Mandia, Director of  Jornal O Clarim of the Catholic Diocese of Macao (third from the right in the front row) and colleagues from the Chinese, English, Portuguese sections of the newspaper, after a meal with Bishop Lee Bun-sang (middle of the front row).