Fr. Don’s Weekly Letter ~ 3 August 2025

Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,

I’m writing this week’s bulletin while still in my second to last day in Taipei, and I have a lot of thoughts. If you are willing to pull back the Buddhist veil of outward appearances (and appearances are very different from our practice of faith!) you begin to see the similarities at the core. Human beings trying their best to be good.

History well will look back on the Venerable Master Chin Kung, whose third anniversary of his death we commemorated this week, as the most influential person/force in the restoration of Chinese religion and culture after its dismantling by Communism. He taught Buddhist teaching (dharma) four hours a day for 62 years, and established multiple international foundations to bring back the identity of Asian people. Like Ezra and Nehemiah restoring the law of Moses to the Hebrew people after the great exile, or modern day efforts to rediscover “Hinduism” after the disastrous English occupation of India, this is historic.

One of the privileges I had this weekend was to observe a 2,000 year-old Confucian Ceremony of Remembrance for their Ancestors which was held at the city convention center. Ritually very different from us (to say the least), it was the ultimate eastern All Souls’ Day.

Confucius, like Master Chin Kung, saw that the wisdom of the ancients was being forgotten over the generations, so he went about all of Asia to record the traditions and philosophy of 5,000 years of sages. None of his writings were original to him, he was the scribe. He understood the way of Heaven and Earth: the character ru, which means “Confucian,“ is a combination of the character ren, which means “human,” and the character xu, which means “requirement,” meaning “the requirement to be born as a human being.”
His thoughts have educated generations of Chinese children and become an essential core of traditional Chinese culture. They will continue to benefit future generations and all humanity.

What is the way that can help people in the world have peaceful minds, love one another and live in harmony, cooperate harmoniously regardless of whether their status is high or low, despite privation or absence of justice?

Confucius said, “Filial piety is the essence of virtue and the source of teaching.” The highest virtue of the ancient emperors was filial piety, which is the root of all virtues and from which comes education. Filial piety here is meant the honor and respect that people have for their parents and ancestors. Once my identity is established, in my self awareness I am also aware of my responsibilities. Education is the foundation of culture and its lifeline.

Therefore, the deep meaning of filial piety is that this universe, with its endless time and infinite space, is one—one entity of life that stands together through good times and bad—and inextricably linked. In this shared body, the love between parents and children is the origin of love that is inherent in each person’s true nature. To carry forward this selfless love and to love all people is, as the ancient Chinese saying goes, “All within the Four Seas are siblings.” By promoting this kind of sibling love, we can achieve harmony in the universe.

This is very consistent with the early Fathers’ understanding of the unity of God’s creation of one Mankind and our Christian doctrine of the Body of Christ.

In the Analects by Confucius is read: “A virtuous and wise person should focus on the root. When the root is established, the Way will grow. Filial piety and fraternal love are the root of benevolence.” This means that a moral person should emphasize the root of everything and start from there.

With the root, people can establish a correct outlook on life. Being filial and respectful to our parents and revering our teachers is the essence of benevolence.

All human beings are facing various serious challenges. If everyone has a grateful heart, does not forget their roots, respects teachers and their teachings, and emulates the virtuous, then society will be stable and the world will be peaceful.

The Lord be with you.