St Teresa Church in Guilin, China

During my recent trip to Guilin in China, I googled for the Catholic church as I have never been to a church in China although I have made many trips to China.

When the taxi driver dropped me off, I flound it a little strange that I was facing the back of the church. The sign also said that it was the “backyard entrance”.

The back entrace to the church

Sign in Chinese and English

Due to development, the back of the church is now a large road and the front is a narrow lane facing old houses.

Note the small alleyway in front of the church

The church is not too old and is quite simple. It is also not a very large church. The have 2 priests there.

The altar is quite simple

The side of the church. Also very simple

The order of the mass is the same as in other places and wordings in Mandarin is also similar to those in Malaysia from what I could make out with my very limited Mandarin. I was half expecting them to be very different from our mass.

I also took a picture of the recent activities in the church. This was posted on the bulletin board.

Photos of recent activities in the church including Easter celcebrations

It started raining when I arrived and it grew heavier and it was very nice of the priest to offer me an umbrella. I don’t think they have many foreign visitors. He also spoke to me but our conversation was somewhat short and simple due to my limited Mandarin. 

The details of the church is as follows :

St Teresa Church

48, Jiefang Dong Lu, Guilin

Tel : 0773-2822107

Masses : Weekdays – 7am, Sat and Sun – 8am.

Until the next time, cheers.

Einsiedeln Abbey in Switzerland

During our trip to Switzerland, my friend who was driving us around told us of a very beautiful church there. When we arrived, I saw a large building but as he was not a Catholic, he was not able to give me a lot of information.

The exterior of the church was quite normal for a large church in Europe and was not as elaborate as many in Europe.

The main facade of the church.

Nearer the front of the church

Side view of the front of the church

Below is a large statue of Our Lady with a water fountain.

Beautiful statue of Our Lady. There's water coming out from the spouts

I was luck to able to attend mass although it was in Swiss German. The church gets a lot of local and European visitors but not from Asia. The interior is very beautiful but you can't take any photos. I only managed a quick one but it is not clear.

Naugthy me but I had to. It's so beautiful.

Later, when I did a little more research on the church, it is a Benedictine Abbey and is dedicated to Our Lady of the Hermits as it was erected the monastery and church as a monk named Eberhard. The are all followers of a very famous hermit monk named Saint Meinrad. The church dates by 948 AD, more than 1,000 years ago.

I have taken some pictures form the internet to show you the beauty of the church. You can also find further information of the place from Wikipedia here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einsiedeln_Abbey.

I was very happy to be able to see this church which was unplanned in a way and very unexpected.

Until the next time, cheers.