"Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia," the chorus echoed at Sunday's Easter Mass, presided over by Bishop Fu Tieshan in his white chasuble. Hundreds of the faithful knelt in the church, singing together in joyous communion.

In the domed church at Xuanwumen, Beijing, Catholics congregated Sunday morning to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

"More people are coming to the church these days," said a priest assigned to the Xuanwumen church, who refused to be identified.

"Some older people come every morning, while on weekends, youngsters show up to join in the Mass."

The priest said that with the popularity of the English language in China, increasing numbers of young and well-educated people are showing an interest in Christianity. Most of them are not baptized, but are willing to participate in the program.

Priest Joseph Zhang is from Shenyang, in northeast China's Liaoning Province, where many missionaries were based in the early 20th century. He said he felt that the government had given much support to his church. "Religion is compatible with socialist society," he said.

"One example is that the Chinese Catholic Church is now allowed to organize some charity programs," he said.

During the past two decades, Chinese Catholic churches were struggling to survive, Joseph said, but now they are able to extend a hand to others.

The Catholic Church in Shenyang has opened a clinic and a rest home. In February this year, some priests and nuns visited Thailand to learn about their experience in AIDS prevention, hoping to contribute to this pressing problem in China.

"China's charity cause needs attention from all segments of society, and the Catholic Church is always ready to extend the merciful love of God to the sick and frail," said Zhang.

Over 100 million people in China practice religion in one of 100,000 places of worship.

Seventy-seven-year-old Bi Suzhen, of Shenyang, studied in a Catholic primary school in her childhood. In 1991, shortly after she retired, she passed a Catholic church near the old school one morning.

She went in, to find her old teachers had long gone, but she suddenly felt connected to the church. She was baptized soon after.

"I am so glad that I heard the gospel half a century later," she said. "Now I go to church almost every morning. I hope the rest of my family will join me, too."

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao talked about religion during his interview with the US newspaper the Washington Post last November. He said there is a Catholic church not far from his workplace in Zhongnanhai, where priests deliver sermons and followers pray freely. He suggested that the reporter check out the congregation.

Chinese priests and nuns are better educated now than they were 20 years ago. Some have studied abroad in masters or doctoral programs. Priests preside over the Mass in Latin and English across the country, serving Chinese and foreign followers.

(Xinhua News Agency April 12, 2004)