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9 Updates- Please click the blue address link.
1. China’s National Religious Groups Joint Conference: “Preach the Two Sessions”
2. New church in Yiwu, Hangzhou
4. Four new priests ordained in Ningbo on the Feast of the Annunciation
2 Updates- Please click the blue address link.
1. Video: Building a Synodal Church — Participation of Chinese bishop’s from the Mainland
5 Updates- Please click the blue address link.
1. The Lunar New Year of Chinese Catholic communities: Blessing for families, visits to hospitals, works of charity
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12 Updates- Please click the blue address link.
1. China’s oldest priest dies at 104: a life of faith amid 25 years of persecution
6 Updates- Please click the blue address link.
1.Jubilee 2025 webpage of the Diocese of Hong Kong and social media plaforms now live
2nd December 2024
3. Chinese Catholic communities study and spread the Papal Bull “Spes non confundit” in preparation for the Jubilee
4. Advent pastoral letter from the Cardinal
29th November 2024
5. Connecting with Hong Kong Catholic migrants in Great Britain
29th November 2024
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8 Updates- Please click the blue address link.
1.Vatican-approved bishop consecrated in Beijing days after China deal renewal.
3. Beijing Archbishop Li Shan gets a coadjutor, Zhen Xuebin
6. The ecclesial information site Xinde invites Chinese Catholics to pray with the Pope for peace in the world
7. China is removing crosses from churches, replacing images of Christ with Xi Jinping
8. Before leaving for Rome: Bishop Vincent Zhan Silu blesses the foundation stone for the construction of a new church
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4 Updates- Please click the blue address link.
1.China-Zentrum Catholic Colloquium discusses young people in China
12 Updates- Please click the blue address link.
1.After years, the Diocese of Shanghai celebrates the patronal feast of St. Ignatius with its Bishop
7 Updates- Please click the blue address link.
1.Catholic Charities in relief of flood-affected populations
26th June 2024
2. New church dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua has been consecrated, and is the result of the commitment of the entire community
19th June 2024
3. Where does the great devotion of Chinese Catholics to the Sacred Heart of Jesus come from?
14th June 2024
4. Belgian delegation led by Cardinal Jozef De Kesel visits mainland China
12th June 2024
5. Priests and nuns of Guizhou study to "adapt" catechism to new pastoral needs
8th June 2024
6. Because of the grain harvest: Bishop Sun Jigeng celebrates the Feast of the Sacred Heart in the village of Chaizhuangcun "in advance"
6th June 2024
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7 Updates- Please click the blue address link.
1.Chinese and Taiwanese Churches to walk ‘hand in hand’
30th May 2024
https://www.ucanews.com/news/
2. In Xiamen Bishops and scholars from Taiwan and mainland China meet to "walk together" in a Seminar dedicated to inculturation
29th May 2024
3. Bishop Shen Bin celebrates the solemn liturgies on the feasts of Mary Help of Christians and the Most Holy Trinity
27th May 2024
7. Diocese of Hong Kong on bridge-building trip to Guangdong
3rd May 2024
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7 Updates- Please click the blue address link.
1.Marian Month at the Shrine of Sheshan: online bookings for pilgrimages.
27th April 2024
2. World Day of Prayer for Priestly Vocations in Catholic Communities: Between hope and crisis
25th April 2024
3. New provincial council for Sisters of St Paul de Chartres
24th April 2024
4. 100th anniversary of the founding of the Catholic parish in Lanniquing: Yi ethnic group pays tribute to the French missionary Paul Vial.
17th April 2024
5. Reflections from the vicar general: Prison evangelisation
12th April 2024
6. Generous participation of Chinese Catholic communities in the 2024 "National Collection" to support relief initiatives in emergency situations.
11th April 2024
7. 470 baptisms in Shanghai, consecration of a new church in Wenling: an Easter full of fruits of faith.
9th April 2024
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5 Updates- Please click the blue address link.
1.Card Chow: Easter and hope in Hong Kong today
30th March 2024
2. Celebrating Easter in Mongolia: The modest joy of a people
28 th March 2024
3. Chinese Church ordered to remove crosses for 'safety'
18th March 2024
4. Hong Kong’s draconian National Security Law won’t affect seal of confession, diocese says
15th March 2024
5. "Year of Catechism" in the Diocese of Xiamen: doctrine and sacraments preserve the faith of those who follow Jesus
7th March 2024
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4 Updates- Please click the blue address link.
12 Updates- Please click the blue address link.
11th December 2023
10. The Bishop of Xiamen: together with Mary Immaculate to welcome Jesus and experience the work of the Holy Spirit
7th December 2023
11. Asian bishops focus on Christian communication in the digital age
2nd December 2023
12. New rules in China target unregistered Catholic, Protestant churches
https://www.ncronline.org/news/new-rules-china-target-unregistered-catholic-protestant-churches
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13 Updates- Please click the blue address link.
11 Updates- Please click the blue address link.
https://www.examiner.org.hk/2023/10/13/migrants-urged-to-help-build-up-the-one-church/news/hongkong/
3 Updates- Please click the blue address link.
China: Congregation of St Joseph welcomes four postulants
Aug 22nd, 2023
Source: Fides
The Congregation of Saint Joseph of the Diocese of Beijing, China's first native Congregation of Sisters, welcomed four young postulants a few days ago in the presence of Bishop Joseph Li
Shan.
After a warm welcome from the congregation and the diocese, the young postulants introduced themselves and spoke about their vocation
journey during the ceremony, while Bishop Joseph Li spoke about the possibilities of the fruitful experiences of consecrated life.
Referring to the current situation in the diocese and the lack of new religious vocations, the Bishop of Beijing encouraged the young
postulants to persevere in their aspiration to follow God's call and to continue joyfully on the path to which they are called.
The Bishop recalled that only in joy can the baptized accept the mission to which they are called, which is to proclaim the Gospel of Christ
to the world.
The Sisters' Congregation of Saint Joseph was founded in 1872 as the first native women's religious order in the Diocese of
Beijing.
On May 2nd, 2022 the Congregation celebrated its 150th anniversary.
In 1870, Louis-Gabriel Delaplace, a Lazarist priest and bishop of Beijing, had the inspiration to found a native Chinese order. Delaplace
was also one of the Council Fathers the First Vatican Council and thus had the opportunity to present his proposal during the Council in Rome.
Two years later, with the help of the Canossa sisters, the congregation was founded, which today includes sisters from various Chinese
provinces. According to the will of the Founder, the main purpose of the Congregation is service (ecclesiastical and social) and mission.
In 1941, the congregation reformed its structure, changing its statutes and religious dress, and also added the vow of poverty (previously
the sisters only took the vows of obedience and chastity).
The date of the religious profession has always remained linked to the Solemnity of Saint Joseph.
Today, the sisters' activity extends above all to the fields of health and education, always being available for the concerns and needs of
the diocese.
As a result of the Cultural Revolution, the Congregation was dissolved for 30 years. It was relaunched in 1986 with six young women from the
Beijing suburbs. There are currently 49 sisters.
During their training, they study Sacred Scripture, Church History, Fundamental Theology, Canon Law, Liturgy, Spirituality, Philosophy,
Church Music, Physics, Chinese Literature, Chinese Moral Tradition, Social Sciences and Foreign Languages.
The motto of the Congregation comes from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians: 'Although I am free in regard to all, I have made myself a
slave to all so as to win over as many as possible' 1 Cor 9:19.. and from the Gospel of Luke: When you have done all what you have been commanded, you shall say: We are useless servants; we have only
done our duty' Lk 17:10.
The path that the Congregation of Sisters of Saint Joseph has taken, even in difficult times, is a sign of hope for the entire Catholic
Church in China.
END
8 Updates- Please click the blue address link.
5. Cardinal Chow, hope for Hong Kong and a bridge to China
7. ASIA/CHINA - Bishop Joseph Shen Bin administers the sacraments of Christian initiation to 34 catechumens: “Be a blessing to all”
END
7 Updates- Please click the blue address link.
19th June 2023
2. Diocese welcomes eight new permanent deacons
16th June 2023
https://www.examiner.org.hk/2023/06/16/diocese-welcomes-eight-new-permanent-deacons/news/hongkong/
3. A precious (and useful) "database" on the historical evolution of Catholic dioceses in China
15th June 2023
4. Marian processions, Confirmations, Masses and Prayers: how Chinese Catholics experienced the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China
24th May 2023
5. Bishop Joseph Shen Bin leads the pilgrimage to Our Lady of Sheshan, reciting the prayer written by Benedict XVI
19th May 2023
6. Historic trip of bishop of Hong Kong to Beijing is the first in three decades
18th April 2023
7. Sister Corr one time editor of China Bridge bids final farewell
END
8 Updates- Please click the blue address link.
12th May 2023
End
8 Updates- Please click the blue address link.
1. Farewell to Peter Lin Jiashan, Archbishop of Fuzhou
14th April 2023
http://www.fides.org/en/news/73651-ASIA_CHINA_Farewell_to_Peter_Lin_Jiashan_Archbishop_of_Fuzhou
2.The Easter Triduum celebrated again in the Chinese dioceses, in the sign of communion
7th April 2023
3. Chinese Catholics donate for the poor ahead of Easter
6th April 2023
https://www.ucanews.com/news/chinese-catholics-donate-for-the-poor-ahead-of-easter/100922
4. Installation of Bishop Shen Bin in Shanghai
4th April 2023
http://www.fides.org/en/news/73629-ASIA_CHINA_Installation_of_Bishop_Shen_Bin_in_Shanghai
5. Deaths due to pandemic, premature deaths, decrease in vocations: the ageing of Chinese clergy is accentuating
3rd April 2023
6. Palm Sunday: Catholic communities promote the seventh National Collection Day
1st April 2023
7. Chinese Catholics help elderly, students during Lent
28th March 2023
https://www.ucanews.com/news/chinese-catholics-help-elderly-students-during-lent/100814
8. Church of Asia: ‘Taking off our shoes’ expresses synodal journey.
27th March 2023
END
3 Updates
1. Christianity and women in Matteo Ricci's China
2. Give thanks to God on the peaks of Mount Lú. Lenten pilgrimages to the Marian shrine of Lushan for the feast of Saint Joseph.
3. A meeting planned for April between Mgr Chow, Bishop of Hong-Kong, and Mgr Li, Archbishop of Beijing.
1.
Christianity and women in Matteo Ricci's China
19th March 2023
In the Jesuit magazine, "La Civiltà Cattolica," Fr. Federico Lombardi retraces a little
known aspect of the early Jesuits' mission in China: the baptisms and hidden apostolate
of women in a society where social control over them was tight. And of one of them -
Candida, granddaughter of Xu Guangqi - he recounts her apostolate and reputation for
holiness.
Rome (AsiaNews) - The rediscovery of the missionary style of Matteo Ricci and other European Jesuits in the Ming court between the 16th and 17th centuries is a theme that has long returned to prominence in discussions on Christianity in China. Even Pope Francis has often pointed to it as a model for the meeting of dialogue and evangelization.
There is one aspect, however, that remains little known about this chapter of Church history in Asia: the way in which - in the shadow of the literati, in a society in which they generally enjoyed very little space - even some Chinese women were able to receive baptism and become missionaries themselves through their witness.
Their stories are the focus of an article by Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, former director of the Vatican Press Office, published in the new issue of the magazine "La Civiltà Cattolica" and written on the basis of the writings Jesuit missionaries in China left behind about their work.
It was by no means a foregone conclusion that Christianity would also reach women. In fact, as Fr. Lombardi recalls, "in Chinese society women had to lead an extremely withdrawn life and under very strict control of their parents, husbands and family members. Therefore the direct relationship of missionaries with them was practically impossible, indeed to be avoided, so as not to arouse rejection and suspicion. Especially since the Jesuits soon abandoned the clothes and lifestyle of the bonzes to assume that of the literati, and while the women of the people frequented the bonzes, the social control over women in the educated classes was most rigid."
As early as 1589, when in their first residence in China in Zhaoqing Fr. Ruggieri and Fr. Ricci had accomplished no more than 70-80 baptisms, there is mention of the presence in that very small community of "some honored matrons, who give great credit and sustain Christianity in the houses."
But it was probably around 1601, Fr. Lombardi notes, "that a real turning point took place, welcoming the desire of the neophytes that their wives also be baptized. It was in particular Fr. Nicolò Longobardo, active in Shaozhou, who pleaded the cause, obtaining Matteo Ricci's assent."
This did not erase the practical difficulties, but the Jesuits found that grace worked going beyond all obstacles. The funds of the time recount what happened with a Mandarin who had decided to be baptized: "His mother and grandmother overtook him, preceding him in baptism, while he at the same time acted as her catechumen and catechist. After they had heard the Doctrine, he went and reported everything to them; and so slowly they catechized very well. They were baptized on St. Anne's Day, in the presence of two of their sons. Father gave them the necessary instruction and questions and found them very well catechized. Their mother was named Mary and their grandmother Anna."
Fr. Lombardi adds that sources report how these baptized Christian women "loved to gather also with other women of lower social status, even peasants, who had also become Christians, treating them 'as sisters,' and this was an occasion of 'great wonder.'"
At one point in time, women would also take on an important role in the spread of Christianity in the Beijing court: it happened when during the reign of the last Ming emperor, Chongzhen, the German Jesuit Adam Schall von Bell managed to enter into a relationship with the eunuch Wang, a man of rare wisdom and virtue, who converted to Christianity and was baptized with the name Joseph. Through him the Christian faith spread among the ladies of the court, whom he catechized and eventually baptized, following Fr. Schall's instructions.
By 1640 these Christian ladies of the court had grown to as many as 50 and were being guided spiritually by the Jesuit in writing through Joseph himself, the only one who could have contact with them. In 1644, however, would come the end of the Ming dynasty, which was defeated by the Qing; at that point, this community, too, dispersed as the women returned to their families.
It was not only a hidden contribution, however, that of women to the spread of Christianity in China. And among them, Fr. Lombardi notes, there were some who, "thanks to favorable family and social conditions, became true pillars of a dynamic Church."
The best-known name is that of Candida, one of the daughters of James, himself the only son of Xu Guangqi, the best-known and most influential disciple and friend of Fr. Matteo Ricci, who became a Christian in 1603. Her story was told in Europe as early as 1688 by Fr. Philippe Couplet, her spiritual father, in a book entitled "History of a Chinese Christian Lady."
Growing up in Sungkiang (Songjang, today a district of the Shanghai metropolis), Candida was given in marriage to a wealthy and influential man who was pagan but respectful of her Christian faith. However, she was widowed at the age of 30 after bearing him eight children. It was precisely this condition-along with her choice not to remarry because she "desired only to be God's" - that enabled her over the next 40 years to live a very active life serving the Christian community.
While not neglecting the obligations of her family, Candida was a master at making embroidery on silk fabrics, which she made with her sisters, daughters and maids, and thanks to which she collected no small sums, which, wrote Fr. Couplet, "she secretly employed, according to the counsel of the Gospel, to help missionaries, the poor, to build churches and chapels and everything necessary for pious exercises of the new Christians."
Thus she did not draw on family property, which was to be the inheritance for her children, but on the fruits of personal labor, which she kept in free and proud conscience to devote to charity.
Between 1647 and 1665 Fr. Francesco Brancati, a Palermo Jesuit and a great apostle of the Christian community in Shanghai, built as many as 90 churches and 45 oratories. A work to which Candida collaborated with offerings, sacred furnishings and other initiatives. But his apostolate was truly all-around, with special attention to women.
Fr. Lombardi writes, "She helped missionaries understand that to convert women, who cannot go to church, they must write piety books in Chinese. Which the Jesuits actually do, while Candida goes out of her way to distribute and give them to all the women she can reach. She also insists that there be a church specifically dedicated to women, where at designated times they can go together to attend the celebration of the Eucharist, without the presence of any man other than the priest and an altar boy, and where the priest can preach, although facing the altar and not the women faithful present."
"If her great grandfather, Xu Guangqi, had demonstrated in deeds that the Christian faith could inspire the commitment of a whole life dedicated to science, wisdom and the service of his country, up to the highest degrees of responsibility," Fr. Lombardi further observes, "his granddaughter Candida demonstrated that the Christian faith could animate the commitment and responsibility of a Chinese woman to the point of serving as a model and inspiration for all her countrymen."
Candida died in 1680. According to the custom of the time, she had a silver cross coined with her profession of faith: "I believe, hope, love the Lord of Heaven, a God in three persons, leaning on the sacred merits of Jesus. I firmly believe and fervently hope for the forgiveness of my sins, the resurrection of my body and eternal life." Fr. Lombardi writes that Fr. Couplet, in concluding Candida's biography, noted, "All the people of the city of Sungkiang regarded this woman as a saint." He adds, "So do we."
Pictured: Candida as portrayed in the biography deedicated to her by Fr. Couplet in 1688
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2.
Give thanks to God on the peaks of Mount Lú. Lenten pilgrimages to the Marian shrine of Lushan for the feast of Saint Joseph.
15th March 2023
Lushan (Agenzia Fides) - Lushan, "Mount Lú", is a mountain located in the district of the same name, south of the city of Jiujiang, in the Chinese province of Jiangxi. From a
distance, you can admire countless peaks that blend into the clouds with enchanting landscapes. The entire area, recognized as cultural heritage by UNESCO, is now part of a vast natural park known
internationally. It was precisely in this region that French Lazarist missionaries erected the Church dedicated to the Assumption of Mary in 1894, with the intention of offering a spiritual oasis to
the Catholic communities of the regions of Shanghai, Nanjing and Wuhan, as well as all the cities in Jiangxi province. This is where the Catholic community in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, also brought
its faithful today for a Lenten pilgrimage and the days leading up to the feast of Saint Joseph, who is also venerated as Patron of missions in China. Way of the Cross, adoration, sacrament of
penance to retrace the life of Jesus who, in his passion, entrusted himself to the embrace of the Father.
The parish priest, Father
Pang Rui, and the nuns led the pilgrimage, inviting everyone to walk in the footsteps of Saint Joseph, "to learn the virtues of obedience to the Lord, his fervent piety, dedication to the service of
the Holy Family".
In 2013, the Catholic
community in Jiangxi also erected the Matteo Ricci Spiritual Center of Lushan in the Church of the Assumption of Mary. In ten years, that of Lushan has become one of the most appreciated shrines of
Chinese Catholics, and it is also frequented by many non-baptized people, because the Center also offers hospitality to all those who wish to spend a moment of peace and contemplation in an
environment that soothes the soul, far from the hustle and bustle of megalopolises. People can walk the Stations of the Cross, pray and meditate in front of the statues of the Virgin and admire the
marvels of the Lord's creation. All this is also possible thanks to the vision and hard work of the missionaries.
The style of construction of
the Sanctuary (from the church to the Spiritual Center) is simple and linear. The stones of the church tell the story of an unbroken experience of faith, lived even in the midst of tribulation. For
130 years, and with a rhythm that has intensified in the last decade, especially thanks to the call of the Holy Year of Mercy, the Sanctuary has been a constant destination of pilgrimages by
communities, families, individual travellers. Groups of internal immigrants, priests and nuns - those of the diocesan Congregations of the Holy Spirit, of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, of the Franciscan
Missionaries, of the Little Sisters of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux... - arrive from all over the province and the large surrounding towns, to ask Christ for the grace to renew their apostolic and
missionary fervor, at the service of all the people.
Thus, every day, the songs of
the Ave Maria, the Alleluia, the Dona nobis pacem sung by the various parish choirs rise in the clouds of Mont Lu, to give thanks to Mary and to the Father who is in Heaven. (NZ) (Agenzia
Fides)
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3.
A meeting planned for April between Mgr Chow, Bishop of Hong-Kong, and Mgr Li, Archbishop of Beijing.
11th March 2023
From April 17, Msgr. Stephen Chow Sau-yan, Bishop of Hong Kong, will travel to Beijing for five
days with a Hong Kong delegation to meet Msgr. Joseph Li Shan, Archbishop of Beijing. The
meeting will take place at the latter's invitation, and Bishop Chow confided that he accepted "in a
spirit of brotherhood in the Lord". The Jesuit bishop added that this visit “recalls the mission of the
diocese of Hong-Kong to form a bridge and to favor exchanges on both sides”.
Bishop Stephen Chow Sau-yan, Bishop of Hong Kong
Bishop Stephen Chow Sau-yan, Bishop of Hong Kong, is due to visit the Chinese capital next month at the invitation of Bishop Joseph Li Shan, Archbishop of Beijing, in order to promote exchanges and communications between the two Catholics of the two Chinese regions, according to an official statement issued on March 9 by the diocese of Hong Kong. The two bishops will spend five days in Beijing starting April 17.
Bishop Chow accepted this invitation “in a spirit of brotherhood in the Lord”. The Jesuit bishop underlined that this visit “recalls the mission of the diocese of Hong-Kong to form a bridge and to favor exchanges on both sides”. Mgr Joseph Ha, auxiliary bishop of Hong-Kong, Father Pierre Choy, vicar general and Wong Ka-Chun, assistant to Mgr Chow, will accompany him during this visit to Beijing.
In addition to the meeting with Bishop Li, the Hong Kong delegation will also meet with other local bishops, as well as Chinese clergy and laity, according to the statement posted on the diocesan news site Sunday Examiner . The team will also visit the major seminary in Beijing and other major institutions related to religious affairs.
Upon his arrival in Beijing, Bishop Chow will participate in a vigil and celebrate a Mass in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Beijing. During his stay, he will also visit the tomb of Father Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit missionary, recently declared venerable. The team must also meet various organizations supporting cultural exchanges.
“A bridge between the government and the Church of Hong Kong”
The last meeting of the Beijing and Hong Kong clergy took place during the weeks preceding Bishop Chow's episcopal ordination in 2021. On this occasion, the latter confided that he hoped "to be a bridge between the government and the Church of Hong Kong, and between the Catholic Church, Christian denominations and other religions”.
Chinese Catholics are currently divided between the official "patriotic" Church and the "underground" Church. For decades, the appointment of bishops in China has been a subject of tension between the Vatican and China, as official diplomatic ties were cut after the communists came to power nearly seven decades ago. In 2018, the Vatican signed a two-year provisional agreement with Beijing, which was extended in 2020 and 2022. Critics of this agreement speak of a “betrayal” of Catholics who remained faithful to the Vatican despite pressure and persecution.
Despite this, Pope Francis explains that he wants to continue to "dialogue" with China despite the difficulties. Through this agreement, the Holy See would seek to unite the millions of divided Chinese Catholics. However, many voices claim that China exploited the provisional agreement in an attempt to dismantle the underground Church. The diocese of Hong Kong, which covers the entire former British colony, has around 400,000 Catholics for a population of nearly 7.4 million.
(with Ucanews)
End
6 Updates
1. Chinese Catholic 'Faith Weekly' calls for prayer and donations for earthquake victims.
2. The death of Sr. Jiang: a century of fidelity to the Gospel in China.
3. New priests for Chinese dioceses, called to serve the Lord's Church "with humility and courage”.
4. Cardinal Zen hospitalized in Hong Kong after returning from Benedict XVI’s funeral.
5. Three newly ordained deacons for the Diocese of Zhouzhi.
6. Cardinal Zen appeals conviction in Hong Kong court.
1.
Chinese Catholic 'Faith Weekly' calls for prayer and donations for earthquake victims.
Agenzia Fides: www.fides.org/en
8th February 2023
Beijing (Agenzia Fides) - A strong appeal for prayer and solidarity in favor of the Turkish and Syrian populations affected by the disastrous earthquake was launched immediately after the first tremendous earthquake on Tuesday, February 7 by the online version of Faith Weekly (Xinde), the most widely circulated Catholic bulletin in Chinese. "Prayer and solidarity charity are the best way to face and overcome difficult situations", reads the appeal, which refers to the experience of persecution, pandemic and earthquake in China. The website reports with news and current photos from those devastated by the earthquake areas and publishes the message of Pope Francis to the two apostolic nuncios in Syria and Turkey Priests, religious and lay people from the Christian communities affected by the earthquake also have their say, lamenting the damage to the churches and accompanying the difficult rescue and recovery work and report on the tragic number of victims and the difficulties in protecting children and the elderly in particular from the cruel cold. The Chinese Catholic communities are invited to gather to pray the Rosary for their Turkish and Syrian brothers and sisters, and to organize collections of goods and aid to be sent to the areas affected by the earthquake.
The Catholic portal has
always been an effective "reservoir" of Catholic solidarity in China and thus takes on tasks that are otherwise covered by Caritas offices. "The whole world," the website reads, "is one family, let's
pray for the people of the two countries affected by the disaster and hope that they will soon be able to resume their normal lives and build a better home."
The appeal launched by Faith
Weekly was well received. In church services across the country, donations are collected and prayer requests are read out for the earthquake victims.
"Prayer and the collection of
goods for the peoples affected by the terrible earthquake, also in response to the Pope's appeal, is a reflection of the communion in faith and in the community with the Church of Rome", Fr Giuseppe
Wang tells Fides.
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2.
The death of Sr. Jiang: a century of fidelity to the Gospel in China.
AsiaNews www.asianews.it
7th February 2023
The diocese of Nanjing mourns the death of a 104-year-old nun. Already in 1945, before the advent of the Communists, she had taken vows for the Daughters of Charity. Sent to work in the factory during the Cultural Revolution, she said of that very hard time: "I never lost hope because I had faith in God". It was only at the age of 64 that she was able to return to her ministry in the city of Wuxi. In 2000, she had the joy of meeting John Paul II in Rome.
Nanjing (AsiaNews) - Nearly eighty years of religious life lived through even the most difficult times for Catholics in China. This is the story of Sr. Jiang Lihua, a religious sister who died yesterday in the Chinese province of Yangsu.
Born on 29 December 1918, she was 104 years old when she died (calculated as 106 according to the Oriental count, based on lunar birthdays). Born into a Catholic family for generations, she joined the congregation of the Daughters of Charity in Shanghai in the 1940s and took her first vows in 1945.
She was therefore one of the faces - by now increasingly rare in China - of that generation of priests and nuns formed before Mao's Communist Revolution and who, after the expulsion of all foreign missionaries, found themselves having to live the test of fidelity to their vocation in the new context that had been created from the 1950s onwards.
Sr. Jiang had told her story personally a few years ago in an interview and in a video published by the UcaNews agency, during a stay in Hong Kong. The elderly nun - already then on the threshold of one hundred years of age - recalled the harshest years, those of the Cultural Revolution, when in the ideological fury of 1966 she too was sent back by the Red Guards to her home village in Yangsu. Even some of her relatives, she recounted, viewed her with suspicion because she had been a nun. She was sent to work in a food factory.
"Life was worthless in those days," she recalled. "No one paid any regard to you. "Someone told me to get married but my sister did not agree. I did not want it too. I believe God would arrange everything for me."
Her strength in those years was fidelity to prayer: "I did not recite the prayers in front of others," she still recalled, "but deep in my heart, without texts but from memory, I asked God's help not to be tempted to fall and to have the possibility of returning to my congregation. I never lost hope because I had faith in God."
That wish could come true with the first openings of the 1980s: it was then that Sr Jiang, then 64, was able to return to work for the Church in the city of Wuxi in the diocese of Nanjing. And she continued to faithfully carry out her ministry there ever since.
Of those early years, she recalled in the interview with UcaNews the challenge was to return to transmitting the faith: "Every summer we organised catechism and Bible study courses for children, with about 200 participants."
On the occasion of the Jubilee of 2000, thanks to a special permit, she was able to travel to France to the mother house of the Sisters of Charity. During that trip, she also went on pilgrimage to Rome and had the opportunity to meet John Paul II personally. On her return to China, however, she had kept the photograph of that meeting hidden for some time, for fear of possible sanctions by the local authorities.
In 2016, reflecting on her ministry she said: "I cannot make any difference to the world at this age but I believe that God has his own plan for the Catholic Church in China."
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3.
New priests for Chinese dioceses, called to serve the Lord's Church "with humility and courage”.
Agenzia Fides: www.fides.org/en
7th February 2023
Rome (Agenzia Fides) - On the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, in several dioceses in mainland China, new "workers in the Lord's Vineyard" were ordained and presented to the communities to which they will be called to exercise their priestly ministry.
On Thursday, February 2,
Bishop Joseph Sun Jigen ordained five new priests in the Diocese of Yongnian (now Handan), Hebei Province. The new priests were trained at seminaries in China:
three of them attended Hebei
Provincial Seminary, the other two at Shenyang Seminary. More than 130 priests concelebrated the ordination liturgy, presided over by Bishop Sun. The mass was attended by hundreds of seminarians,
nuns and lay people.
Also on February 2, Bishop
Joseph Huang Bingzhang of the Diocese of Shantou consecrated new priest Chen Jiaying, who was trained at the Beijing Seminary. Due to the measures still in place to combat the pandemic, only 400
priests, seminarians, nuns and lay people were able to attend the ordination liturgy. In his homily, Bishop Huang encouraged the new priest to live his priestly vocation in following Jesus, to face
trials with humility and obedience and bravery, and to serve the Lord's Church with joy.
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4.
Cardinal Zen hospitalized in Hong Kong after returning from Benedict XVI’s funeral.
Catholic News agency
Rome Newsroom,
1st February 2023
Cardinal Joseph Zen has been hospitalized in Hong Kong after his health deteriorated upon returning from Benedict XVI’s funeral in Rome.
The 91-year-old cardinal wrote on his blog on Jan. 31 that he is receiving treatment in the hospital after experiencing difficulty breathing.
Zen said that the doctors have already conducted many examinations and ruled out that he does not have a bacterial infection in his lungs as he experienced in 2016 when he was hospitalized for three weeks.
“You have not heard from me as I have been staying in the hospital. Please rest assured, Hong Kong’s most senior doctors are taking care of me,” he wrote.
The former bishop of Hong Kong revealed that he had already been experiencing some health difficulties before he received permission from a Hong Kong court to travel to Rome for the Jan. 5 funeral of Benedict XVI.
Despite having inflammation in his shoulders, an aching back, and numbness in his hands, Zen said that he felt that he “could not give up the opportunity” to be present at the funeral.
“The funeral of Pope Benedict was very important to me; and like a miracle, God allowed me to go to Rome to attend: The court approved, the police let me get back my passport; the airline just had a flight so that I could catch the funeral in time, therefore, I felt that I couldn’t give up this opportunity and decided to go,” he said.
“When I went to Rome, I felt that I represented the whole of Hong Kong and the whole of China, expressing our respect and love to Pope Benedict XVI.”
After his four-day trip to Rome, the cardinal spent 10 days resting in Hong Kong, but his health unexpectedly continued to deteriorate, worsening on the first day of Lunar New Year, Jan. 22.
Zen shared the update on his health in a blog post titled “Letter to Inmates.” The retired cardinal has dedicated his time over the past 10 years to prison ministry in Hong Kong and has baptized several prisoners.
“Do not forget that we will never be separated in prayer,” he wrote to the inmates. “I will continue to pray for you, and please remember me in your prayers.”
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5.
Three newly ordained deacons for the Diocese of Zhouzhi.
Agenzia Fides: www.fides.org/en
30th January 2023
Zhouzhi (Agenzia Fides) - On the day when the Catholic Church celebrates the liturgical memory of Saint Thomas Aquinas, great theologian and Doctor of the Church, the Catholics of the diocese of Zhouzhi, in the Chinese province of Shaanxi, experienced with joy and gratitude the ordination of three new deacons, who will soon be ordained priests and will be able to fully live their priestly vocation at the service of their brothers and sisters and the entire local population.
The ordination liturgy of the
three new deacons, celebrated in the cathedral on Saturday January 28, was presided over by Martin Wu, Bishop of Zhouzhi, who was appointed by the Holy See in 2005 and officially installed at the
head of the diocese ten years after his ordination. About fifty priests took part in the liturgical concelebration, as well as parents of newly ordained deacons and numerous seminarians, nuns and lay
people from the surrounding dioceses.
Two of the new deacons are
only child. All three entered the Seminary after having had professional experience. Last September, the three new deacons had obtained their baccalaureate at the diocesan Seminary of the diocese of
Beijing. After the ordination ceremony, all three thanked their families, the community and the entire Catholic Church in China for the many forms of support and comfort they received throughout
their journey of formation and vocation, asking that the prayers of all continue to contribute to keeping alive in them the desire to work with joy and generosity to spread the proclamation of the
Gospel and bear witness to faith in Christ in the places and environments where they will be called to exercise their pastoral work.
Currently, 57 priests serve
some 70,000 baptized people in Zhouzhi Diocese. The life of the community revolves around pastoral initiatives, masses celebrated and the sacraments administered in 173 churches. In recent decades,
the diocese has also distinguished itself by its missionary fervor: 290 priests and seminarians and 208 sisters from the diocese of Zhouzhi are currently working to announce the Gospel in other
diocesan communities in the country. Ten continue their formation abroad, in France, Germany, Italy, the United States, England and the Philippines.
In the region which today
constitutes the diocese of Zhouzhi, the famous "Nestorian stele" was discovered in 1625. It attests to the arrival of the Christian proclamation in China by the missionary monks of the Church of the
East (of Nestorian ancestry) as early as 635 AD. The Shrine of the Mount of the Cross and the Shrine of Our Lady in China are located in the diocese.
On June 17, 1932, Pope Pius
XI created the Apostolic Prefecture of Zhouzhi. In 1951, five years after the establishment of the Catholic Hierarchy in China, the ecclesiastical district of Zhouzhi was elevated to the rank of
diocese. At that time there were 16 priests throughout the diocese, 14,000 baptized Catholics, 29 churches and 56 chapels. Zhouzhi Cathedral is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of
Mary.
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6.
Cardinal Zen appeals conviction in Hong Kong court.
14th December 2022
Catholic News agency
Cardinal Joseph Zen has filed an appeal with Hong Kong’s High Court following his conviction last month for failing to register a fund that helped pay for the legal fees and medical treatments of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters.
The Hong Kong Free Press reported Dec. 14 that the 90-year-old cardinal and former bishop of Hong Kong filed an appeal of the verdict this week together with four other trustees of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund who were fined about $500 (HK$4,000) each.
Zen’s trial from September to November focused on whether it was necessary for the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund trustees to apply for local society registration between 2019 and 2021.
Magistrate Ada Yim ruled on Nov. 25 that the fund was a “local society” and was subject to its rules. In her judgment, she said that the fund “had political objectives and thus it was not established solely for charitable purposes.”
Following the ruling, Margaret Ng, a lawyer and fund trustee who was convicted with Zen, highlighted that this was the first time that anyone had been convicted under Hong Kong’s Societies Ordinance for failing to register a society and said that the case is important for “freedom of association in Hong Kong.”
Along with Zen and Ng, singer-activist Denise Ho, cultural studies scholar Hui Po-Keung, and ex-legislator Cyd Ho have also appealed the conviction.
Sze Ching-wee, the former secretary of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, has not filed for an appeal. Sze was arrested earlier in November under Hong Kong’s national security law. He has been released on bail and is required to report to the police in February.
Days before Zen filed for an appeal, a Hong Kong court sentenced Jimmy Lai, a Catholic pro-democracy advocate and former publisher of Hong Kong’s Apple Daily to an additional five years and nine months in jail for breaching the lease on one of his newspaper’s offices, according to AFP.
Lai, who has been jailed since December 2020 for his involvement in pro-democracy protests, also faces the possibility of being sentenced to life in prison under national security charges.
On Dec. 13, a Hong Kong court delayed Lai’s national security trial, initially scheduled for this month, until September 2023.
End
3 Updates
1. Father Vimal Tirimanna: Asian Church should become 'more Asian, less Roman'
2. The Beijinge: Story of the 'Jing: The Legacy of the Jesuits in Beijing.
3. "Signs of the Times": Social Media Mission.
1. Father Vimal Tirimanna: Asian Church should become 'more Asian, less Roman'
20th November 2022
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
By Christopher Joseph
The Churches in Asia need to seize the moment to stress the Asianness of the Church as Pope Francis encourages Church communities to become more grounded through continental contextual theologies, says Redemptorist Father Vimal Tirimanna, one of Asia’s leading theologians.
The 67-year-old professor of theology at the Pontifical Accademia Alfonsiana in Rome says the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference (FABC) should build on the theological foundations laid by yesteryear Asian theologians.
The priest, also a member of the Theological Commission of the General Secretariat for the Synod 2021-2024, also believes the synodal process will change "the Church upside down" if the process is taken seriously.
Father Tirimanna spoke with UCA News on Oct. 20 on the sidelines of FABC’s first general conference (Oct.12-30) organized in Bangkok as part of its golden jubilee celebrations. Excerpts from the interview:
What do you think the FABC has achieved in its 50 years?
The Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference has a very good foundation thanks to our forefathers, who worked for it in the 1970-80s. We are celebrating 50 years now and I think we should get inspiration from those pioneers. Of course, we cannot go back and should not go back literally to what they were because the world has changed, and realities have changed. We should move on based firmly on the foundation they have already laid.
The essence they gave is the Asianness of the Church. Otherwise, tell me why should we meet as the FABC here. If we are not here to build on that essence of Asianness, it is all a waste of money, time and energy. We should cherish and develop a sense of Asianness in every aspect of the Church paying attention to the contemporary signs of the times. That, I believe, is the meaning of the existence of the FABC.
The FABC should continue to work. Let me be specific. We need to be Asian but as things stand today, the Church in Asia is not yet fully Asian. The FABC should continue to work and it has a lot of ground to cover. In the initial three decades of the FABC, it was bubbling with Asianness. But that Asianness has been gradually waning.
However, we cannot and should not go back to the 1970s and 1980s. We have to face today's reality and respond. Today's Asia is not the Asia of the 1970s or of the 1980s. So we have to be Asian according to today's Asia.
Is a fully Asian Church even possible?
We have to be Asian, otherwise, we don't need an FABC. Take for example the Latin American CELAM (the FABC equivalent in South America). It is through and through Latin American. And the FABC trails behind it. But as things stand, the reality is there is not much of a difference between European theology and the FABC’s theology. Of course, I'll be too naive to say that as a blanket statement. Certainly, there are certain Asian elements in our Churches. It's there … but much reduced. We can be more Asian, that’s what I am saying.
Why is the Asian Church attempting to reduce its Asian elements?
Frankly speaking, I don’t think that the Asian Church is consciously attempting to reduce her Asianness. However, the reasons for the lack of enthusiasm for being Asian can be traced to the pontificates of Papa Wojtila and Papa Ratzinger that perceived relativism as the major issue the Church has to respond to. During that time, most Asian bishops were trying to follow the Roman agenda, for obvious reasons. That's what Rome wanted. The freedom, which Paul VI gave, what Vatican II gave, was not there. Pope Paul VI allowed and encouraged the openness and freedom to be Asian, to be theologizing in the Asian way. But in the later decades, we see it being taken away little by little, little by little.
With the arrival of Pope Francis, we have gained much more space to be Asian because he's a Third-World man who would surely understand what it means to be in the Third World. He was the cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires in Argentina.
Secondly, he's promoting contextual theology. So, this is our Asian moment. We need to seize it. But I’m sorry to say I don’t see the enthusiasm and energy to do that. We can do much more than what we are doing because this is our moment. If we lose this, I wonder whether God will give us another moment like this.
What do you mean by contextual theology?
Any theology should help Christians to understand and respond to their faith in their own histories, in their daily life, in their culture, and in their socio-political nuances. These realities in Asia provide us with our context, and these realities are completely different from any other part of the world. Continental contextual theologies are local theologies to be developed as a faith-response to these continental realities. Roman or European theology will not be able to understand and respond to our realities in all their complexities. What we need is an Asian theology.
Vatican II has given us the freedom to develop these contextual theologies. This is the moment for us. I'm so happy that I'm living in this moment. I’m very hopeful about this space and freedom which Pope Francis reiterates. But will we use that space and the freedom to continue to build an Asian theology? I’m not sure. At the same time, I say this with a certain amount of hope. But I would have loved to have more inspiration from an Asianness than what we see today.
How will the universal Church benefit from these contextual theologies?
One of the finest theological elements which the FABC developed and contributed to the universal Church was the theology of inter-religious relations. The first document of the FABC Theological Advisory Commission was trying to understand how Christians could practice their faith without negating or looking down upon the beliefs of other religions in Asia, following the guidelines given by Vatican II.
I want to mention the names of a few Asian theologians here, who worked hard to lay the foundations for the FABC’s theology — Father Felix Wilfred from India and Jesuit Father Catalano Arevalo from the Philippines. I also remember Jesuit Father Aloysius Pieris of Sri Lanka. We may have differences of opinion with them. For example, I may not agree as a bishop with certain views they hold but their work for the FABC was seminal and indispensable.
Their main common point was that there are three main living realities in Asia: religions, cultures, and the poor. These founding fathers of FABC theology, of course, together with the pioneer FABC bishops, considered that Christian existence in Asia can be appreciated only through triple dialogue — with religions, cultures and the poor. These triple realities characterized Asia in the seventies, and they continue to characterize Asia even today and that will characterize Asia even tomorrow.
After all, our major Asian religions are here to stay. Whatever our other problems are, we are very religious still in Asia. Secondly, cultures. We are still culturally conditioned people more than any other non-Asian country, probably some African nations may be exceptions. Thirdly, our poor. They are not going to go off in the near future. So the dialogue with these three living Asian realities is a must. Of course, in our globalized world, all these are becoming social realities in many other parts of the world too. Asia is typically characterized by them.
I believe FABC will somehow regain its theological prominence because I believe in the active presence of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, a conference like this will not have happened, a hope like this will have never been lit. However, I also think that we lack daring theologians of the caliber of those, who were there at the foundation. We don't have them today. Simple as that. We have theologians who mostly repeat what the early Asian theologians said, or what the Vatican is saying. We do not have theologians who can take Asian theology forward, but I believe that the Holy Spirit will lead the FABC in His own way.
What should be their priorities in this journey forward?
We have newer issues that beg for theological engagement here in Asia. We should have more time for dialogue with women, youth, and the environment. But please don't put those dialogues on par with the triple dialogue because the triple dialogue is what gives us our Asianness our Asian identity in theologizing.
Environmental issues are here as they are in other parts of the world. Issues of women and youth are also global. We should not lose what characterizes us. Have a dialogue with everybody, but let's be Asian. If you are not focused well, everything becomes important even with regard to dialogue. That means nothing is important. Have a dialogue but don't say they are Asian issues alone. But the issues of women in Asia are not that of Europe. So European solutions will not help Asian women. I think I have made my point clear.
I am in the Theological Commission, and Pope Francis is interested in Asian Churches. All the national episcopal synodal reports I read last month in Frascati together with my colleagues spoke about the role of women in the Church.
Here, I think of the report from Sri Lanka, which pleasantly surprised me as it said, women are the lifeblood of the Church in Sri Lanka. So we should give them more place, much more than now in ecclesial life. All that is true. But for heaven’s sake don't copy North American and European women's agenda and bring it here. For example, women's ordination. Is it an Asian issue? I'm asking that question. I won't say anything more. Are not women’s social subjugation, their oppression, and man-dominated societies in Asia typically our Asian issues? We also have issues of pushing women to be migrant workers in foreign lands.
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2.
The Beijinge: Story of the 'Jing: The Legacy of the Jesuits in Beijing.
20th November 2022
CAP - Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific
https://www.thebeijinger.com/
Few foreigners have left as much of a legacy in Beijing as the Jesuits who served at the Forbidden City. Many of the city's most famous churches began as chapels and residences for European missionaries living in Beijing from the 17th to the 19th centuries, which eventually grew into the impressive structures that still stand today. Here are a few of the more famous of the city's Jesuits and the sites associated with their history.
Jeremiah Jenne | Nov 20, 2022 10:55 am | Add a comment | 277 reads
In 1598, the Italian Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) stepped onto the pier at Tongzhou. Sadly, Ricci learned that it would be another 423 years before Universal Studios Resort would open. On a positive note, though, four centuries is approximately the wait time on busy weekends for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. No matter; for Matteo Ricci had another Forbidden destination in mind.
Ricci had been in China for 16 years, but 1598 was his first visit to the capital. Three years later, he was invited to the Forbidden City on the orders of the Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Ricci never met the Wanli Emperor, who famously wasn't into things like "visitors," "work," or "leaving his bedroom," nor was there much imperial interest in Ricci's Catholicism.
Still, the European's skills as a cartographer, mathematician, linguist, and astronomer preceded Ricci. The court asked Ricci to stay in Beijing, beginning a tradition of Jesuit imperial advisers at the court of the Ming and later Qing (1644-1912) emperors that would last two centuries.
Zhalan Cemetery & South Church
Like many later Jesuits, including all the men on this list, Ricci is buried at the Zhalan Cemetery, located outside Fuchengmen Gate of Beijing, on the city's Westside. Legends have it the court repurposed land confiscated formerly held by a corrupt eunuch and gave it to the Jesuits to be used as a burial ground.
Access to this historic site can be tricky, as it is today the Beijing Administration Institute, one of the city's party (Think: "Communist," not "keg") schools. More accessible (slightly) is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, also known as "South Church," near Xuanwumen, built on the site of a long-demolished chapel that served as Matteo Ricci's residence in Beijing from 1605 until Ricci died in 1610.
Ricci's Jesuit successors at the court witnessed the transition from the Ming to Qing dynasty in 1644. They deftly switched allegiances when it was clear that the Forbidden City would be under new ownership. German Jesuit Johann Adam Schall Von Bell (1591-1666) and his protege, the Flemish Jesuit Ferdinand Verbiest (1623-1688), made themselves useful to the new Manchu rulers by helping to perfect the imperial calendar.
Schall Von Bell was close with the Shunzhi Emperor [r. 1643-1661]. After the emperor's death, political intrigue involving jealous rival astronomers led to Schall von Bell and Verbiest being imprisoned. Schall Von Bell died soon after, but Verbiest survived to challenge their accusers to an Astronomy Off, with the winner being named head of the calendrical bureau. Verbiest and his team won, and Verbiest became an adviser to the Kangxi Emperor [r. 1661-1722].
The Ancient Observatory
On top of a small surviving section of the old city wall, next to the Jianguomen interchange, is the former Imperial Observatory. In addition to the remains and replicas of the instruments used by the Jesuits and other imperial astronomers, there is a small museum featuring Adam Schall von Bell, Ferdinand Verbiest, and other Jesuit scientists.
Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766) was a Lay Jesuit brother (but not a priest) who served three emperors as a court painter, but it is his association with the last of these, the Qianlong Emperor, that has left a lasting legacy on the art and architecture of Beijing.
Castiglione arrived in Beijing in 1715, over a century after the death of Matteo Ricci. Adopting the Chinese name Lang Shining, Castiglione painted imperial portraits, commemorated military campaigns, and, perhaps most famously for tourists, helped design the Western-Style Palaces at the Yuanmingyuan.
Yuanmingyuan - aka the Old Summer Palace
Castiglione worked at both the Forbidden City and the imperial residence at Yuanmingyuan. His paintings can also be found at the National Museum of China at Tiananmen Square. But the Western-style Buildings, even 160 years after their destruction by the Anglo-French Expedition of 1860, remain Castiglione's most lasting legacy.
One wonders what the court painter thought when given the task of designing a European-themed play set for the Qianlong Emperor, although Castiglione would certainly not be the last foreign employee of a local organization to be asked to do things wildly outside their job description.
About the Author
Jeremiah Jenne earned his Ph.D. in Chinese history from the University of California, Davis, and taught Late Imperial and Modern China for over 15 years. He has lived in Beijing for nearly two decades and is the proprietor of Beijing by Foot, organizing history education programs and walking tours of the city including deeper dives into the route and sites described here.
READ: Story of the 'Jing: When Beijing's Most Famous Sites Opened Their Doors to the Public
Images: Wikimedia, Wikipedia, Jeremiah Jenne
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3.
"Signs of the Times": Social Media Mission.
17th October 2022
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
ASIA/CHINA - "Signs of the Times": Social Media Mission
By: Marta Zhao
Beijing (Agenzia Fides) - For years, the daily life of a
large part of the Chinese population has been characterized by the use of the news app "Wechat" from the Chinese company "Tencent Holdings". The company, founded in 1998, has specialized in the
development of Internet services. “Wechat” is now installed on almost every Chinese mobile phone and has become a communication and information tool used by Chinese both at home and abroad. People
use the app to pay for groceries, get the result of the coronavirus test, and download the relevant certificate that certifies immunity.
As for the use of "Wechat", the Chinese Catholic
communities have also recognized the signs of the times and "Wechat" has become a valuable and reliable tool when it comes to spreading news about the initiatives and events affecting the everyday
church life in the ministry of proclaiming the gospel. This modern technological tool, used above all by the younger generations, has thus "updated" in its own way the image of the usual pastoral
dynamics of parishes and ecclesial communities. The "Wechat" accounts of parishes and church groups are often used by youth, who in this way personally participate in the mission of the church by
sharing spiritual content, prayers and community programs with their peers.
Dioceses, parishes, church groups and associations have
their own "Wechat" accounts, which they update daily. On the individual accounts you will find information about catechism courses, references to liturgies and community prayers (rosary,
commemoration of the dead, etc.), representations of the Christian faith also through works of art, posters of parish initiatives. Those responsible for church accounts create striking images and
video clips that become new tools to convey the gift of faith received, using languages and expressions that are considered familiar, especially to younger
generations.
The Parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the Archdiocese
of Beijing, for example, accompanies the beginning of the Day of the Faithful with a passage from the Holy Scriptures published on Wechat. On October 7th, the day of Our Lady of the Rosary,
suggestive sacred images, music videos and the text for the rosary prayer were published on the parish account, along with videos with sacred hymns and the text to accompany the prayer of the Holy
Rosary. The publication of the texts and images with hymns via Wechat has not led to a sometimes not undisputed "digitalization" of parish life, on the contrary, many young people, after seeing texts
and images on the Wechat account, went to the parish to participate in person in the prayer of the Rosary. For some of them, this participation has become an opportunity to rediscover the beautiful
history of the parish, and to share this new knowledge through their personal accounts, pictures and small video clips taken at the church, which is also a testament that apps can be valuable and
useful when they become tools of an ecclesial life careful to use even the most modern means to proclaim the Gospel.
The Archdiocese of Beijing now uses "Wechat" as a normal
tool to communicate its pastoral and liturgical program and also offers practical advice on church activities and appointments. For example, this Monday, October 17, the Archdiocese's Wechat account
published the program for the Day of Remembrance of the Dead (November 2), including the times of the various Masses to be celebrated in the two Catholic cemeteries of the Archdiocese metropolis to
be celebrated.
END
4 Updates
1. Hong Kong media report the postponement of Card Zen’s trial.
2.The diocese of Zhouzhi celebrates ninety years of evangelization by renewing its missionary commitment.
3.Beijing tells new Catholic leaders to ‘fend off infiltration by foreign forces’.
4.China's Catholic leaders vow to accelerate sinicization.
1.
Hong Kong media report the postponement of Card Zen’s trial.
19th September 2022
AsiaNews - www.asianews.it
The trial was supposed to start today and be over by Friday, but the presiding judge contracted COVID-19. The cardinal and five other pro-democracy advocates are accused of running an unregistered charity and could at worse be fined. Experts believe that the original charge of undermining national security was dropped for fear of international reactions.
Hong Kong (AsiaNews) – The trial of Card Joseph Zen Ze-kiun and five important pro-democracy activists was supposed to start today at the West Kowloon Court but was postponed until Wednesday.
Local media, including Sing Tao Daily, report that the judge in charge of the case, Permanent Magistrate Ada Yim Shun-yee, contracted COVID-19.
A verdict was expected this Friday but it too could be postponed by a couple of days. The defendants are accused of improperly registering a humanitarian fund of which they were trustees.
On 11 May, police arrested Card Zen, Hong Kong’s archbishop emeritus, and the other defendants on the more serious charge of "collusion" with foreign forces, in violation of a draconian national security law imposed by Beijing in the summer of 2020 to silence the pro-democracy movement.
Without the indictment for undermining to national security, the defendants risk at best a fine of up to US$ 1,750.
In addition to the 90-year-old cardinal, the other defendants are the well-known lawyer Margaret Ng, singer-activist Denise Ho, former Legislative Council Member Cyd Ho, academic Hui Po-keung, and activist Sze Ching-wee.
Cyd Ho is already in prison for taking part in an unauthorised demonstration. Several other pro-democracy advocates, including Catholic media magnate Jimmy Lai, are also in prison on the same charge.
Until it folded in October 2021, the 612 Fund helped thousands of pro-democracy activists involved in the 2019 protests.
Card Zen and his co-defendants pleaded not guilty. According to their lawyers, the charity was not required to register under the Societies Ordinance.
The defence wants the ordinance to be interpreted in such a way as to take into account the right of citizens to associate as enshrined in Hong Kong’s Basic Law, which will go a long way to show how much freedom is left in the former British colony.
Analysts note that the authorities in all likelihood softened the charges out of concern for international fallout.
In fact, during his flight back from his apostolic visit to Kazakhstan on Thursday, Pope Francis spoke about the issue.
Although he said he did not feel he could “qualify China as undemocratic” because of his complexity, the pontiff also noted that, “It is true that there are things that seem undemocratic to us. Cardinal Zen is going to trial these days. And he says what he feels, and you can see that there are limitations there. But more than qualifying, I try to support the path of dialogue.”
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2.
The diocese of Zhouzhi celebrates ninety years of evangelization by renewing its missionary commitment.
7th September 2022
Agenzia Fides
- www.fides.org
ASIA/CHINA
Zhouzhi (Agenzia Fides) - May the celebration of 90 years
of life of the diocese of Zhouzhi, in the province of Shaanxi, in mainland China, "be an opportunity to renew our missionary commitment while remaining faithful to our baptismal vocation". Thus Msgr.
Joseph Wu Qinjing, Bishop of the diocese of Zhouzhi, encouraged the faithful during the solemn Eucharistic celebration for the ninety years of the diocese, on the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Queen, on August 22.
According to information gathered by Fides, the Bishop
urged the faithful to "take care of pastoral care with love and concrete initiative and support the development of the diocese". In these times when "the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are
few", he also exhorted us to "pray for the vocations of the Church". During the celebration, Msgr. Wu also ordained a diocesan priest and told him: "be the incarnation of Jesus, serving the people of
God through daily prayer and sacraments, which are the source of your strength and inspiration. You must practice what you preach and preach what you practice".
With great emotion, the new priest thanked all those who
accompanied and helped him on his vocational journey: "you are my motivation for the priestly life. From you I have seen the sign of God's love and your love and your generosity have made me what I
am today. Prayers and service are the only way to express my gratitude".
The diocese of Zhouzhi is located in the center of the
Guan Zhong plain, in the province of Shaan Xi. Created Apostolic Prefecture on August 22, 1932, it was elevated to diocese in 1951 and consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Today the diocese
has more than 67,000 faithful, about sixty priests (many have studied abroad and some are still in Europe and the United States for their studies), more than 200 women religious. The diocese has more
than 200 churches, hundreds of places of prayer and 2 Marian shrines: the Shrine of the Mount of the Cross and the Shrine of Our Lady of Hu Xian. The diocese of Zhou Zhi has always been faithful to
its long tradition of faith, rich in priestly vocations and consecrated life.
After the reopening in the 1980s, more than 300 priests
and as many nuns offer their pastoral service in the various Chinese dioceses, such as Beijing, Shang Hai, Xin Jiang and Jiang Xi. Furthermore, the diocese is committed to collaborating with other
Catholic realities, such as Catholicism Shanghai Jiaoqu Guangqi Society Service Center. The ordinary pastoral life of the diocese is marked by numerous initiatives linked to catechism, youth
spirituality (especially university), formation in the faith, preparation for Christian marriage. (NZ)
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3.
Beijing tells new Catholic leaders to ‘fend off infiltration by foreign forces’.
24th August 2022
South China
Morning Post
* Top political adviser Wang Yang met the newly elected leaders of two state-sponsored church bodies in China
* He urged them to deepen ‘Sinicisation’ by fostering politically reliable clergy so control remains in the hands of patriots
By: Mimi Lau
Top political adviser Wang Yang has urged new Catholic
leaders in China to resist foreign influence and ensure that control of the church remains in the hands of patriots.
He made the remarks after the two state-sponsored Catholic
Church bodies in China elected new leaders at a twice-a-decade conference that wrapped up in Wuhan, Hubei province on Saturday.
During the three-day meeting, Archbishop Joseph Li Shan of
Beijing was appointed chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, replacing Bishop John Fang Xingyao of the Shandong diocese.
Bishop Joseph Shen Bin of the Haimen diocese was elected
to replace Archbishop Joseph Ma Yinglin of Kunming diocese as the new chairman of the Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in China.
The new leaders met Wang – No 4 in the Communist Party and
chairman of China’s top political advisory body – in Beijing on Tuesday, state news agency Xinhua reported.
Wang said that under the new leaders, the Catholic
community was expected to fully implement Beijing’s policy on the “Sinicisation” of religion and firmly uphold the party’s leadership, according to the report.
Sinicisation is a push by the officially atheist party to
bring religions under its control and into line with Chinese culture and was introduced by President Xi Jinping in 2015.
Wang urged the new leaders to deepen Sinicisation of
Catholicism by fostering politically reliable clergy so that patriots continued to run the church, the report said.
He said they must get their political principles straight
and be independent while “actively fending off infiltration by foreign forces”.
It comes after Pope Francis last month said he hoped to
see the Vatican agreement with Beijing on the appointment of bishops in China to be renewed in October.
Anthony Lam Sui-ki, a Catholic affairs expert with Hong
Kong Shue Yan University’s journalism and communications department, said Chinese leaders were “overly concerned” about foreign influence on the church.
“I don’t think [Wang] was referring to the Vatican as the
foreign forces as it remains a universal church,” Lam said. “We would like to see a Chinese bishop who could eventually serve as a future pope – the same way we would like to see a Chinese doctor
serving as the head of the World Health Organization,” he added.
Lam said it was a positive sign that there were no policy
shifts or new requests from Beijing for the Catholic Church.
“As long as there is no change in status quo, I expect
Beijing and the Vatican will go ahead with the renewal of the [bishops] agreement and head towards building official diplomatic ties in the future,” he said.
The Vatican is one of Taipei’s only diplomatic allies in
Europe but has long expressed the desire to revive its official ties with Beijing – a relationship that was severed in 1951. In a step towards repairing the relationship, Beijing and the Holy See
reached a provisional agreement in 2018 on the appointment of Chinese bishops.
Mainland China’s 12 million Catholics are split between an
“underground” church that looks to the Pope for authority, and state-run churches controlled by the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.
The controversial agreement has been criticised as selling
out the interests of the mainland’s underground church, pushing them to pledge allegiance to the party-controlled Catholic Church bodies that vowed independence from
Rome.
The full text of the 2018 provisional agreement has never
been made public but it marked the party state’s first indication it was ready to share authority with the Pope over the Catholic Church in China. After it was signed, China stopped appointing
bishops without the approval of the Pope but reports of persecution against underground clergy have continued.
* Mimi Lau covers human rights, religion and civil society in China. She spent seven years in southern China as
the Post's Guangzhou Correspondent before returning to Hong Kong in 2017. Today, Mimi continues to pursue stories across the country, monitoring and reporting on key political and civil issues. She
has won numerous awards for her work
___________________________________________________________________
4.
China's Catholic leaders vow to accelerate sinicization.
23rd August 2022
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
10th National Congress of Catholicism in China elects new leaders who vow to toe Communist Party line
Participants attend the 10th National Congress on Catholicism in China in Wuhan on Aug. 18-20. (Photo: BCCCC)
Two state-sponsored Church bodies in China have elected new leaders during a five-yearly national conference who promised to invigorate the Catholic faithful pastorally in line with the socialist principles of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The three-day 10th National Congress of Catholicism in China ended in Wuhan, the capital of Hebei province in central China, on Aug. 20. Senior officials from the CCP also attended the gathering and delivered speeches.
The meeting attended by some 345 Catholic bishops, clergy, and religious from across China ended with the election of new leaders of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA) and the Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in China (BCCCC), says a report on the BCCCC website.
Archbishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing was elected chairman of the CCPA and Bishop Joseph Shen Bin of Haimen was voted in as the new BCCCC chairman.
The delegates also unanimously accepted the Work Report of the 9th Standing Committee on Church efforts and activities in the promotion of patriotism, socialism, and sinicization in the Catholic Church as outlined by President Xi Jinping.
The new leaders have issued a statement to commit themselves to engaging priests, religious, and laypeople including elders across the country for pastoral evangelization and further promotion of sinicization for “truth, pragmatism and inspiration” to move ahead toward a “bright future.”
"It is important to adhere to the direction of sinicization of Catholicism in China"
Sinicization is a profoundly political ideology that aims to impose strict rules on societies and institutions based on the core values of socialism, autonomy, and supporting the leadership of the CCP.
The statement also highlighted the need for the Catholic Church to implement the spirit of the National Conference on Religious Affairs held last December, and fulfill the requirement of the CCP Central Committee for the Catholic Church in China.
During that conference on Dec. 3-4, Xi stressed the strict implementation of Marxist policies, increased online surveillance, and tightening control of religion to ensure national security.
“It is necessary to unite and lead the priests, elders and faithful to follow Xi Jinping’s thought on socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a ‘New Era,’ continue to hold high patriotism and love for religion, adhere to the principles of independent and self-run churches,” the bishops’ statement said.
The Church leaders said they find it is important to adhere to the direction of sinicization of Catholicism in China to “vigorously strengthen the building of patriotic forces” to realize “the dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
Following the communist takeover in 1949, China severed diplomatic ties with the Vatican.
The communist government formed the CCPA in 1957 to assert control over the Catholic Church. Many Catholics refused to join the state-controlled body and continued to pledge allegiance to the pope and the universal Church.
China has about 12 million Catholics split between patriotic and underground churches, independent researchers say.
For years, the appointment of bishops remained a bone of contention between the CCP and the Vatican with Beijing appointing and consecrating bishops without a Vatican mandate.
In 2018, the Vatican signed a provisional agreement with China for two years over the appointment of bishops, which was renewed for another two years in 2020. The provisions of the agreement have not been made public.
The Vatican reportedly seeks to unite Catholics divided between two churches with the deal, while it gives the Vatican a say to accept or veto bishops selected by Beijing.
Since 2018, six bishops have been ordained with approval from both China and the Vatican. Pope Francis has also recognized seven “illicit bishops” who were ordained without a papal mandate.
END
CATHOLIC CHURCH UPDATES
August 2022
8 Updates
1. State-backed Chinese Catholic gathering begins.
2. Devotion and gratitude of Chinese Catholics on the feast of the Assumption.
3. The parish of Xi Tang in Beijing on a synodal journey.
4. Chinese bishop pushing clergy into 'Patriotic Association'.
5. A summer of intense pastoral activity for the Catholic community, towards a newfound normality.
6. Holiness, witness of faith, vocation and mission: the themes of the annual retreat of the various dioceses.
7. Beijing Cathedral reopens after 6 months: 101 catechumens receive the sacraments of Christian initiation.
8. The retreat of priests and nuns from the diocese of Ningxia underlines the importance of spirituality.
1.
State-backed Chinese Catholic gathering begins
19th August 2022
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
10th National Congress of Catholicism in China plugs importance of sinicization, patriotism
The 10th National Congress of Catholicism in China began in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province in central China on Aug. 18. (Photo: Bishops Conference of the Catholic Church in China)
Catholic bishops, priests and religious from across China have started a state-sponsored once-in-five years national conference in the presence of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials, stressing the importance of adhering to government policies on religious affairs and strengthening patriotism.
The 10th National Congress of Catholicism in China began in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province in central China on Aug. 18, says a notice on the website of the state-run Bishops Conference of the Catholic Church in China (BCCCC).
Some 345 Catholic bishops, priests, and religions representing 28 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities are attending the three-day assembly
Among the state officials attending are Cui Maohu, deputy minister of the United Front Work Department of the CCP Central Committee and Director of the State Administration of Religious Affairs, and Ning Yong, a member of the Standing Committee of the CCP Hubei Provincial Committee and Minister of the United Front Work Department.
Both Cui and Ning attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches.
In his address, Cui said the government fully affirms various activities of the BCCCC and Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA) over the past six years that highlighted commitments and love for the nation and allegiance to the party leadership.
He pointed out that since the 9th National Congress in 2016 in Beijing, Chinese Catholics have strengthened their ideological and political leadership, adhered to the road of independent and self-run churches, further promoted the construction of Chinese theological ideas, and focused on cultivating patriotism.
Cui said Chinese Catholics “love teaching and church talents, vigorously carry out social service undertakings, attach importance to strengthening self-construction, and have achieved remarkable results in various work.”
Archbishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing, Bishop Joseph Shen Bin of Hamien, and Bishop Joseph Guo Jincai of Hebei delivered speeches during the opening ceremony of the conference.
Bishop Huang Bingzhang Huang of Shantou Diocese presented a report explaining the recent revision of the CCPA’s “One Council, One Mission” constitution to align with priorities set by President Xi Jinping
Deputy minister Cui emphasized that Chinese Catholics should “earnestly study” and implement Xi’s “important expositions on religious work” to adhere to the principle of independent and self-run churches, hold high patriotism and love for religion, and actively promote the process of sinicizing Catholicism in China.
Academically, sinicization of religion refers to the indigenization of religious faith, practice and ritual in Chinese culture and society, according to the Lausanne Movement.
However, the CCP advances sinicization as a profoundly political ideology that aims to impose strict rules on societies and institutions based on the core values of socialism, autonomy, and supporting the leadership of the CCP.
In his speech, Bishop Shen Bin said that the Chinese Catholic Church has always adhered to the correct political direction, led the majority of priests, elders, and faithful across the country to hold high patriotism and love for religion, and built a solid foundation for independent and self-run churches.
By promoting the sinicization of Catholicism in China, Bishop Shen said, the Church can carry out effective catechism, advance the cause of pastoral evangelization, actively participate in social welfare and charity, and write a “new chapter for the Chinese Church.”
Bishop Shen said that in the next five years, Chinese Catholics will fully implement the spirit of the National Conference on Religious Affairs held last December.
During that conference on Dec. 3-4, President Xi stressed the strict implementation of Marxist policies, increased online surveillance, and tightening control of religion to ensure national security.
Officially atheist Communist China recognizes the legal presence of five religions — Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism.
All religious groups are required to be registered with the government and strictly follow regulations set out for state-sanctioned organizations. Any violation of rules and policies triggers crackdowns, arrests, and the shuttering of religious groups and activities by the state.
China severed diplomatic ties with the Vatican following the communist takeover in 1949.
Following the first National Congress of Catholicism in China in 1957, the government formed the CCPA, to control the Catholic Church, while the underground Catholics continued to pledge allegiance to the pope and the universal Church.
Independent researchers noted that China has about 12 million Catholics split between patriotic and underground churches.
The 2018 Sino-Vatican Agreement was signed and renewed in 2020, to end the dispute between the Vatican and Beijing over the appointment of Catholic bishops.
____________________________________________________________________
2.
Devotion and gratitude of Chinese Catholics on the feast of the Assumption.
17th August 2022
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
ASIA/CHINA
Beijing (Agenzia Fides) - From Beijing to the vast
landscapes of Inner Mongolia, from the majestic Cathedral of the Redeemer in the capital to remote suburban communities, the Catholic communities of mainland China celebrated the Solemnity of the
Assumption with great devotion to the Mother of God. The prayer and the flower arrangement were a sign of filial love and special gratitude for supporting Our Lady in the life of faith of Christians
and in the mission of evangelization, especially in these difficult times of pandemics, war, hunger and poverty.
On the day of the Assumption, no fewer than five Holy
Masses were celebrated in the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Beijing. "Let us work together in God's plan and grace, inspired by the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary," Archbishop Joseph Li Shan of
Beijing urged in his homily at the 9 a.m. Mass. The archbishop said in this context: "We must imitate the fidelity and humility of Our Lady in our daily life and always pray according to her
example".
In Jiangxi province, the persistent heat did not deter
believers, who went to church to celebrate their heavenly Mother with great joy and devotion. Many priests went to the local parishes to administer the sacraments to the faithful. After the solemn
Eucharistic celebration led by the parish priest, the parishioners of Fuzhou laid flowers in front of the statue of Our Lady to pray for a prosperous development and a rich life of the Church in
Jiangxi. The faithful also reaffirmed their desire to follow in the footsteps of Our Lady and to live the Christian life to the full.
Due to the pandemic, churches in Inner Mongolia only
reopened on the eve of the Solemnity of the Assumption. In the Dong Tang church, the parish priest, who is of Mongolian origin, urged everyone to "always trust in the intercession of the Blessed
Mother with a humble heart and to follow the Lord". Finally, all believers prayed for world peace, an end to the pandemic and the well-being of the people.
___________________________________________________________________
3.
The parish of Xi Tang in Beijing on a synodal journey
10th August 2022
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
ASIA/CHINA - The parish of Xi Tang in Beijing on a synodal journey towards the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin
Mary
Beijing (Agenzia Fides) - In the framework of the "Year of
the Son of God", which will be celebrated in 2022, the parish of Xi Tang in the Archdiocese of Beijing, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, is preparing with the common prayer, the
Eucharistic adoration, intense spirituality and meditation to the forthcoming Feast of the Assumption. After reopening as a result of the easing of measures to combat the pandemic, the parish resumed
its activity on July 16, the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. In his homily, the parish priest Fr. Li Jianmin emphasized "the path of sanctification, purification and conversion" that every
believer has to walk and reminded the believers of the words of Mary from the Gospel. At the end, he presented all those present with the medal of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and recommended them to
"imitate Our Lady and her yes to God, to sanctify every day and serve their neighbor with missionary zeal". In the afternoon, the priest paid special attention to the elderly and sick and
administered the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick to them.
On July 24, the parish, in communion with the universal
Church, celebrated the 2nd World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, which is particularly in line with Chinese culture, which has deep respect, high regard and love for the elderly and
grandparents. After Sunday Mass on July 31, Fr. Li conducted a special catechesis course, during which he answered questions from parishioners to accompany them on their journey of faith. At the same
time officially opened a new catechesis course for adults.
Daily meditations on the Year of the Son of God offered on
the parish’s Wechat account. With such pastoral initiatives, the parish is continuing its synodal path with a view to the 300th anniversary of its founding, which is due in
2023.
With the gradual relaxation of the anti-Covid restriction,
the parish is ready to resume all its pastoral, missionary, charitable and cultural activities. The church choir will continue rehearsals for the Christmas concerts, 24-hour Eucharistic adoration
will resume, as well as fundraising for the “St. Francis Foundation” for the poor.
The parish of Tang in the Archdiocese of Beijing,
dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, was founded in 1723 by the Italian missionary and great composer of Baroque music, Father Teodorico Pedrini (Fermo 1671 - Beijing 1746). To honor
the founder and musician, the church choir is named after the missionary. The congregation was the fourth church founded by Catholic missionaries in Beijing, after the congregations opened by
Portuguese and French Jesuit missionaries in 1650, 1665, and 1703.
__________________________________________________________________
4.
Chinese bishop pushing clergy into 'Patriotic Association
5th August 2022
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
Bishop Francis An Shuxin has threatened to withhold the Eucharist from clergy who fail to register with state-sanctioned CCPA
Bishop Francis An Shuxin of Baoding Diocese, China. (File photo)
Published: August 05, 2022 10:34 AM GMT
An international Christian group has condemned a Catholic bishop in China for threatening to withhold the Sacrament of Eucharist for clergy if they do not register with the state-sanctioned Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA).
Bishop Francis An Shuxin of the Diocese of Baoding in Hebei province in northern China issued a pastoral letter July 15 stating that all Catholic clergy are required to register with the CCPA immediately or face punitive measures.
The prelate said he would not share the Eucharist with the priests who are not registered and warned local Catholics that if they refuse to accept priests who are registered with the CCPA they would face the same fate.
In a statement on Aug. 3, US-based International Christian Concern (ICC), said Bishop An’s letter was “a manipulation” of two major agreements signed between the Vatican and China.
Firstly, the Sino-Vatican Agreement of 2018 over the appointment of bishops in China, the ICC says.
The secretive deal was signed initially for two years and was renewed in 2020. It allows the CCP to have a say in the appointment of Catholic bishops in China, while the Vatican seeks to unify millions of Chinese Catholics split between state-run and Vatican-aligned churches.
Secondly, the Vatican issued a statement in 2019 that encouraged Catholics to register with the church, but warned against any attempt at forcible registration. It urged the Chinese government to respect the “conscientious objectors” to the Vatican-China deal who refuse to join the state-run church.
"At the same time, the Holy See understands and respects the choice of those who, in conscience, decide that they are unable to register under the current conditions," the Vatican said.
The ICC says Bishop An has manipulated the 2019 Vatican statement.
“In his letter, Bishop An manipulated the 2019 statement to make it seem as though the Vatican was commanding all clergy to register with the government in order to force the priests in his diocese to register,” the ICC said.
It reported that some clergy have resented the bishop’s letter exploiting the Vatican statement at the behest of the government.
Francis An Shuxin was consecrated by Bishop Peter Liu Guandong on May 2, 1993, as the Auxiliary Bishop of the Baoding diocese.
He was arrested in 1996 and was released after spending 10 years in prison as a member of the “underground” Church. He was appointed Coadjutor Bishop in 2007, when Bishop James Su Zhimin, the ordinary of the Diocese, was still in jail.
Bishop An Shuxin joined the government-sanctioned Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which split the diocese further between the underground and open communities. With the consent of the government, Bishop An was installed as the head of the Diocese of Baoding in 2010, leading the “Open” community.
He was installed as the Bishop of the Diocese of Baoding on August 7, 2010.
Communist China recognizes five religions – Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism. However, it has extended state mechanisms to strictly monitor and control religious groups and their activities.
Shortly after the Communist takeover in 1949, China severed diplomatic ties with the Vatican and established the CCPA to exert control over Catholics in the country.
China has an estimated 12 million Catholics, divided between patriotic and independent churches. For years, China and the Vatican have been embroiled in pulling ropes over the appointment of bishops that apparently came to an end with the 2018 deal.
Since the signing of the deal, the Vatican appointed six new bishops and recognized seven ‘illicit’ bishops appointed earlier by China without papal mandates.
Rights groups have documented a renewed crackdown on Catholics in China since the CCP adopted the repressive new regulations of religious affairs in 2018, the same year the Sino-Vatican deal was inked.
____________________________________________________________________
5.
A summer of intense pastoral activity for the Catholic community, towards a newfound normality
3rd August 2022
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
ASIA/CHINA
Beijing (Agenzia Fides) - The restrictions against covid
in China are still in force but with less rigidity than in the past, as a result of the improvement in the health situation. Thus, the Catholic community throughout the country is experiencing a
summer of intense spiritual life and pastoral commitments, appreciating the normalcy that, at least in part, has been recovered, as can be seen in the doors of the churches that have finally
reopened. Information received by Agenzia Fides from all parts of China confirms the synodal harmony of the Chinese Catholic community even during this summer
period.
Great feast was held for two ethnic Tibetan deacons who
were ordained priests on July 18 at the parish dedicated to Our Lady in the diocese of Zhaotong. One of them is from the diocese of Dali, also in Yunnan province. Both will carry out their pastoral
service among the populations of minority ethnic groups, which are numerous in the region.
The Cathedral of the capital and several parishes have
celebrated, in communion with the universal Church, the Second World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly on Sunday, July 24. Great respect and high consideration for the elderly, like filial love
for grandparents, are part of Chinese culture, to the point that there was already a Day for the Elderly long before the one established by Pope Francis. In addition to the Holy Mass dedicated to
them, the Archbishop of Beijing, Msgr. Joseph Li Shan, and the parish priests of their communities also shared a moment of fraternity, celebrating the elderly with group photos and giving a small
symbolic gift but useful to them.
The Seminary of the Archdiocese of Beijing celebrated the
solemn Eucharist with the missionary mandate granted to the seminarians who have completed their studies and will be sent to the different parishes to carry out pastoral training. The Executive
Rector has urged everyone to observe the motto of the Seminary - "Glorify the Lord, benefit the soul and serve the people" - inviting them to "row out into the deep" to build the
Church.
Also in the archdiocese of Beijing, the cathedral
dedicated to the Most Holy Savior, the one in Nantang dedicated to the Immaculate Conception and the one in Xitang dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, as well as many other parishes, have begun
registration for the new catechetical course, which begins in August and will end next year.
Among the activities for young people, the parish of
Jiujiang, in the province of Jiangxi, held a training course for altar boys on July 17. Father Cao Xiaoxian explained to them the importance of their commitment as follows: "During the Holy Mass,
besides the priest, you are the closest to God. So you must prepare not only the various objects that are needed, but above all your soul, your spiritual welcome...".
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6.
Holiness, witness of faith, vocation and mission: the themes of the annual retreat of the various dioceses
1st August 2022
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
ASIA/CHINA
Beijing (Agenzia Fides) - The journey towards holiness,
the communion of the diocesan community (between priests, with the Bishop and the faithful), the synodal journey, the witness of faith, the vocation and mission of evangelization: these are the main
themes of the annual spiritual retreat which took place in the various dioceses of mainland China during the month of July.
"Living according to the Christian spirit, practicing
holiness and bearing witness", is the invitation that Msgr. Joseph Wu Qinjing, Bishop of the diocese of Zhouzhi in the province of Shaanxi, addressed to the priests of the archdiocese of Hangzhou,
the capital of the province of Zhejiang. During the five days of meditations, from July, 25 to 29, Msgr. Wu, invited to preach the retreat, took the Apostle James as a model, especially his vocation
and his own life, to highlight the true meaning of being followers of Jesus. He also illustrated the value of the testimony of faith and the nobility of the sacrifice of service. "Living the
Christian spirit, practicing holiness and bearing witness" will be indispensable to promote the communion of the diocese, the synodal journey, the rebirth of vocations and above all to welcome the
abundant divine graces.
"Vocation and mission" was instead the theme of the
spiritual retreat that took place from July 11 to 13 in the diocese of Chengdu for the entire community of priests, seminarians and nuns in the province of Sichuan, of which Chengdu is the capital.
Under the guidance of Fr. Lu Zhijun, a priest of the Weinan diocese of Shaanxi province with a great experience of spirituality, the participants meditated together on their relationship with the
Lord, the vocation of Abraham, the evangelical episode of the Samaritan woman at the well, to respond to the Lord's call of love, carrying out the mission with poverty, patience and a spirit of
service. In his speech, Bishop Msgr. Joseph Tang Yuange encouraged all those present to promote the pastoral care and evangelization of the diocese with a new spiritual impetus, resulting from these
days of retreat and above all from the strong experience of communion.
___________________________________________________________________
7.
Beijing Cathedral reopens after 6 months: 101 catechumens receive the sacraments of Christian initiation.
18th July 2022
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
ASIA/CHINA
Beijing (Agenzia Fides) - The Catholic Community of the
Archdiocese of Beijing celebrates not only the reopening of the church after six months of closure due to government anti-Covid regulations, but also the sacraments of Christian initiation of 101
catechumens, mostly adults.
Before dawn on July 16, the day of reopening, the
faithful, both young and old, were waiting outside the gate, rejoicing at being able to resume their spiritual, liturgical and pastoral activities in the presence of their beloved community. The
first stop, as always, was prayer in front of the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes and finally in front of the altar to give thanks to the Lord for this moment.
The Cathedral complex, with the church, the courtyard and
the sacristy were again filled with prayers, spiritual songs, smiles and even the "noise" of the children. At five o'clock in the afternoon of July 16, the participants in the catechism course were
baptized and received the other sacraments of Christian initiation, Confirmation and First Communion, from Archbishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing.
The emotion and joy was seen on their faces and those of
the community, but also on those of the catechists, priests, nuns and lay catechists who accompanied them on their journey of faith during the pandemic. Referring to Psalm 126 "Those who sow with
tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them" (cf. 126, 6), Msgr. Li encouraged those present to keep
this wonderful experience.
"Through baptism you are children of light, through
confirmation you are sent by Christ". And "baptism is not a mere ritual, but an interior conversion. Live an authentic life of faith now, put on a new spirit and a new identity, which is Christian
... you shall be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, incarnating Christ and bearing witness to our Lord with love and works".
The parish priest of the Cathedral, Fr. Joseph Zhao,
thanked all those who had followed the long journey of faith and asked everyone to continue to protect these "new seedlings" of the community so that they can grow together in the Church on the path
of synodality. With the reopening, the Cathedral resumed its normal liturgical and pastoral activities.
___________________________________________________________________
8.
The retreat of priests and nuns from the diocese of Ningxia underlines the importance of spirituality
6th July 2022
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
ASIA/CHINA - "Open your heart to welcome the Lord": the retreat of priests and nuns from the diocese of Ningxia underlines the
importance of spirituality
Ningxia (Agenzia Fides) - Open your heart, close your
mouth, meditate in silence, make an examination of conscience to welcome the Lord during prayer, a face-to-face meeting with the Lord to be able to hear his voice and respond to his
call.
These are the characteristics of the annual spiritual
retreat of the diocese of Ningxia (Yinchuan), in mainland China, which took place from June 25 to 28. According to reports from Faith, the most authoritative Chinese Catholic bulletin in print and
online, 37 priests, seminarians and nuns from the diocese took part in the retreat on the importance of spirituality.
The four effects of spirituality were explained in depth
through the Bible, psychology, spirituality: it gives meaning to pastoral and missionary activity; helps find answers to life's questions; it can renew the mission; facilitates interaction with God.
Msgr. Joseph Li Jing, Bishop of the diocese, joined the priests, nuns and seminarians to encourage the synodal journey after the spiritual retreat, so that they transform their pastoral, social and
missionary work with a new spiritual impulse.
The diocese of Ningxia is very active in the social
sphere, bringing the magisterium of the Church into concrete service. Thus, following the invitation to protect the environment, as Pope Francis teaches in his Encyclical Laudato Sì on the care of
the common home, the diocesan social service center often organizes various initiatives related to the theme. These include the production of vegetables free of pollutants, the propaganda of separate
collection of waste and the campaign for a plastic free world, the banning of plastic in order to protect the environment and practice the concept of green development, which has also been relaunched
by the government.
In addition, Msgr. Li personally guides the march of
Catholics on World Environment Day on June 5. The diocese also gave the utmost importance to the formation of priests, nuns, catechists, pastoral workers, Catholic volunteers and social workers, so
that they can make Catholic witness alive in every area of life.
The diocese of Ningxia was born with the arrival of the
Missionaries of Scheut (Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, CICM). In 1879, Fr. Van Sante Karel and Fr. Bermyn Aifons CICM, brought the Gospel to the Ningxia region, where the Muslim
population of the Hui ethnic group lives. In 1922 the Apostolic Vicariate of Ningxia was created, with Msgr. Godefroy Frederix as the first Bishop. It was then erected a diocese in 1946, the year of
the establishment of the Church hierarchy in China. This diocese boasts Msgr. Joseph Ma Zhongmu (1 November 1919 - 25 March 2020) as its bishop, who recently passed away at the age of 101. Msgr. Ma
was the only bishop of Mongolian ethnicity. Among the innumerable merits of this great Pastor is the translation of the Roman Missal and the Gospel into the Mongolian
language.
END
CATHOLIC CHURCH UPDATES
July 2022
8 Updates
1. Seminarians and nuns conclude their studies: new missionary resources for evangelization in China.
2. Bishop Pietro Wu Junwei dies of a heart attack.
3. Youngest cardinal from Mongolia has vital role to play.
4. Singapore Catholics welcome prelate's elevation to cardinal.
5. The Year of the Amoris lætitia Family in the diocese of Macao: many initiatives in the wake of the synodal path.
6. Arrest of Hong Kong cardinal problematic for the Vatican.
7. China's first indigenous female religious congregation celebrates 150 years.
8. Why the Church wants to be present in China?
1.
Seminarians and nuns conclude their studies: new missionary resources for evangelization in China.
24th June 2022
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
Beijing (Agenzia Fides) - "You must have the missionary
fire of the Apostle Paul to attract more people to the Gospel so that they can obtain salvation. You must have a humble and simple attitude, reaching out to the poor and disadvantaged so that they
feel the strength of the Love of Christ and convert to Christ": these are the recommendations of Monsignor Antonio Dang Mingyan, Archbishop of Xian, addressed to the 3 seminarians who have obtained
the Baccalaureate and to the 15 nuns who have received the Diploma at the end of their cycle of studies, during the Eucharist that he celebrated for this occasion in the Major Seminary of the
province of Shaanxi.
Msgr. Antonio Dang Mingyan, Archbishop of the provincial
capital and Rector of the Seminary, presided over the solemn Eucharistic together with 9 professors who accompanied the young people on their vocational path. The Vice Rector, Fr. Li Jingxi, has
expressed his sincere wishes to the graduates so that "they truly respond to the call of the Lord, take on pastoral duties, become shepherds of Jesus Christ and dedicate their lives to the pastoral
evangelization of the Church" in China and in the world.
In fact, the Church in Mainland China is experiencing a
harvest season, a harvest of vocations, of mission, of evangelization. The new graduates are the new resources, the new blood and the new workers for the vineyard of the Lord in China. After six
years of diligent theological, philosophical and above all spiritual and human formation, they are ready to venture into the immense pastoral field that awaits them, to preach, to serve the Church
and the people of God, to face contemporary missionary challenges.
According to information gathered by Agenzia Fides, in a
solemn ceremony held on June 18, 23 seminarians from the National Seminary of the Catholic Church in China received the Baccalaureate degree after 6 years of theological and philosophical studies.
Now they continue their vocational journey through the pastoral path in various parts of China, according to their origin. (NZ)
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2.
Bishop Pietro Wu Junwei dies of a heart attack.
6th June 2022
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
ASIA/CHINA - Bishop Pietro Wu Junwei dies of a heart attack. During the pandemic he had worked to keep churches and activities
open
Xinjiang (Agenzia Fides) - At 10.30 a.m. on May 10, 2022,
His Exc. Msgr. Peter Wu Junwei, Bishop of the Apostolic Prefecture of Xinjiang/Yuncheng, in the Chinese region of Shanxi, died of an acute myocardial infarction at the age of
59.
The Prelate was born on June 27, 1963 into a family of
devout Catholics in the town of Xiliulin, Taiyuan. He was the eldest of six children, of whom a brother became a priest and a religious sister. In 1985, he entered the Shanxi Major Seminary and was
ordained a priest on December 9, 1990.
From 1991 to 1996, Monsignor Wu was a parish priest in
Shagou and also carried out the pastoral care of Loufan and Gujiao; from 1996 to 2001 he was diocesan director for ecclesiastical affairs and head of the propaedeutic Seminary of the Archdiocese of
Taiyuan, as well as deputy parish priest of the cathedral and diocesan treasurer; from 2001 to 2009 he was rector of the Shanxi Seminary and from 2009, responsible for the Diocese of
Xinjiang/Yuncheng. On September 21, 2010, he was consecrated Bishop and appointed Apostolic Prefect of Xinjiang/Yuncheng.
From the beginning of his mandate, he dedicated himself to
evangelization, promoting catechetical courses for the faithful and the construction of new churches and developing the Apostolic Prefecture according to its particular needs. Lately, during the
pandemic, he had worked even harder to keep churches and various community activities open. All this caused him great fatigue, which led him to suffer from some illnesses and unfortunately to
death.
From May 10, the Bishop's body was exposed to the faithful
in the Cathedral of Xinjiang, where his funeral was held on May 16, followed by his burial in the diocesan cemetery of Duanjiazhuang. Msgr. Wu is remembered by the Catholic faithful as a simple,
humble Pastor, faithful to the Lord and to the Church, totally dedicated to the episcopal ministry and to the people entrusted to him.
Currently, in the aforementioned Apostolic Prefecture
there are 28 priests and 15,000 faithful, a diocesan congregation of about 40 nuns, 18 churches, 11 places of worship and some social works.
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3.
Youngest cardinal from Mongolia has vital role to play.
3rd June 2022
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
Bishop Giorgio Marengo has roots in Italy and is expected to link Europe and Asia in more ways than one.
Bishop Giorgio Marengo of Ulaanbaatar is to become the youngest cardinal. (Photo: wikipedia.org)
Making someone a prince of the Catholic Church in a sparsely populated Asian country sandwiched between communist China and authoritarian Russia has much to do with faith and pastoral requirements. But its apparent geopolitical expediency cannot be ignored.
By conferring a red hat on 47-year-old Bishop Giorgio Marengo, the apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, 85-year-old Pope Francis has found his youngest cardinal.
Bishop Marengo came to serve Mongolia in 2002, hardly two years after his ordination as a priest. Church records show it is a tiny mission with fewer than 1,300 Catholics in a population of 3.5 million, served by two Mongol priests, 22 foreign missionaries and 35 nuns.
The newest and the first cardinal-elect from the East Asian nation will be eligible to vote in papal conclaves for 33 years. There is a widespread perception among Vatican watchers that this will be Pope Francis’ last addition to the College of Cardinals and, therefore, he wants to put things in a correct perspective.
The pope has started paying attention to the small communities of faithful scattered throughout the world, Italy-born Bishop Marengo said soon after the pope made the announcement of his elevation in St. Peter's Square.
“… I believe that the pope's gesture was a missionary gesture, to express attention and care to a small community and to all the small communities of faithful scattered throughout the world, in those lands where they are a small flock,” he said.
Mongolia shares a 4,630-kilometer border with China and shares many cultural aspects with the communist nation’s people. China houses more Mongol people than Mongolia itself
He was referring to the scarce population of Catholics in the difficult terrain of Mongolia, and Catholics in neighboring China and Russia, which have locked horns with the US, the European Union and NATO.
Mongolia may be a democracy but the landlocked Buddhist-majority nation is already a key commodity transit point for the two autocratic regimes.
In the Ukraine conflict, Mongolia, a former Soviet satellite nation until 1990 and dependent on China as a market and conduit for its copper and coal exports, has stayed neutral by refusing to join the US-led NATO coalition against Russia.
Four days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Mongolia signed a memorandum of understanding on the long-planned trans-Mongolian gas pipeline deal that will supply Mongolia with gas from Siberia’s Yamal fields and will allow Russia to transport gas to China.
The EU gets 40 percent of its energy from Russia and is reducing its dependence on it. Mongolia is playing a vital role in finding markets for energy from Russia, which is facing US-led international sanctions.
If the Ukraine conflict is prolonged or if China and Russia form an anti-Western alliance, Mongolia’s political orientation may change once and for all.
That does not mean that the West is deserting Mongolia, three times the size of France with half its population in capital Ulaanbaatar. In May, the UK's Asia minister of state, Amanda Milling, visited the country to coax it along with the Western discourse.
Mongolia shares a 4,630-kilometer border with China and shares many cultural aspects with the communist nation’s people. China houses more Mongol people than Mongolia itself.
“Dialogue with the Buddhist world, which is a majority in Mongolia, is fundamental for us. It is part of our mission. I am sure it will bear good fruit"
Though the Vatican has inked a secret pact with China on the appointment of bishops, the 2018 deal is believed to have clauses against the Holy See conferring the red hat on prelates living in China.
The Vatican has selected the Catholic leader of Mongolia, which has anthropological ties with China, as its man in the region. In the case of a standoff between China and the West, the Vatican can use the youngest cardinal from Mongolia, a nation that stretches between imposing mountain ranges in the north and arid expanses in the south, as a go-getter.
The appointment also comes as Mongolia observes the 30th anniversary of the rebirth of the Church and the establishment of diplomatic ties with the Holy See. The Church in Mongolia is part of the newly formed Bishops' Conference of Central Asia.
“Dialogue with the Buddhist world, which is a majority in Mongolia, is fundamental for us. It is part of our mission. I am sure it will bear good fruit," Bishop Marengo said while leading a Buddhist delegation to Rome at the time of his appointment.
Asia already has 15 cardinal electors. The new consistory will increase Asian representation significantly to 21 with six new cardinals from Asia. Though Africa also had 15 cardinal electors, only two prelates got the red hat this time. In that sense, the pope has put Asia ahead of Africa.
Already the Papa Rosso, or the Red Pope, is from Asia in 64-year-old Cardinal Luis Tagle from the Philippines. His position as head of the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples is second only to the pope.
Cardinal Tagle was last week given the additional charge of heading another important Vatican office — the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
The selection of Bishop Marengo, who has roots in Italy, is a clear sign that the young cardinal is expected to play a vital role in linking the Church in Europe and Asia in more ways than one.
* The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.
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4.
Singapore Catholics welcome prelate's elevation to cardinal.
30th May 2022
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
Archbishop William Goh performs the Rite of Dedication marking the 120th anniversary of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd in Singapore on Feb. 14, 2017. (Photo: AFP)
Published: May 30, 2022 08:26 AM GMT
Pope Francis has nominated Archbishop William Goh of Singapore among 21 new cardinals to be appointed in August in a move which the archdiocese said shows the global Church’s recognition of the missionary Church in the multicultural city-state.
“Archbishop William is conscious that this honor and new responsibility conferred on him is also a recognition of the contribution of the faithful in the archdiocese for helping him to build a vibrant, evangelizing and missionary Church,” the archdiocese said.
Archbishop Goh, 64, heads the Catholic community of some 300,000 in the city of 5.6 million which includes Christians, Buddhists, Taoists, Muslims and Hindus, besides some 18 percent who follows no religion.
Christians increased from 12.7 of the population in 1990 to 19 percent in 2015, census records show. Singapore’s Catholics, mostly Chinese and Indian migrants and their descendants, have increased to 5.35 percent now from 4 percent in 1990.
In his latest appointments, Pope Francis showed his pattern of bypassing major cities and traditionally considered cardinal seats, preferring to appoint bishops who are leading small or growing churches.
Five other cardinals in Asia come from Goa and Hyderabad in India, Dili in East Timor and Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia. The fifth one from South Korea works in a Vatican curia.
Archbishop Goh’s appointment “calls for him to serve not just the Archdiocese of Singapore; he will be expected to assist the Holy Father in the task of governing the universal Church,” the archdiocesan communication office said in a statement.
The prelate “is deeply humbled by this new appointment” and seeks the prayers of all so that “he can assume this responsibility with humility, wisdom and holiness,” the statement said.
Archbishop Goh was ordained a priest in the archdiocese in 1985 and was made archbishop in May 2013. He took over from Archbishop Nicholas Chia, who led the archdiocese from 2001 to 2013.
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5.
The Year of the Amoris lætitia Family in the diocese of Macao: many initiatives in the wake of the synodal path.
19th May 2022
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
Macao (Agenzia Fides) - Within the framework of the year
of action for marriage and family proclaimed by Pope Francis, “Year of the Family – Amoris Letitia”, the Catholic Church in Macau has launched numerous initiatives, including the charity sale of face
masks, family workshops, the basketball competition with teams of parents and children, a study seminar on the history of the Church in Macao. On April 24th, the sale of masks was intended to raise
funds for various projects to bring the diocese together as a family in the spirit of charity. Previously, the March 26 family gathering aimed to illustrate family ties in the spirit of “Amoris
lætitia” through a photo exhibition. The meeting ended with a solemn joint thanksgiving.
At the opening of the campaign year, Fr. Stephen Lee made
it a priority to bring the figure of St. Joseph and his role in the Holy Family closer to the faithful. After more than 400 years of evangelization history, the Diocese of Macau today has a total of
nine parishes, 32 ecclesiastical educational institutions and around 50 charitable organizations. In the footsteps of the missionaries, including Jesuits, Franciscans, Augustinians, Dominicans, more
than 30,000 faithful are active in society today, supported by 21 priests and about 200 religious. (NZ)
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6.
Arrest of Hong Kong cardinal problematic for the Vatican.
12th May 2022
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
Outspoken Cardinal Joseph Zen has been critical of certain people close to the pope
Cardinal Joseph Zen joins pro-democracy activists in front of Wanchai Police Station in Hong Kong on Jan. 24, 2015. He has long been a thorn in the side of Beijing. (Photo: AFP)
The arrest of Hong Kong's bishop emeritus, Cardinal Joseph Zen, 90, hardly comes as a surprise. He has been a thorn in the side of authorities in both Hong Kong and Beijing for decades and as Chinese leader Xi Jinping has tightened his grip on the city, he was surely on the list of high-profile agitators to be shut down.
Cardinal Zen, who is now on bail, has long been an advocate of democracy and the independence of Hong Kong by virtue of the “one country, two systems” formula. He has been a leading senior figure in protests in the city for many years. His criticism of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been as consistent as it has been harsh since he fled his native Shanghai for Hong Kong in the 1940s.
He was bishop of Hong Kong from 2002 to 2009 and was elevated to the College of Cardinals in 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI. During the so-called Umbrella Movement in 2014, he slept on the streets with student protesters. Older and frailer by the time protests amped up again in 2019, he was still in attendance and a constant presence on social media.
It must be said that he drove his successor Cardinal John Tong — who was forced to step back into the top job after his successor Michael Leung died in early 2020 — to distraction.
Cardinal Zen was arrested under Hong Kong’s tough national security law designed to bring people opposed to the CCP into line as Beijing continues its project to draw Hong Kong more completely into the People’s Republic.
Specifically, his arrest relates to his role as a trustee of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund. This was set up to offer financial assistance to those involved in anti-government protests in 2019. It was disbanded last year after authorities ordered it to share operational details. Four other trustees were also arrested. One is already in jail for other offenses under the security law.
Cardinal Zen’s primary concern is that the deal will kill the unofficial or underground church in China that comprises as many as half of China’s estimated 12 million Catholics
Cardinal Zen’s arrest came just two days after the appointment of John Lee as the Special Autonomous Region’s new chief executive. Lee, who will officially take office in June, was the former security minister and one of the key figures in the creation of the proposed extradition bill in 2019 that would have sent Hong Kong suspects to mainland China, where courts operate under the ruling CCP instead of the common law.
When Beijing imposed its sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in 2020, Lee was seen as its main facilitator and enforcer.
While Cardinal Zen’s support of protesters and agitation for democracy made him unpopular with Hong Kong authorities, the wider concern in Beijing has been his ongoing critique of the Vatican’s controversial and still secret 2018 deal with Beijing regarding the appointment of bishops.
Renewed in 2020, it was Rome’s attempt to restart a difficult relationship with the CCP that has seen waves of persecution of mainland Catholics over decades as well as a personal project of Pope Francis, who set Asia and China as a focus of his pontificate.
At that time, Beijing seized control of much of the Church, setting up the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA) as part of the party's apparatus.
Cardinal Zen’s primary concern is that the deal will kill the unofficial or underground church in China that comprises as many as half of China’s estimated 12 million Catholics. The underground church has fealty only to Rome and refused to recognize the state-run CPCA.
Cardinal Zen has always insisted that Beijing cannot be trusted and he sees the proof in the CCP’s long history of arresting and jailing priests and bishops, with a number still unaccounted for in recent decades
His contempt for the deal has not only been reserved only for Beijing but for Rome as well. In particular, he has targeted Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who “is the one who has his hands on the Chinese dossier. He clearly believes that such a position is necessary to open a new way for the evangelization of the immense Chinese nation. I have strong doubts.” He believes that Pope Francis has been duped by his chief lieutenant.
Cardinal Zen has always insisted that Beijing cannot be trusted and he sees the proof in the CCP’s long history of arresting and jailing priests and bishops, with a number still unaccounted for in recent decades. His fears of an attack on the unofficial church were borne out in recent years with the arrests of more than a dozen priests and bishops.
Cardinal Zen’s arrest is problematic for the Vatican in a number of ways. Its deal with Beijing is up for its two-year renewal by September and this will surely cloud any talks already underway. While Rome, too, will be unsurprised by his arrest, any moves to advance the case and perhaps put the nonagenarian in jail will only give Pope Francis’ increasingly noisy critics more ammunition.
Beijing/Hong Kong should also tread carefully as Cardinal Zen has become a symbol of religious opposition to the Chinese party-state. His arrest and potential incarceration will remind people of the communist parties in Eastern Europe who jailed church leaders such as Poland's Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, creating heroes for many Catholics.
Persecuting religious heroes, or if they die while under investigation or jailed, creates martyrs, symbols to rally opposition. And this is true as much for the CCP as for Pope Francis and his allies in the Vatican.
* The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.
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7.
China's first indigenous female religious congregation celebrates 150 years.
2nd May 2022
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
ASIA/CHINA - Deepening and living the charism on the synodal journey:
China's first indigenous female religious congregation celebrates 150 years
Beijing (Agenzia Fides) - Retracing history, deepening and
reviving the charism of the founder by embarking on the synodal path: these are the objectives of the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the founding of the first indigenous female religious
congregation in China, the Religious Congregation of St. Joseph of the Archdiocese of Beijing. Following in the footsteps of their founder, Msgr. Louis-Gabriel Delaplace, CM, then Archbishop of
Beijing, since 1872 the sisters have continued their intense pastoral and missionary commitment, living community life, despite the pandemic and its consequences on the life of the Church. In fact,
the sisters renewed their religious vows with the only virtual participation of friends and relatives.
The lay faithful have always been their first apostolic
commitment, which is why they periodically promote an "Opening Day" to welcome lay people and also non-Christians. They live this occasion in four moments: presentation of the history and life of the
congregation; guided visit; seminar or simple exchange meeting; prayer in the chapel. Each time they can accommodate more than a hundred people, not only Christians. In some circumstances they also
invite the sisters studying at the national seminary in Beijing, who come from all over the country, to share their vocation and experience of community life. After 30 years of closure caused by the
cultural revolution, the Beijing diocesan religious congregation dedicated to Saint Joseph reopened in 1986, with six young people from the suburbs of Beijing. Today the congregation celebrates 150
years of foundation with great achievements in the pastoral and evangelization field.
Currently the 49 nuns work in various dioceses, parishes,
schools, clinics and in a nursing home. Candidates must possess the religious, cultural, psychological and moral aptitudes necessary to follow the high standards of community life. For their
formation, courses are offered in Sacred Scripture, catechism, Church history, fundamental theology, canon law, liturgy, spirituality, philosophy and sacred music. There are also courses in physics,
Chinese literature, Chinese moral tradition, social science, and foreign language. The motto of the congregation is taken from 1 Cor 9,19 ("I have become a servant of all to win the greatest number")
and from Luke 17,10 ("When you have done everything that you have been commanded, say: We are useless servants. We have done what we had to do").
The Congregation was founded by Msgr. Louis-Gabriel
Delaplace, CM, Bishop of Beijing, in 1872. According to historical sources, during a time of meditation and prayer, Bishop Delaplace was inspired by Saint Joseph to found a Chinese religious
congregation. The proposal was discussed at the Vatican Council of 1870. After two years of preparation, with the help of the Canossian Sisters, the Congregation of Saint Joseph was founded in
Beijing in 1872, whose nuns came exclusively from Beijing and its surroundings. Today there are nuns from various Chinese provinces. According to the founder, the main purpose of the Congregation is
service (ecclesial and social) and mission. In 1941 the Congregation reformed its structure, changed its statutes and its religious habit, and added the profession of the vow of poverty (before the
religious professed only the vows of obedience and chastity). The date of religious profession has always been linked to the feast of Saint Joseph. The activity of the sisters is carried out mainly
in the fields of health and education, but they are always available for the requests and needs of the diocese. (NZ)
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8.
Why the Church wants to be present in China?
Why the Church wants
to be present in China
Synopsis and full text of the address of the Jesuit SG
The Church and the Society of Jesus have sought, are seeking and will continue to seek to
inculturate themselves in the complex and changing social reality of the immense nation that
is China.
The activity of the Church in China, including the
participation of the Holy See at various levels, is to be understood as pastoral and takes
into account the details proper to current social relations within China and its political
context.
Chinese Catholics keep their roots deeply immersed in
their culture and express their faith in ways that their culture offers to symbolize what they
are and what they experience.
To write the future of
the Church in China we need to start with the question: How and where does the
action of the Holy Spirit manifest itself in Chinese society today?
Th full text of Fr. Arturo Sosa Sj can be read below.. This was one of a collection of essays on the Church in China delivered at a conference in Rome earlier this year. The theme was the Church in China: A future to be written.
______________________________
Inculturation: following the kenotic
incarnation of Jesus
In his Message to Chinese Catholics and the
Universal Church, of September 26, 2018, Pope Francis wrote:
“For my part, I have always looked upon China as a land of
great opportunities and the Chinese people as the creators and guardians of an inestimable patrimony of culture and wisdom, refined by resisting adversity and embracing diversity.”[2]
This was my interpretive key as I read the book La Chiesa in Cina. Un futuro da scrivere published by Fr. Antonio Spadaro. The only purpose of my talk today is to share my reflections on reading the book. The authors of the chapters in this volume have each written from their own perspectives and experiences, and the reader is drawn into a
dialogue, bringing his or her own set of sensibilities and existential or intellectual points
of view. It is a dialogue that touches on some aspects of the vast and complex reality
of the Church in China.
The reflections I share do not represent the official
position of the Society of Jesus in relation to the issues dealt
with in the book, nor to the political situation of the Church
in China. I myself have no direct experience of
China; however, I belong to the Church present in China and to
a body – the Society of Jesus – that has had, and continues to have, many relations with China.
The fact that the Church wants to be present in China responds to the Lord’s invitation to go to all the peoples of the world, to be in all the corners of the earth, to invite people to transform their lives, to make them more human according to the model that we have received in Him.
A look at the current world tells us that, if we do
not reckon with everything that China represents, it is not possible
to make progress in reconciliation between the peoples of the world. Nor will it be possible, without the conscious and active participation of the Chinese people, to arrive at a sustainable ecological balance for the planet or to achieve the United Nations’ goals of overcoming poverty and
securing human development.
The Church and the Society of Jesus have sought,
are seeking and will continue to seek to inculturate
themselves in the complex and changing social reality of the
immense nation that is China. This is an inculturation inspired by
the incarnation of Jesus, who made himself present in human history in the midst of a reality of poverty and social, religious and political oppression. Inculturation, according to the style of Jesus, is a kenotic journey, that is, its point of departure is to untie oneself, to draw back from every position of privilege and power, to become “one of many”
(cf. Phil 2:6-8).
For the Church to be inculturated in the reality of
China implies her abandoning every claim to wisdom or social recognition in order to move to the new reality in which she desires to live fully. Inculturation involves leaving one’s own home to go and live in the house of another, and so learn to live in a house other than the one you are used to.
Inculturation is an open and sincere encounter in
which everyone puts themselves into play. Christianity has something very valuable to offer to every human culture, at each moment of history. Our treasure is the person of Jesus Christ, who revealed to us the merciful face of God and opened the way for fraternity, through which we recognize ourselves as human beings, brothers and sisters,
responsible for the common home, where we can live in peace if, guided by the Spirit, we
pursue social
justice. The encounter that comes from the effort of inculturation takes place only if it is aroused by the love that God has poured into the heart of every human being
and is reflected in many ways in the different cultural expressions of each people.
Since Christianity is
not a culture but a religious faith capable of incarnating itself in every human culture, it
does not compete with the cultures it meets and encounters. On the contrary, it offers each of them a new opportunity to go deeper into the knowledge of their own roots and to open up to the universal reality of full humanity.
For this reason inculturation makes possible the existence of “Chinese Catholicism,” which is, at the same time, universal Catholicism. Chinese Catholics keep their roots
deeply immersed in their culture and express their faith in ways that their culture offers to symbolize what they are and what they experience. At the same time, inspired by the Spirit of Jesus, Chinese Catholics participate in the universal body of the Church, which seeks to contribute to the process of reconciling all things in Christ.
“Sinicizing” Christianity is not easy. It is a complex
process and always incomplete. It is as complex as the Chinese cultural reality, with its immense variety and breadth of traditions. It is incomplete, because no living culture is static: every culture, indeed, is changeable, so the process of inculturation involves a continuous effort over time, which is impossible to achieve once and for all.
No cultural, social, economic or political expression
of the past or present can be considered the full inculturation
of Christianity in China. An authentic process of “Sinicizing” Catholicism in the variety of cultures of China is a dynamic process, always open and unfinished.
As the history of China has shown, inculturation in
the “kenotic”[3] style of Jesus involves a considerable dose
of humility. Consequently, to be part of the present and
future of the Church in China means accepting the possibility
of being humbled in order to transform humility into a source of new life.
Reconciliation in a world that is undergoing
epoch-making change
We live in a world
that is becoming increasingly universal, despite the ambiguities of what we call
“globalization.” The interdependence between the peoples, cultures and
nations of the world is a characteristic reality of our time, and it is projected as an essential dimension of the future world. To contribute to reconciliation and justice in the present and in the future implies, firstly, recognizing the richness represented by the cultural diversity of our world and, secondly, ensuring the just participation of every cultural expression in the multicultural face of universal humanity.
The Society of Jesus intends to collaborate in the
work of reconciliation and in the promotion of justice, in
harmony with the Church, with Pope Francis and Chinese
Catholics, according to its “Universal Apostolic
Preferences.”[4]Among these, the following stands
out: “Accompanying the impoverished requires us to improve our studies, our analysis and our reflection in order to understand in depth the economic, political and social processes that generate such great injustice; we must also contribute to the elaboration of alternative models. We commit ourselves to promoting a process of globalization that recognizes the multiplicity of cultures as a human treasure, protects cultural diversity and promotes intercultural exchange.”
China’s growing participation in the global process of
the development of human society has opened many fronts of renewal within Chinese society. The Chinese Communist Party is faced with the enormous challenge of adapting to the new era of humanity in which it has decided to take an active and leading role. The political dimension of this challenge is of paramount importance.
The opening to the new era of humanity demands a
radical rethink of the exercise of public power. The signs here
may not seem very encouraging. Epoch-making changes seem to have brought with them a weakening of the democratic forms of government in many nations. In all the regions of the planet there are in fact rulers who pursue fundamentalist or populist ideologies, who claim to be the unique expression of their nations and govern them according
to their own particular interests, without promoting the participation of peoples in making
decisions that have as their goal the common good, both in the present and in the future.
The political dimension is central when it comes
to promoting reconciliation between people. This is not achieved through the concentration of power in the hands of a few, either within each nation or internationally. It requires a return to the presentation of the common good as the horizon of political action, and the expansion of civic awareness as a guarantee of keeping this search for the common good alive. The decentralization of power and the balance between the social actors who exercise it under the control of a conscious citizenship is a condition for progress in social justice and reconciliation of peoples and nations.
There are many indications that the society of the
future will be secular. In one way or another, all current
societies are experiencing processes of secularization. In
many cases secularization gives rise to extreme forms that
fight against any religious expression, starting with militant atheism or religious fundamentalism, which leads to one single form of religion being idolized. Today we know of many forms of religious persecution associated with secularism or religious fundamentalism. In other cases, secularization produces religious indifference and
interrupts the social transmission of religious practices and teachings.
When these extreme forms of secularism are overcome,
a mature secular society begins, in which the conditions for the exercise of freedom as a characteristic of the human being exist. This freedom must be expressed in political, economic and social relations as well as in the cultural and religious spheres. The secular context therefore offers new possibilities for the exercise of religious freedom, both personal and institutional.
Other signs clearly indicate that in the society of
the future, the city, or what is “urban,” will have a greater weight
than it had in the past when life was characterized by the relationships typical of a village context. Urban Catholicism represents in China – as in many other regions of the world – a novelty and a challenge.
The novelty comes from the difference between the
human relationships that are generated in the city and those thatcharacterize the village context. The urban setting also finds itself in a rapid process of constant change, as the novelty is not limited to the transition from the village to the city, but requires the ability to keep pace with changes in each of these areas and in the relationships between them.
Faced with these human and social transformations,
the challenge arises to transmit the message of the Gospel. The presence and action of the Church is pastoral, that is, it originates and stays alive in the commitment to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ in all corners of the earth and at every moment of human history. The activity of the Church in China, including the participation of the Holy See at various levels, is to be understood as pastoral and takes into account the details proper to current social relations within China and its political context.
Both social relations and the Chinese Communist Party
are evolving. Understanding and waiting for such an evolution is a necessary condition for achieving the contribution to reconciliation and justice that the Church proposes to make in the fulfilment of her mission.
In China, the mission of reconciliation and justice has an internal dimension of special importance and complexity. As in any process of reconciliation, it is necessary to rebuild trust between all the protagonists of the institutional life of the Church. Restoring trust implies knowing each of the active members and recognizing them as
equal, as brothers and sisters. It involves knowing their history and recognizing the
authenticity with which they lived it.
Rebuilding trust opens the door to friendship. In the
case of Chinese Catholics, it is a matter of a friendship that comes from recognizing oneself in sharing the Eucharistic bread at the table of the Lord. There is no doubt that reconciliation within the Chinese Church will be a long process, through which it will be possible to overcome the conflicts of the recent past, heal many wounds and come to look together at the future to be written.
At the same time, reconciliation within the Church
will allow us to walk toward reconciliation with many other dimensions of Chinese political, social and cultural life, in the midst of the rapid transformation of all its forms. Without doubt this is an exciting prospect for those who identify with the mission of the Church.
Notes to write the
future
In light of Jesuit spirituality and a desire to serve
the Catholic Church, participation in the fascinating task of writing the future of the Church in China has, as a primary requisite, the ability to discern. Pope Francis has repeated this often: the Church needs to grow in its ability to discern. To write the future of the Church in China we need to start with the question: How and where does the action of the Holy Spirit manifest itself in Chinese society today? To respond to this question we must grow in our capacity for discernment.
And this also goes hand in hand with growth in the spiritual life. The future of the Church in China, as with anywhere else in the world, depends on the depth of the spiritual life of its members and the spiritual vitality of Christian communities, leading to a valid institutional conversion. The Chinese Church must change significantly, it must live an authentic metanoia, that is, a change of mentality, which is possible only through the transforming encounter with the person of Jesus Christ and the willingness to let the Spirit be the guide.
To write the future of the Church in China is a
process of mutual discernment that starts from the conviction, through lived experience, that God is at work in history and enters into a relationship with human beings. Discernment and good choices require that we free ourselves from bonds and disordered affections, to place ourselves completely in the hands of the Lord. The best pastoral service that can be given to the Church in China is to promote the conditions for mutual discernment, and to put it
into practice in all areas of her life and action.
At the same time, to contribute to writing the future
of the Church in China requires an enormous intellectual
effort that will make it possible, above all, to deepen our understanding of the socio-political and cultural context of China and its evolutionary direction. It is an exciting task for those who want to contribute to incarnating the Christian message in so many different realities and to humanizing history. It is a task whose complexity leads necessarily to its accomplishment together with others. It is a task that exceeds the capacity not only of any individual, group of researchers or institution, but also of the Church itself, and in which a place of encounter is created between so many people and institutions that pursue
the same goal of a better future for all.
Knowing the facets of Chinese Catholicism is another requirement in the effort to understand the present reality and the paths toward the future, an effort that could be very enriching if we decide to learn from the experience of non- Catholic Christians and their lives in China. This is an effort that Pope Francis asked for in his already mentioned Message to Chinese Catholics and the Universal Church: “I ask you wholeheartedly to beg for the grace not to hesitate when the Spirit calls us to take a step forward: ‘Let us ask for the apostolic courage to share the Gospel with others and to stop trying to make our Christian life a museum of memories. In every situation, may the Holy Spirit cause us to contemplate history in the light of the risen Jesus. In this way, the Church will not stand still, but constantly welcome
the Lord’s surprises’ (Gaudete et Exsultate, 139).”[5]
DOI: La Civiltà Cattolica, En. Ed. Vol. 3, no. 9, art. 9, 2019:
10.32009/22072446.1909.9
[1] Spadaro’s introductory speech was published in
the online newspaper Vatican Insider on its day of the presentation, March 25, 2019, with the title “There is no Silk Road without mutual trust between China and the Vatican.” The volume was published by Àncora of Milan. Archbishop Celli’s speech appeared in L’Osservatore Romano on March 25, under the title “At the roots of
dialogue”: www.osservatoreromano.va/en/
[2] Francis, Message to Chinese Catholics and to the
Universal Church, September 26, 2018, no.
2 http://w2.vatican.va/content/
[3] Kenōsis is a Greek word that literally means “emptying.” It is used by Saint Paul in the Letter to the Philippians, where we read: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, born in human likeness” (Phil 2:5-7).
[4] After two years of mutual discernment, the Society
of Jesus has determined some “universal apostolic preferences.” These are four apostolic accents for mission, which should characterize the Jesuit way of proceeding and commitments over the next ten years. They are: 1) to show the way to God through the Spiritual Exercises and discernment; 2) To walk with the poor, the outcasts of the world, those whose dignity has been violated, in a mission of reconciliation and justice, 3) to accompany young people in the creation of a hope-filled future; 4) to collaborate, with Gospel depth, for the protection and renewal of God’s creation, in the care for our common home.
[5]Francis, Message to Chinese Catholics..., op. cit.,
No. 7.
END
CATHOLIC CHURCH UPDATES
May 2022
5 Updates
1. Late Irish Jesuit missionary in China honored with award.
2.The Beijing Seminary continues its synodal journey in the spirituality of Lent.
3. National Catholic Collection Day, an expression of the synodal journey in charity.
4. A prayer app to help Chinese-speaking people “live Ignatian”.
5. A synodal journey in charity: the "Volunteers of the Lord" at the forefront to fight the pandemic.
1.
Late Irish Jesuit missionary in China honored with award.
25th April 2022
An an educator and humanitarian, Father Alfred Deignan focused on values like integrity, compassion and human
dignity
An an educator and humanitarian, Father Alfred Deignan focused on values like integrity, compassion and human dignity
Jesuit Father Alfred Joseph Deignan served as a missionary in China for 65 years until his death in 2018. (Photo: Jesuits in Ireland)
A Jesuit think tank has constituted an award to honor prominent Irish Jesuit missionary Father Alfred Joseph Deignan that recognizes good business practices of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Macau and Hong Kong.
The Deignan Award for Responsible Entrepreneurship is a collaboration between the Macau-based Ricci Institut
Macau’s Portuguese-language Catholic weekly Jornal O-Clarim reported on April 22 that a committee comprised of an expert panel will choose enterprises based on compliance, corporate governance, social responsibility and business ethics.
“The prize obviously presupposes that the candidates must be diligent and act in accordance with public policies,” said Father Stephan Rothlin, director of the Ricci Institute.
A key point is the ability to demonstrate that ethics and law are elevated to the status of key factors in business practices and are implemented at all levels in the company, the Jesuit priest said.
Father Rothlin says the award celebrates the great missionary life of Father Deignan, who served as a missionary in China for about 65 years until his death in Hong Kong in 2018 at the age of 91. He was the superior of the Jesuit mission in Hong Kong from 1996 to 2002.
He was hailed for educating successive generations of students with a particular focus on values such as integrity, honesty, forgiveness and human dignity
The priest was a pioneer in education and humanitarian activities to tackle HIV/AIDS in the former British colony.
Born in Mullagh in County Cavan of Ireland in 1927, Alfred Deignan entered a Jesuit novitiate in 1945. He moved to Hong Kong at the age of 25 when he was a Jesuit scholastic.
“It was such a complete change,” he said of arriving in Hong Kong after 28 days on board the RMS Carthage, according to Jesuits in Ireland website. “Everything was strange. It was my first time out of the country.”
Deignan’s knowledge of the world outside Ireland was very limited, according to the Irish Times. He quickly made up for this by two years of full-time learning of Cantonese, followed by a year’s teaching at the Jesuit Wah Yan College in Hong Kong.
He went back home to finish his studies and returned to Hong Kong after his priestly ordination in Ireland in 1959. Hong Kong eventually became Father Deignan’s adopted home and he excelled there as an educator.
He served as principal of Wah Yan College and co-founded Hong Kong International Institute of Educational Leadership in 1997. He received honorary doctorates from the University of Hong Kong (2003), Hong Kong Institute of Education (2008) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2012).
He was hailed for educating successive generations of students with a particular focus on values such as integrity, honesty, forgiveness and human dignity.
Father Deignan also worked tirelessly to combat the rise of HIV/AIDS. He was a member of the Hong Kong Advisory Council on AIDS, member and vice-chairman of the Hong Kong AIDS Foundation, a member of the council of the AIDS Trust Fund, and chairman of an expert panel for HIV-infected healthcare workers. In 1993, he received the Governor’s Commendation for Community Service Award.
“I had the opportunity to work with Father Alfred Deignan over many years on different business ethics projects and I have always felt that the example of this deeply compassionate educator, with a huge passion for sharing the key values ??of integrity, compassion and honesty left a significant mark in various circles of society,” Father Rothlin said.
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2.
The Beijing Seminary continues its synodal journey in the spirituality of Lent
12th April 2022
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
ASIA/CHINA - Prayer, relationship with Christ, new ways of
evangelizing:
Beijing (Agenzia Fides) - The life of prayer, the
consolidation of the relationship with Christ in order to help the faithful who are facing a crisis of faith, the new ways of evangelizing in the midst of a pandemic: these are some crucial points
that emerged during the monthly meeting of the Seminary Family of the Archdiocese of Beijing, which was held on March 24.
According to information gathered by Agenzia Fides, the intense synodal journey of
spirituality of Lent, preceded by a long meditation before the Blessed Sacrament and the Crucifix, marked the usual sharing of the seminarians, guided by the formators and the spiritual assistant.
Each class, group of seminarians and teaching staff presented their studies, their pastoral and missionary work carried out in the parish but also online, given that the pandemic situation does not
yet allow the normal development of the life of the Church. The seminarians also took part in the monthly community spiritual retreat, on the theme "Contemplation in prayer", on March 25 and 26. They
were invited "to always respond with the Fiat of the Virgin Mary to the Lord".
In addition, some seminarians are preparing, with great commitment and the support of
the entire seminary community, for the Beijing Civil Authority Higher Education Examination, which will take place from April 16 to 17, that is, on Easter Sunday. Along with prayer and encouragement,
the Seminary's Office of Academic Affairs provided them with the classroom and the necessary material for their studies, since cultivating knowledge is part of the integral formation of the Seminary,
in preparing candidates for the priesthood.
______________________________________________________________
3.
National Catholic Collection Day, an expression of the synodal journey in charity
5th April 2022
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
Rome (Agenzia Fides) - The pandemic has physically limited
the activities of Chinese Catholics, but has not been able to stop the generous heart of the Chinese Catholic community, which beats for the needs of all, Catholics and non-Catholics, Chinese and
non-Chinese, pushed moreover by the synodal journey of charity that it is carrying out together with the universal Church. For the sixth consecutive year, the Catholic community in mainland China
will celebrate next Sunday, April 10, Palm Sunday, the "National Day of collection in favor of the victims of natural disasters". According to information sent to Fides, until March 22, 2022,
therefore in the first 5 years, the initiative has collected ¥ 5,067,275.45, equivalent to € 745,187.5 and financed projects for ¥ 4,697,660.27, equivalent to €
690,832.35.
These include initiatives following floods and earthquakes
in various parts of China; after the Hualien earthquake in Taiwan, the volcanic eruption in Guatemala and the tsunami in Indonesia in 2018. Since the pandemic broke out until March 3, 2021,
Collection Day has collected more than 30 million yuan, equivalent to more than 4.5 million, to help pandemic areas in China and other affected countries by providing them with masks, machines,
protective equipment... In addition , maximum transparency and verification of the use of donations have characterized these years of commitment. Dioceses, parishes, congregations and religious
institutes, associations and ecclesial movements have always enthusiastically participated in the Palm Sunday collection.
One of the main promoters and organizers of the initiative
is Jinde Charites. The first non-profit organization established by the Catholic Church in China to provide social services, Jinde Charites has been guiding charities in the Catholic world in
mainland China and coordinating international donations for 25 years. According to information sent to Fides, the National Collection Day has always been welcomed with great goodwill by bishops,
priests and lay people, because they consider it an "opportunity to unite the whole Church, and together to witness faith and charity, promoting evangelization". At the same time, it constitutes a
concrete participation in the works of charity of the Chinese Catholic community, in the synodal journey of the universal Church, as Pope Francis wishes. "How I would like almsgiving to become a true
way of life for everyone! .... Each almsgiving is an opportunity to participate in the Providence of God towards his children" (Message of the Holy Father Francis for Lent
2018).
__________________________________________________________________
4.
A prayer app to help Chinese-speaking people “live Ignatian”.
24th March 2022
JCAP - Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific
The app, which is still in its development phase but is already available to web users, is chock-full of prayer resources. The Prayer Corner inspired by Pray As You Go encourages people to develop the habit of daily contemplation. From Mondays through Fridays, users are invited to 15 minutes of guided contemplation based on the Gospel of the day. Then on Saturdays, there is a guided Examen, a prayer that helps one review one’s day, or in this case one’s week, in the presence of God. On Sundays, the app provides a recollection or longer form of prayer lasting about 45 minutes.
Another feature is Pilgrims on a Journey, where people from all walks of life share about their spiritual encounters and prayer life. Users can also take inspiration from Ignatius’ Thought for the Day, and listen to audio books or watch short videos on Ignatian Spirituality. Besides those, there are written meditations on the daily readings taken from Shalom and provided by the Hong Kong Christian Life Community, as well as homilies in a section aptly called, “The Plaza of the Word”.
The developers of the app hope that through this platform more Chinese-speaking people can grow deeper in their relationship with the Lord, and live a more meaningful life through the gift of Ignatian Spirituality.
Currently, the prayer app can be accessed through this link:
https://ignatius.appgyverapp.
and will be available on the App Store soon.
* The Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific covers the life and service of the Society of Jesus in 16 countries in Asia and the Pacific.
__________________________________________________________________
5.
A synodal journey in charity: the "Volunteers of the Lord" at the forefront to fight the pandemic
31st March2022
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
Rome (Agenzia Fides) - Priests who guard the quarantined areas to enforce health rules at night, the nuns who
are drivers and messengers, the seminarians who load material aid, the laity who intervene in all areas where there are needs: these are the "Volunteers of the Lord" - as they have defined themselves
- who draw the current image of the Catholic Church in mainland China. To combat the pandemic, there is active coordination between the local Church, Catholic charities, parishes, governmental and
non-governmental organizations, in collaboration with civil authorities.
According to information gathered by Agenzia Fides,
Covid-19 is still circulating strongly in several Chinese regions.
The Catholic community, engaged for over two years in the
fight against the virus, has acquired some experience in coordinating and organizing material aid, but above all spiritual, moral and psychological support, which people today need more than ever,
both the population and doctors, volunteers and rescuers.
During a new Lent marked by the pandemic, the Catholic
community, with its many "Volunteers of the Lord", is carrying out a synodal journey of charity, based on prayer and fraternity. They thus build a "synodal Church" of communion, participation and
mission, as Pope Francis has recommended since the beginning of his Pontificate. On March 19, the seminarians of the diocesan seminary of Jilin, led by the rector, loaded, sorted and distributed
several trucks of aid, in the midst of the freezing cold, on the occasion of the feast of Saint Joseph, patron of the Seminary.
According to these young aspiring workers in the vineyard
of the Lord, "we lived an exceptional patronal feast, an experience of charity which makes us mature spiritually". They also donated ¥5,030 (equivalent to €760) from their savings, in addition to the
aid worth ¥114,455 raised with Jinde Charities. The Jilin community, under the coordination of Jinde Charities of Hebei, is mobilizing all parishes to raise funds and materials through parish wechat.
The home for the elderly, an isolated village and a popular neighborhood are the preferred recipients. Tangshan community priests have been carrying out night guards in the quarantined neighborhood
to impart "the spirit of serving Christ". The volunteer nuns climb the stairs thousands of times to bring food to quarantined citizens, and are happy, because "we serve Jesus". We are the image of
the Catholic Church". The communities of Jiangxi and Shaanxi also shine for the commitment of the "volunteers of the Lord" on the synodal path of charity. (NZ)
End
CATHOLIC CHURCH UPDATES
March 2022
6 Updates
1. Catholicism’s Overlooked Importance in Asia.
2. ASIA/HONG KONG -The laity, committed to being the engine of evangelization and participation in the synodal process.
3. The Bishops' Lenten recommendations to accompany the synodal journey of the communities.
4. Hong Kong bishop stresses dialogue in troubled region.
5. Chinese Catholic communities are living the new pastoral year intensely, in a synodal spirit.
6. Reconnect with family in the New Year, bishop urges young people.
1.
Catholicism’s Overlooked Importance in Asia
Catholicism – whether embraced or rejected – has played a crucial role in defining identity in Asia.
Many people believe that the Philippines is the most Catholic country of Asia. But this has not been the case since the 1990s; Timor-Leste now has a higher percentage of Catholics. How do we explain that this shift has attracted so little attention? What is this telling us about our geopolitical and modern biases? And why does it matter to get a better sense of Asian Catholicism?
The Philippines’ population is 83 percent Catholic today, compared to Timor-Leste and its 97 percent of Catholics. Casual observers might assume that the prevalence of Catholicism is due to Timor-Leste’s past as a Portuguese colony. But when Portugal left in November 1975, less than 20 percent of the Timorese population was Catholic. It was only during the brutal Indonesian colonization (1975-1999) that the Timorese became massively Catholic.
In other words, Catholicism in Timor-Leste is not merely a byproduct of Western colonization. It is something more recent and linked to inter-Asian dynamics. While the papal religion in Asia is dismissed as a cultural import at best, and often decried as a tool of Western colonization, such views ignore the many instances in which Catholicism stood as a shield of the oppressed. During the period of violent occupation and starvation, Catholicism helped to attract international attention to Timor-Leste. Once independence was secured, also helped favor reconciliation with the enemy: in this case, Indonesia.
Furthermore, the relatively recent conversion of Timorese people suggests that religious affiliation can shift quickly, even today. And this questions a modern truism which sees religion – and Catholicism in particular— as fixed, conservative, and declining.
To minimize this puzzling shift, people often respond that Timor-Leste is a small and peripheric island of Asia. We would point out that Timor-Leste is still a territory 20 times bigger than Singapore and located at the nexus of important geopolitical tensions, located between Australia and China. But even moving beyond Timor-Leste, Catholicism across the entire Asia-Pacific region deserves more attention than it receives.
Observers often claim that the papal religion is a tiny religious minority in the region. Setting aside the Philippines and Timor-Leste, Catholics represent less than 5 percent of the population in most Asian countries. Yet these national statistics hide the significance of Asian Catholicism at the local scale. For instance, while only 3 percent of the whole Indonesian population is Catholic, the island of Flores and parts of Papua are overwhelmingly Catholic. In these locales, Catholics are the majority; as a result, Indonesia’s national cohesion and territorial integrity depends on this “minority.”
Similarly, in countries like India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and Myanmar, Catholics are not evenly represented across the country. Some regions and cities can host a much stronger proportion of Catholics. Thus, Asian Catholicism cannot be understood just as a religious minority group. Its local footprint varies tremendously and impacts the construction of Asian nation-states.
Nonetheless, the importance of Asian Catholicism cannot be understood only through the numbers. For instance, when it comes to defining the most Catholic countries of the continent, scholars have argued that Japan and Thailand are essential to consider.
These two countries have long history of encounters with Catholicism. During the late 16th century, hundreds of thousands of Japanese people converted to Catholicism. This newly introduced faith acted as a tool to define the self-conception of the extremely diverse societies of the archipelago. Yet, in the face of this sudden fascination with a foreign religion, competing elites imposed an alternative path on Japan. During the Edo period (1600-1868), Japan’s rulers relentlessly worked at instigating a homogenous ethno-religious identity – in which Catholicism stood as a silent and invisible counter-model. In the making of modern Japan, Catholicism thus operated as a powerful imaginary Other, instrumental to constructing the unity of the modern state.
In Thailand, the encounter between local populations and Catholicism went through a different yet comparable path. The efforts to build a modern and homogenous Thai identity, the systemization of a Theravada ethos, and the divinization of the sovereign were in many ways inspired by and a response against the West and its archetypal religion, Catholicism. In Thailand and Japan yesterday, but also in India and China today, Catholicism operates as an existential question that cannot be easily dismissed, an often overlooked but powerful means of alternative identify formation.
Clearly, studying the significance of Catholicism in Asia cannot be limited to counting the number of believers. The influence of the papal religion is deeper and subtler than what quantitative statistics suggest. For many societies and ethnic groups of Asia who strive to define their collective identity and political model, Catholicism is a powerful player that generates a whole range of direct and indirect answers at local and national levels. Whether across the Japanese islands, around the Gulf of Thailand, in Central Asia, or throughout the Indian subcontinent, Catholicism may be perceived as an uncomfortable other, but it influences the ways modern governance, economic exchanges, and systems of knowledge and collective health are defined.
Indeed, education and medicine are two dimensions to carefully consider in any investigation of Asian Catholicism. Over the past centuries, Catholics have built countless educational and medical institutions across the many subregions of Asia. Those schools and hospitals play an important role in the local social fabric and in their assertion within global networks. In addition to the new knowledge and techniques they bring, these institutions spread alternative narratives and connect local populations to distant resources and partners. It is not surprising that elites and governments have often been monitoring closely Catholic schools and hospitals – if not taking them by force. Therefore, investigating the lived realities of Catholic social institutions spread across the many regions of Asia, as well as their occasional absence and disappearance, is a valuable way to understand local societies and politics, as well as the nation-states that encompass them.
Still, Asian Catholicism is not only about Asia. Numerous Catholics from Vietnam, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka have migrated to non-Asian countries in search of new opportunities. They contribute to the economy of their adopted countries and forge bonds of interconnection with Asia. Furthermore, Asian dioceses and religious orders do not hesitate to send clergy members –seminarian, priests, and nuns— to study and serve in non-Asian countries. In Europe, Indian and Vietnamese priests constitute a growing part of the local clergy. Despite the little attention they receive, they allow European Catholicism to maintain some of its operations and to reimagine itself.
Present all around the globe, Asian Catholics are a vibrant component of the global networks that shape our contemporary world. In North America, they sustain numerous ethnic parishes and influence the way American Catholicism positions itself in regard to world affairs and the Sino-American competition. In Dubai, it is Filipino, Malayali, and Konkani churchgoers who represent the largest Catholic communities. Together, they show how the number of Catholics in the Middle East is not simply declining but in the midst of intense reconfiguration.
Finally, with a growing number of Asian Catholics accessing high responsibilities within the Catholic hierarchy, their specific concerns and sensibilities are most likely to reshape the priorities of the Catholic Church. Simultaneously, the increasing importance of the Asia-Pacific region is going to give more weight to their voices even though Asian Catholics are still numerically fewer than African and Latino Catholics. Thus, either within or outside the Church, Asian Catholics are an important force to consider.
In conclusion, there is an urgent need to overcome modern prejudices and carefully scrutinize the ways in which the world’s most populous continent – Asia – and the world’s largest religious organization – the Catholic Church – intersect. While Catholicism is neither on the decline nor limited to religious affairs, a social scientific study of Asian Catholicism will provide a unique window not only on how Asian societies and the Catholic Church evolve, but also on how they influence each other and shape global affairs. Investigating Asian Catholicism will not only question prevailing discourses on colonialism, national identity, and globalization but provide an analytical tool less pliable to economic ideologies and national interests.
Asian Catholics stand at the nexus of most pressing geopolitical questions. While other religions of Asia have been the object of intense scholarly scrutiny, it is now time to recognize the global significance of Asian Catholicism.
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2.
ASIA/HONG KONG- The laity, committed to being the engine of evangelization and participation in the synodal process.
16th March 2022
Hong Kong (Agenzia
Fides) - The Association of Catholic Laity of the Diocese of Hong Kong (Hong Kong Central Council of Catholic Laity HKCCCL) has renewed its commitment to being the engine of evangelization in the
diocese on the way to the Synod of Bishops in 2023.
During the Annual
General Assembly, which was held online as Hong Kong is still in the grip of a pandemic, the inauguration of the new President of the Association, Ms. Jojo, also took place in the presence of Msgr.
Stephen Chow Sau Yan, SJ, Bishop of Hong Kong. According to Kung Kao Po, the weekly newsletter of the diocese, Bishop Chow encouraged the lay faithful to practice the mission of evangelization, to
empty themselves, to bring hope and reconciliation to others, to reach out to the excluded society to help them, especially during the Covid epidemic.
Fr. Joseph Liu Ahlun,
spiritual director of the Association, highlighted the work carried out during the pandemic, with a thousand difficulties, always cultivating and promoting the cause of evangelization, starting with
the formation of the laity. In view of the Synod of Bishops to be held in October 2023, the Association has coordinated consultations between parishes and lay groups, distributing the questionnaire
and proposing a series of conference themes, in order to allow the active participation of lay faithful, protagonists of evangelization, in the synodal process. The pandemic has impeded face-to-face
evangelism, but the Association has creatively launched WhatsApp, Signal, electronic prayer messages, etc., continuing the mission of announcing the Gospel, showing closeness and blessing of the
Church to all, without ever neglecting concrete works of charity.
The Catholic Lay
Association of the Diocese of Hong Kong, the central body for evangelization in the diocese, is made up of representatives of the various parish councils, pastoral councils and Catholic associations.
It has 81 affiliated associations, including 51 councils and 30 Catholic associations.
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3.
The Bishops' Lenten recommendations to accompany the synodal journey of the communities
9th March 2022
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
CHINA - Spirituality, concrete abstinence, conversion, pandemic: the Bishops' Lenten
recommendations to accompany the synodal journey of the communities
Beijing (Agenzia
Fides) - "I sincerely hope that the reading of the Word of God, the recitation of the Rosary and the Way of the Cross will be more and more widespread in families and communities", recommended in his
Pastoral Letter for Lent , Msgr. Joseph Li Shan, Archbishop of Beijing. He also asked the faithful for an abstinence that is not only formal, but linked to concrete life, that is to say "abstinence
from speech, eyes, ears, internet, bad temper and negative temperament".
In his pastoral
letter titled "Living Lent with Prayer, Fasting and Charity", Bishop Li reminds the faithful that Lent is the time to "renew our relationship with God, with ourselves and with others". As the world
tries to overcome the severe crisis of the pandemic and its negative consequences, "we need even more the power of faith". He therefore encourages all families to pray together, because "the family
that prays together, stays together" as the Holy Father Francis teaches us in "Amoris laetitia". He then invited people to get used to "reading one or two verses of the Gospel every day", to "always
have the Bible in our hands, in our pockets, on our mobile phones".
As far as abstinence
is concerned, "canonical abstinence" or "diet" is not enough to keep fit, but it must mean "leaving more space in our hearts, letting ourselves be filled by grace and the strength of Christ, in order
to control our egocentrism, to avoid sins and to practice charity". And "this charity, starting from the family, extends to the neighbour, to the community and to society", thus continuing the
synodal path with the universal Church. Finally, Bishop Li also underlined the commitment in this liturgical time to "accompany catechumens to live a life of holiness, incarnating the image of Jesus
Christ", only in this way "our joy will be complete" (Cf. Jn 16, 24 ).
As every year,
several Chinese diocesan bishops have shown their faithful the Lenten journey, drawing inspiration from the message of Pope Francis for this liturgical season, in the spirit of the synodal journey
that the whole Church lives. "Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap our harvest if we do not give up. So then, while we have the opportunity, let us do good to all" (Gal
6: 9-10a), writes the Holy Father.
The Archbishop of
Guangzhou, Msgr. Joseph Gan Junqiu, urged the faithful to "reconcile with the Lord", as he wrote in his Lenten pastoral letter entitled "Produce therefore fruits worthy of conversion" (Mt 3: 8). The
new Bishop of Hong Kong, Jesuit Bishop Stephen Chow Sau Yan, shared his deep concern over the pandemic situation on the island with a father's heart in a message titled: "Blessings Under the Pandemic
- Loving Beyond Ourselves Through Adversity".
He exhorted everyone
to "raise our small self to the big self, which is the common good", which "embraces the elderly, the sick, the weak and the poor ...". With this in mind, he wrote: "We do not know when this pandemic
will be over. Nevertheless, we can do our best to do good and introduce the love of God to more sectors in Hong Kong, especially those who are neglected or vulnerable… Let us not underestimate the
power of prayers. And let us not lose hope in the efforts of the Holy Spirit through us".
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4.
Hong Kong bishop stresses dialogue in troubled region
24th February 2022
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
Bishop Stephen Chow feels dialogue and working with government are crucial to playing the
prophetic role as Christians
By: Gianni
Criveller
Jesuit Father Stephen
Chow Sau-yan was consecrated bishop of Hong Kong last December after the seat was vacant for nearly three years. It ushered in a ray of hope among Catholics in the Special Administrative Region of
China facing political uncertainties and chaos.
During his
consecration, the new leader of some 400,000 Catholics in Hong Kong promised to heal the wounds of the deeply polarized city by building bridges.
He has reiterated his
priorities as the leader of the Church in Hong Kong in an interview he gave me — the first and most elaborate interview he has given to the media since becoming a bishop. It first appeared in the
February issue of the Milan-based Mondo e Missione (World and Mission), a magazine run by the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME).
Bishop Chow is aware
of the socio-political relevance of Hong Kong’s Catholic community despite its numeric size. In fact, several of Hong Kong's leaders on both sides of its political spectrum — pro-government and
pro-democracy camps — are either Catholics or have a close association with Catholic institutions such as schools, parishes and organizations.
For example, Hong
Kong’s pro-Beijing Chief Executive Carrie Lam is a practicing Catholic who attended the bishop’s consecration ceremony. On the other hand, prominent democracy champions in the city include Catholics
Martin Lee, Jimmy Lai and many others who have been jailed since Beijing imposed the national security law on July 1, 2020.
As the Hong Kong
Church leader, Bishop Chow needs to tread a fine line in the fractured city. Under the circumstances, his reluctance to give press interviews is understandable. But he agreed to speak with me as a
brother in faith in the same mission of evangelization.
My aim was never to
corner him with tricky questions but to help the global Catholic communities to see his situation and understand his priorities as he works to heal the wounds and build bridges among communities in
Hong Kong.
His Jesuit upbringing
and training, Bishop Chow said, encourage him to work for human dignity and social justice. “I find it unacceptable when basic human dignity is ignored or exploited or sidelined,” he
said.
He said a bishop is
not a diplomat but needs to be diplomatic at times to carry out God’s will. “I’m not a diplomat; a bishop is not a diplomat. We need to be diplomatic at times. But our primary concern is to discern
God’s will and to carry it out.”
He remembered Jesuit
Father Alfred Deignan as his mentor who taught him compassion, patience and hope, and Father James Hurley as one who inspired him to engage in human rights
work.
Bishop Chow said the
Tiananmen Square tragedy of 1989 profoundly affected him and he joined rights group Amnesty International around that time. He is no longer an Amnesty
member.
“The incident in 1989
really affected me. It put me in touch with my ethnic identity, with who I am; my plight and the plight of the Chinese people were connected through that incident,” he
said.
His reference to
Jesuits Fathers Deignan and Hurley shows how Catholicism was shaped in Hong Kong over the past 50 years. Father Deignan (1927-2018) was a widely influential and appreciated educator who served in
Hong Kong for 65 years. Father Hurley (1926-2020), who championed social justice, was a missionary in Hong Kong since 1952.
Bishop Chow’s
explicit mention of the Tiananmen incident as a turning point of life is also remarkable. Sadly, the Hong Kong administration since 2020 has banned the annual vigil and commemoration for the
Tiananmen anniversary at Hong Kong’s Victoria Park.
Bishop Chow says
Ignatian spirituality has “a great impact” on him “on how I see God, my relationship with him and God’s relationship with the world. We are sinners, yet loved. That gives us hope! That inner freedom
lets us move on. No one is totally indifferent with inner freedom, neither am I.”
He said he accepted
the role of the bishop as part of “a process of seeking inner freedom. I didn’t really want to [be a bishop]. But in this process, I was invited to obedience; meaning to let
go.”
“Ignatian
spirituality broadens my thinking. If spirituality is not incarnated, it remains in the air. It has to connect to who I am.”
Bishop Chow’s
education at Harvard University taught him how cultures impact the lives of humans more than they can realize.
A Harvard professor
taught him the meaning of culture “and how it impacts us. Culture affects us more than we are aware of. Culture is very subversive. We educators are co-constructors with the young people we
serve.”
Bishop Chow wants to
engage with young people through dialogue as they are “more receptive than adults or older because they are more willing to try out things and can see a future of possibilities; they have less
baggage, so to speak.”
He would often ask
young people to be like a giraffe “with feet planted on the ground and a vision looking to the future. We cannot always have all our feet on the ground at one time; when the giraffe moves, one foot
is in the air, so we need vision. We have to keep vision and context together.”
Young people, mostly
university students, were spearheading the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. But Bishop Chow wanted young people “not to look at the walls only but to look at the future: how you want Hong Kong to
be like in future.”
“Share your vision
with your peers … but at the same time, don’t limit yourself to listening to like-minded people, otherwise you will share the same blind spots. You need to listen to people who are very different
from you, who even don't agree with you.”
The Hong Kong bishop
says he won’t leave elderly people behind.
“The young can help
the older members of the community. The young are the ones who give hope and energy to the elderly. Since 2019 some elderly felt that the young people were insensitive — and some of them were. The
two groups can come together and talk, share and help each other,” he said.
Bishop Chow said the
introduction of national security law marked a new era in the political history of Hong Kong.
“We have to be
careful; we don’t want to get our children, our students or the school into trouble. We have to protect our students. As educators, we still hope that our students can think for themselves and have
multiple perspectives and appreciate differences,” he said.
Elders should help
younger generations know “what is legal and what is not legal” and at the same time “to help them think.” The younger generation should develop a healthy conscience despite ideological differences —
whether rigid conservative or neurotically liberal, he said.
He said he wanted to
help “our young people think deeper in this age. But it is a difficult task. Veteran teachers have emigrated. Even social workers and psychologists have moved away. This is the difficult reality we
have to face.”
Despite the difficult
circumstances, Bishop Chow is hopeful about the future of missionary presence in Hong Kong.
“I really believe
that foreign missionaries have a place in Hong Kong. We appreciate what they have done and we do our best to keep them here. Hong Kong has to remain an international city, with missionaries and
expatriates.”
Bishop Chow believes
it is essential to have dialogue and work with the government to play the prophetic role as Christians.
“We have to work with
the government and find whatever space we can. But, in humility and a spirit of dialogue, we can still say what we think, as we are here as prophets.”
* Father Gianni Criveller of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions is dean of studies and a
teacher at PIME International Missionary School of Theology in Milan, Italy. He taught in Greater China for 27 years and is a lecturer in mission theology and the history of Christianity in China at
the Holy Spirit Seminary College of Philosophy and Theology in Hong Kong.
_______________________________________________________________
5.
ASIA/CHINA - Chinese Catholic communities are living the new pastoral year intensely, in a synodal spirit.
21st February 2022
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
Rome (Agenzia Fides)
- " The "Year of God", which was celebrated in 2021, will be followed in the Archdiocese of Beijing by the "Year of the Son of God" announced by Archbishop Joseph Li Shan in his Christmas message.
The various parishes of the Archdiocese now have their own pastoral programs in this context created, which are now being put into practice.
Meanwhile, the parish
of the Immaculate Conception, known as "Nan Tang" congregation, invites you to a year of Bible reading. Believers are encouraged to meditate on the life of Jesus based on the reading to draw closer
to his cross and make him more visible in their daily lives. From February 2nd, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, until February 17th, each parishioner read a chapter from the
Gospel of Mark.
In addition, the
basic church communities in the parish organized themselves for the annual joint reading. Throughout the year, the members of each community read and study the Gospel together, then share it with the
other communities to grow together in faith and love for the Lord and neighbor, in the spirit of the synodal journey.
In the parishes of
Jiangxi province, meanwhile, parish priests distributed a copy of the Bible to the faithful during the solemn celebration of the Eucharist in thanksgiving for the Chinese New Year, thus opening the
"Year of the Word of God". It was a gesture to recall the importance of the Word of God in Christian life and in everyday life, and to make Scripture concrete and relevant in the lives of individuals
and communities.
On the occasion of
the 164th anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes, the community of Shantou in Guangdong province has started a "Year of the Rosary". From February 11, 2022 to February 11, 2023, the
faithful will recite a rosary daily, individually or together, with different intentions: peace in the world, the end of the pandemic, the unity of the Church, the growth of vocations and, above all,
the consolidation of the life of faith.
_______________________________________________________________
6.
Reconnect with family in the New Year, bishop urges young people.
11th February 2022
Sunday Examiner - Hong Kong
HONG KONG (SE): Bishop Stephen Chow Sau Yan, SJ, in a video message for young people at the start of the Year of the Tiger, encouraged them to strengthen their relationship with their families even though there might be problems between them. He also urged them not to lose their passion and face life with the zeal of a tiger.
The video message was posted on Boiling Point, the youth Facebook forum supported by the Diocesan Audio Visual Centre and the Diocesan Youth Commission, on February 1, the first day of the Lunar New Year.
The bishop said that he understood the frustration of having to stay at home as Hong Kong entered the fifth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, with community celebrations of the liturgy and in-person classes in schools suspended again. He said he could also see that in this situation, young people tend to stay at home with their families more often and encounter more conflicts in Hong Kong’s small flats.
However, he expressed his hope that young people will not be depressed. “It will pass,” he said.
“It is New Year. We all hope for a good beginning for you and your family members. Blood is thicker than water. Your relationship lasts for a lifetime. Do not let obstacles and problems, though they are serious ones in your mind, occupy the whole family life,” he exhorted.
‘“Things around us may fall short of our expectations. However, it is important to change our minds with kindness and love, and do small acts of love for family and friends’
“There are many things for the family to talk about and many beautiful memories to share. We can build a good future together. So have confidence,” he continued.
Bishop Chow explained that many external factors affect our mood, like the cold and wet weather, which makes it hard to go out and makes us feel gloomy and dispirited. He encouraged young people not to be affected by the outside environment and instead remain joyful.
“Things around us may fall short of our expectations. However, it is important to change our minds with kindness and love, and do small acts of love for family and friends. For example, send a message or make a phone call, which I think is good as people can hear your voice,” he said, adding that many people, especially the elderly, who may feel lonely, need to be reconnected with others.
“Let us take the opportunity in the Chinese New Year to rebuild and strengthen our relationship with others so that we can face things with positivity in the coming year,” the bishop said.
Concluding his message, Bishop Chow exhorted young people to be vigorous and cheerful in adversity like a tough tiger. “The zeal of young people in faith, in life and for their future should never be cooled down,” he said.
The bishop noted that in ancient Chinese tradition, the tiger is a spiritual animal that protects people. “In the future, many people will need your protection and your blessings,” he said.
End
CATHOLIC CHURCH UPDATES
February 2022
4 Updates
1. Chinese New Year and sharing God’s love.
2. Year of the Tiger: Christ the tiger?
3.China’s Catholic institute marks 20 years of study of Christianity.
4. CHINA - Towards Lepers' Day: the Catholic community in action, like all year round.
1.
Chinese New Year and sharing God’s love.
28th January 2022
Sunday Examiner - Hong
Kong
http://www.examiner.org.hk/
Editorial
Traditionally, Chinese families clear out their junk and clean their homes three days before the Chinese New Year. This custom means sending away the old and welcoming the new;
hoping to prepare for the new year with the cleanest and best outlook, which is understandable. We Catholics are not only concerned about the cleanliness and tidiness of the external environment, but
also concerned about spiritual sanctity. Let us take this opportunity to clear out the long accumulated dirt, bad habits and ill thoughts.
The cleansing our hearts can be done through retreats, self-discipline and devotion to God’s Word. We get rid of our negative emotions, lay down resentment and stubbornness and
learn to forgive.
Peter asks Jesus whether it is enough to forgive those who sin against him up to seven times. Jesus answers him: seventy-seven times [Matthew 18:21]. This is not to be understood
literally. Jesus uses this metaphor to encourage us to follow God’s immense kindness and practice the virtue of forgiveness. God does not set a limit to forgiveness. As long as we repent sincerely
and promise that we will not sin again, we are forgiven.
Besides reconciling with God and other people, we should seek to rebuild our relationship with nature. Massive tree felling, mechanical over-production and development, and land
reclamation not only destroy the ecological balance, but also cause all sorts of pollution.
Ultimately it is human beings who suffer. Pope Francis promulgated the encyclical, Laudato Si’, in 2015 to encourage people to embrace ecological conversion, concern for our shared
habitat and repentance for ecological destruction. Certain religious congregations have promoted land ‘rebirth’ to rebuild the ecological system through field farming and to experience the wonder of
nature.
As the Lunar New Year approaches, think about sharing your happiness and grace with the disadvantaged. Some members of some parish social concern groups regularly visit the
homeless. They provide warmth in the cold winter by distributing hot food and warm clothes. The homeless can experience the compassion of society through heartfelt greetings and loving
care.
Some communities and the young people have designed various cards to express new year greetings. They also created virtual stickers, emojis and wallpapers for the faithful to
download onto their smartphones to use on social media such as WhatsApp, Signal and Instagram. They are especially encouraged to bestow God’s blessings on non-Christians with these tools, so that
they may share the gospel.
Although we cannot physically participate in Masses and parish meetings at this time, we can break through geographical restrictions by attending online Masses. The daily scripture
readings also draw us closer to God. SE.
_______________________________________________________________
2.
Year of the Tiger: Christ the tiger?
JCAP - Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific
https://jcapsj.org/
The Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, begins on 1 February. It is usually celebrated for 16 days, from Chinese New Year’s Eve to the Lantern Festival. According to Chinese zodiac, 2022 is the Year of the Tiger. Fr Francis Lim SJ reflects on the symbolism of the tiger, and how it has been used by some authors to signify Christ.
Tigers are considered the most iconic of the big cats. Tigers, being the largest felines in the world, are considered by many cultures to be a symbol of strength, courage, independence, and majestic dignity.
The tiger is careful, crafty and suspicious in a good way. It is careful to avoid pitfalls and traps. It is rarely taken by surprise. Following the example of the tiger, we must stay alert, we must walk carefully, and we must be wise in the Lord.
There are two subspecies of tiger, commonly referred to as the continental tiger, and the Sunda island tiger. All remaining island tigers are found only in the island of Sumatra. The continental tigers are found in the mainland of Asia, stretching from India to Siberia, and south to the Malay peninsular. The largest tiger is the Siberian or Amur, while the smallest tiger is the Sumatran.
No two tigers have the same stripes, and their stripes are as individual as fingerprints are for human beings. A tiger’s stripes are important for survival in the wild as they act as camouflage which appear as moving shadows in long grass and in trees. Therefore, the stripes of the tiger are what make the tiger majestic and unique.
In the Bible, lions and leopards are mentioned but no tigers. Furthermore, interestingly there is not one mention of a domestic cat.
It is because tigers are not native to the Middle East. We can assume that none of the Hebrew speaking, Aramaic speaking, or Greek speaking authors ever saw or heard of a tiger.
The closest to the tiger in the Bible would be the lion which also symbolises authority and royalty. On top of that, some older English translations of the Bible mistakenly translated lion as tiger in some texts.
Interestingly, there is an autobiography called “Christ the Tiger” by Thomas Howard published in 1967. Howard was born evangelical in 1935, but converted to Catholicism in 1985.
“Christ the Tiger” was written before Howard became Catholic. It is not an exposition about Christ, but rather an autobiography of a sharp and restless mind. The book should have been named “Tom the Tiger”; although this title would not have sold the book!
In his book, Howard spends a long time unveiling the unmanageable thoughts of a young man who has been caught up by the love of Christ rather than portraying Christ himself. Initially he saw dogmas and institutions as obscuring the powerful truth of God’s love in Christ. He argues that Jesus is always greater than any theology. However, Howard demonstrates his awareness that without those institutions there would not be any way of encountering Christ the tiger. This book radically presents who Christ is and what faith in him means.
Howard was greatly influenced by the famous writer, CS Lewis, who was in turn influenced by another great writer, GK Chesterton. Howard did his doctoral dissertation on the writings of Charles Williams who was a good friend of Lewis. Howard is generally considered an expert on the writings of Williams.
Lewis and Williams compared Christ to a lion, but Chesterton and Howard compared him to a tiger. Chesterton says that when you make the claim that God is a reality like a tiger, which is a reason for changing your life, the modern world will try to stop you if it can. Then, be prepared to be opposed. Prior to that, TS Elliot, a poet, had also used the image of Christ as a tiger in his poem, “Gerontion.”
Nonetheless, whether it is a tiger or a lion to signify Christ, the idea is to manifest Christ as majestic, courageous and authoritative. We, who are the disciples of Christ, can imitate him in this way, too. Happy Lunar New Year!
Fr Francis Lim Chin Choy SJ is the Communications Officer of the Malaysia-Singapore (MAS) Jesuit Region. To celebrate the Lunar New Year, MAS Communications prepared eight IHS logos with Chinese designs. They are available to download for free as .png files, WhatsApp stickers, and Viber stickers.
Copyright © 2022 Jesuit Conference
of Asia Pacific, All rights reserved.
The Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific covers the life and service of the Society of Jesus in 16 countries in Asia and the Pacific.
___________________________________________________________________
3.
China’s Catholic institute marks 20 years of study of Christianity.
25th January 2022
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
Institute for Study of
Christianity and Culture promotes dialogue between the inculturation of faith and the evangelization of cultures
UCA News reporter
A Catholic-run institute in Chinese capital Beijing has marked 20 years of academic research on Christianity and culture and the promotion of evangelization in China and
beyond.
The Institute for Study of Christianity and Culture under the Archdiocese of Beijing was founded in 2002 by Father Peter Zhao Jianmin, vicar of the Archdiocese of Beijing, who
graduated in canon law from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium.
Father Zhao is the first Chinese priest to obtain a doctorate degree after the opening up of the Church in China 1970s following the communist takeover, brutal Cultural Revolution
and China’s severance of diplomatic ties with the Vatican.
Since its foundation, the academy has sought to study religions, especially Christianity, local culture and promote greater harmony between Catholicism and traditional Chinese
culture, according to Fides new agency.
It has promoted the study of various themes through debates, conferences, publications, seminars, forums, training courses, scholarships and international exchanges, with topics
ranging from Mariology and St. Ambrose to the doctors and fathers of the Church, the contributions of Chinese and foreign missionaries to evangelization and social development in
China.
The institute has been a pioneer in mainland China for paving the way for dialogue between the inculturation of faith and the evangelization of
cultures.
In an interview with UCA News in 2006, Father Zhao said it was essential to have academic dialogue between the China Church and theologians on the world scene. For that purpose, it
was vital for the Church to promote scholarship by adopting positive and substantial policies to support theological research.
The institute's director said the China Church needed to learn more about the conceptual development of Catholic theology, which links the local Church to the teaching of the
universal Church.
He suggested the need for “more research on inculturation so the Gospel could be spread throughout Chinese civilization.”
Since 2003, the institute has conducted training courses and seminars for young people on the theme of “Catholicism and Ethics” and published the texts in its Journal of Catholic
Studies.
Another major program of the institute is an annual Forum on Catholic Studies for Young Chinese Scholars that began in 2008.
The institute also collaborates with Chinese and international partners including the Social Academy of Beijing and the Catholic University of
Leuven.
In 2019, during the XXIV Public Session of the Pontifical Academies, Pope Francis reportedly praised the academy for its role, especially on evangelization, over the
years.
"The academy ... is also a force of evangelization, which belongs to the present of the Church and her mission," the pope said.
The earliest documented presence of Christianity in China is seen in Nestorian missioners who came to the then Chinese capital of Chang’an (Xi’an) during the rule of the Tang
dynasty in 635 AD.
The first Catholic mission to China was led by Franciscan friar Giovanni da Montecorvino, who arrived in what is now Beijing in 1293. Russian Orthodoxy was introduced in 1715 and
Protestants started their mission in China in 1807.
A nationwide survey by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 2010 showed that China's 23 million Protestants accounted for 1.8 percent of its 1.3 billion
people.
Officially, mainland China has 6 million Catholics. The Holy Spirit Study Centre of Hong Kong Diocese estimates that China has some 12 million Catholics, including “unregistered”
Catholics who reject the government-sanctioned Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association.
_______________________________________________________________
4.
CHINA - Towards Lepers' Day: the Catholic community in action, like all year round.
14th January 2022
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
CHINA - Towards Lepers' Day:
the Catholic community in action, like all year round
Nanjing (Agenzia Fides) - Like every year, members of the Nanjing Ark Charity Foundation, the charitable foundation of the Catholic community in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province
- one of the many Catholic charities scattered throughout mainland China - provided aid, gifts and good wishes for the Chinese New Year to cured lepers, guests of the Nanjing Public Health Medical
Center.
The 69th World Leprosy Day and the 30th Chinese Leprosy Day will be held on Jan. 30, the former under the theme "Forgotten diseases still exist. Help us to erase them forever",
while the theme of the Chinese Day is "Caring for lepers, building a better life together". With this visit, the volunteers maintained the Catholic tradition of caring for lepers and people in need
in the Nanjing community, which now dates back to the year 2000.
However, this is a year-round commitment and has never been limited to Leper Day. Indeed, the volunteers of the foundation periodically visit lepers and healers, offering them not
only the material goods they need, but also spiritual and moral comfort, listening to them, breaking their loneliness, sharing their worries.
In 2015, during the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Ark-Nanjing Special Education Center in the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Nanjing dedicated to the Immaculate
Conception, the Nanjing Ark Charitable Foundation was officially born and has been operating for years with the approval of Nanjing Municipal Civil Affairs
Bureau.
The new foundation has faithfully followed the mission of helping the disadvantaged in society: the elderly and orphans, the poor, the physically and mentally disabled, the victims
of natural disasters, poor children who are offered the opportunity to study, and above all the girls and children of immigrant working parents, who are the most disadvantaged. They also manage the
canteen, the laundry, the showers, vocational training to give them a chance to reintegrate into society ...
Throughout the history of assistance to lepers in China, the Chinese Catholic Church has always been at the forefront, as documented by Agenzia Fides, which illustrated, among other
things, the commitment of the nuns who manage the center for lepers in Yunnan. Sister Xue Ling, of the Diocesan Congregation of the Holy Family in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, died in a flood on June 13,
2008 while helping lepers. For years, her Congregation has been assisting leprosy patients in the district of Huiyang, in the province of Guangdong (see Fides, 16/6/2008). Since 2009, the Chinese
sisters led by Jinde Charity (China's largest Catholic charity organization) have started participating in the Beijing Marathon to raise funds for Catholic Church projects for the elderly, orphans,
for the prevention of AIDS and also for lepers (see Fides, 24/10/2013). (NZ)
End
CATHOLIC CHURCH UPDATES
January 2022
7 Updates
1. Making God's love visible in society - Nan Tang parish in Beijing.
measures - In Mongolia: opening of a church.
3.China- Spiritual retreat of priests in view of Christmas.
4. Christmas lights are turned on: the Catholic community intensifies its spiritual journey and its works of charity.
5. Hong Kong’s new Catholic bishop vows to heal divisions, foster new generation of believers.
6. Let the Holy Spirit surprise you, Bishop Chow says.
7."Me and my seminary": the seminary in Beijing celebrates 40 years of commitment to priesthood formation.
1.
Making God's love visible in society - Nan Tang parish
in Beijing.
11th January 2022
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
ASIA/CHINA - Making God's love
visible in society: this has been the mission of the Group of volunteers of the Nan Tang parish in Beijing for 10 years
Beijing (Agenzia Fides) - During the year 2021, until December 31, the Nan Tang Parish Volunteer Group of the Archdiocese of Beijing, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of Mary,
which was founded by the great Jesuit missionary Fr. Matteo Ricci, supported 372 university or high school students from families with financial difficulties. Twenty of them have completed their high
school studies and 17 have passed the university entrance exams, despite the difficulties related to the Covid pandemic.
This is the annual report published by the Group, which pursues its mission to make God's love and mercy visible in Chinese society with concrete activities and, above all, with the
example of a life lived in a Christian way. The report also contains a detailed list of the assisted students, with the possibility of contacting them for those who are interested in helping them
directly or in knowing more about the work of the Group.
Founded in 2011, the Group began its activities by helping the elderly and orphans; by sending material aid to areas with economic difficulties or affected by natural disasters.
Later it focused on supporting the studies of children by building libraries (since 2015 it has built 9 libraries), and in 2014, offering distance adoption for students, that is, help for their
studies.
In the first two years of the initiative, they helped 3,746 university or high/middle school students. Their assistance service for the elderly has also involved civil
authorities.
The 10 years of life of the group are based on solid faith, constant prayer, a broad and effective collaboration between priests, religious and lay faithful, and also on good
administrative capacity, with maximum transparency. The lack of means of transport and the high cost of shipping costs, at the beginning of the Group's activity, led to the creation of the team of
transport volunteers. Today it is an authentic small logistics agency, with excellent financial management: by making their cars available, volunteers are able to bring aid to about fifty cities in
China that are in a precarious economic situation.
Currently the Group has grown and has even reached the second generation, with the children of the first volunteers, friends from work or university volunteers, who are not
necessarily Catholic. The Group is therefore a living school of Christian charity and an instrument of evangelization in today's society, as it offers spiritual and material help to those in
need.
___________________________________________________________________
measures - In Mongolia: opening of a church.
4th January 2022
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
CHINA - Christmas celebrated
in the nation respecting health measures;
in Mongolia the authorities grant Catholics the extraordinary opening of the church
Beijing (Agenzia Fides) - The civil authorities of Inner Mongolia, where anti Covid measures are still very strict and all places of worship are closed, have granted the
extraordinary opening of the church for the Christmas celebration. According to the Catholic publishing house "Faith" based in Hebei, this happened in the Dongtang parish in the diocese of Hohhot,
the capital of Inner Mongolia. The Catholic faithful were able to celebrate the solemn Eucharist on December 24th, thanks to the collaboration of the faithful with the volunteers who checked the
booking on their mobile phones, the vaccination certificate and the temperature at the entrance to the church and divided the faithful into different groups.
During the homily, Fr Barisu, the parish priest of Dongtang emphasized: "Christmas is a great celebration of humanity, but above all it is a celebration of gratitude. Only when we
live in gratitude can each of us enjoy our spiritual life to the fullest". The Catholic faithful of this community also experienced Christmas under the sign of solidarity: Since the places in the
church were limited due to the pandemic, the adults left their place to the elderly and the youngest.
From the urban centers to the most remote communities, Catholics in mainland China celebrated the birth of the Lord in communion with the universal Church and, as in all parts of
the world, in strict compliance with anti-Covid-19 measures. Many Catholics were able to pray and meditate in front of the manger set up in the church and, as the parish priests recommended, "take a
little manger with them in their hearts in which the baby Jesus is always present".
In the Beijing Seminary Church, parishioners also celebrated the admission of four newly baptized persons over the Christmas season. While Bishop Joseph Shen Bin von Haimen
(Nantong, Jiangsu Province) celebrated Christmas mass on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the Sacred Heart Cathedral. He encouraged believers to continue strengthening their faith, because
"Christmas is about learning to give, not just receiving, doing our best to help the weak and needy, and practicing our faith". He also hoped that "Catholics will take more care of the Church,
cultivate the Christian life of faith in families and thereby contribute to the harmony and stability of society". The bishops of the dioceses of Guangzhou, Jiangmen, Meizhou, Zhanjiang and Shantou
in Guangdong Province also celebrated Christmas under the banner of measures to contain the pandemic. In the eight parishes of the Archdiocese of Guangzhou, a total of 16 masses were celebrated in
Chinese, English and Korean from December 24th to 25th in order to meet the needs of Korean guest workers and immigrants from different countries.
___________________________________________________________________
3.
China- Spiritual retreat of priests in view of Christmas.
22nd December 2021
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
ASIA/CHINA - Spiritual retreat of
priests in view of Christmas
Beijing (Agenzia Fides) - Eliminate the worldly evils of which priests have contaminated themselves in the midst of society and return to the flock to exude the fragrance of the
shepherd: these are the recommendations that Monsignor Joseph Shen Bin, Bishop of the Diocese of Haimen (Nantong), in the province of Jiangsu, in mainland China, addressed to his priests during the
spiritual retreat in view of Christmas. During the four days of intense spiritual retreat, from December 14 to 17, the diocesan priests reflected and meditated on the priestly vocation, each starting
from their own experience. They then addressed the theme of their relationship with God, with the community, with the faithful, with the Bishop and with their confreres. Furthermore, they also faced
the excessive search for money, power, physical well-being of some priests. All the themes were the object of discernment, in the awareness of their own priestly vocation. The retreat was a spiritual
renewal for everyone, according to the testimonies of the participants, who now feel ready to start again with the strength received from these intense days of encounter with the Lord, with the
brothers in priesthood and with their Bishop, Monsignor Shen Bin.
The Diocese of Haimen (Nantong) is located in the eastern part of Jiangsu Province. It has recently celebrated the 95 years of its foundation and also the 95 years of the
consecration of its first Bishop, Monsignor Simon Zhu Kaimin, who was one of the first 6 Bishops of Chinese origin consecrated by Pope Pius XI in St. Peter, on October 28, 1926, fruit of the intense
pastoral work of Monsignor Celso Costantini, the first Apostolic Delegate to China. In his 30 years of episcopal ministry, Monsignor Simon Zhu built 156 churches (almost one for each village and
district), as well as a hospital, school, home for the elderly, orphanage and many other social services, such as tools of evangelization. In July 1931 he also founded the congregation of the Sisters
of Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus, which today has about thirty nuns active in the parishes, in the health and social fields. He was defined as "the apostle of Jesus, pillar of the Church".
Currently this ecclesiastical district has more than 30,000 faithful, divided into 24 parishes, with 15 priests and about twenty religious. Even today, the diocese of Haimen is one of the most active
communities in the pastoral and evangelization field.
___________________________________________________________________
4.
Christmas lights are turned on: the Catholic community intensifies its spiritual journey and its works of charity.
13th December 2021
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
ASIA/CHINA - Christmas lights are
turned on: the Catholic community intensifies its spiritual journey and its works of charity
Beijing (Agenzia Fides) - Yesterday, on the third Sunday of Advent, the Christmas lights, lights of hope, illuminated the different parishes of Beijing, with great emotion of the
faithful, who were able to return to the churches after yet another restriction caused by COVID-19. Among these communities, the faithful of the parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, gathered in the
courtyard of the church with lighted candles in their hands, whispering prayers with the melodious song of the parish choir “Teodorico Pedrini”.
In this way, they paid homage to Fr. Teodorico Pedrini (CM, Fermo June 30. 1671 - Beijing December 10, 1746), a great Italian missionary, theologian and author of sacred songs, who
founded and lived in this church during his stay in the capital of the Qing dynasty empire. It was an evocative moment, above all a strong moment of faith and missionary spirit, because the faithful
transmitted the joy of the Christian message to all those who live in the area, offering a living and eloquent witness.
The Chinese Catholics' path to Christmas has intensified in recent weeks also through concrete charitable works. On the feast of St.Francis Xavier, Patron of the mission in China,
the Charity group of the parish of Aozhen, in the city of Ordos, Inner Mongolia, led by Fr. Qiqigeli, of Mongolian origin, and by the nuns, despite the sub-zero temperature, visited the county
nursing home.
In addition to Christmas gifts, they brought the Lord's Love to the elderly, through medical care, assistance and willingness to listen to them and spend a day with them. Finally,
the parish priest gave the blessing to the elderly and the nurses and assistants. The Yongnian Basic Ecclesial Community in Shanghai was established 16 years ago by a group of immigrant workers from
the diocese of Yongnian (now Handan), in the province of Hebei.
Throughout these years of hard work, they have never neglected the life of faith and charitable commitment. During the liturgical celebration on the theme "Along the way of the
beatitudes", on December 4, the members of the group confirmed their spirit of adherence to both the mother diocese of Yongnian and the diocese of Shanghai, which welcomed
them.
In addition to active participation in the life of the parish where they are guests and in the monthly community meeting, around Christmas, the members of the community have helped
families in difficulty, donated blood, visited the elderly and the sick. They also financially supported the construction of the bishopric, the diocesan training center, the orphanage and the
restoration of churches in various dioceses.
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5.
Hong Kong’s new Catholic bishop vows to heal divisions, foster new generation of believers.
4th December 2021
South China Morning Post
Hong Kong’s new Catholic bishop vows to heal divisions, foster new generation of believers
* Stephen Chow was consecrated and installed as bishop on Saturday afternoon after the post had sat vacant for nearly three years
* Alluding to recent ‘unhappy and uncomfortable’ events in the city, Chow pledged to make the church a ‘bridge’ for reconciliation
By: Christy Leung
The new head of Hong Kong’s Catholic diocese has pledged to repair divisions in the community after the polarising events of recent years, urging the public to open themselves up to
reconciliation.
Stephen Chow Sau-yan, 62, was consecrated and installed as bishop at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Caine Road on Saturday afternoon. The Episcopal Ordination was officiated by
Cardinal John Tong Hon.
In his remarks during the ceremony, Chow said churches without young parishioners had no future, and as such, he would work harder to foster the next generation of believers. The church, he added,
would also not forget the poor, marginalised and forgotten.
Speaking to reporters after the ordination, Chow alluded to the “unhappy and uncomfortable” events that had gripped Hong Kong in the past, but urged young people not to let their thinking be
constrained by current circumstances, adding that the church would serve as an agent of reconciliation.
“Our churches are willing to serve as a platform or a bridge to let it happen,” Chow said.
“Things will not be perfect at the start. There needs to be confidence. There needs to be time to test the water. Everything will succeed with good faith because we believe in God. God, who is just
and loving, will help us.”
Chow’s long-delayed appointment was first announced by the Holy See in May after the post had sat vacant for more than two years. Observers had previously said the incoming bishop would be expected
to navigate a new political environment ushered in by the 2019 anti-government protests and the national security law imposed by Beijing the following year.
Trained in education psychology, Chow has headed the Society of Jesus in Hong Kong since 2018 and has been supervisor of its two Wah Yan Colleges, Catholic secondary schools for boys, since
2007.
At 62, Chow is one of the youngest priests to be put in charge of the Hong Kong diocese since the Vatican began appointing Chinese bishops in the city nearly 50 years ago.
Chow has previously taken part in commemorations marking the June 4 Tiananmen Square crackdown – a politically sensitive topic since the imposition of the security law. Asked about his views on
Saturday, he said only that the bloody crackdown was a heartbreaking experience and that he hoped it would not happen again.
The diocese has been without a permanent head since the death of Bishop Michael Yeung Ming-cheung in January 2019. The Vatican brought 82-year-old former bishop John Tong Hon out of retirement to
serve as the apostolic administrator.
Hong Kong’s 404,000-strong Catholic community enjoys a strong social and political influence, especially in the education and charity sectors. The city’s leader, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, is known
to be a devout Catholic, as is one of her predecessors, Donald Tsang Yam-kuen.
* Christy Leung is a senior reporter and has written about crime and security-related stories for the Post's Hong Kong desk since 2015. After receiving her Bachelor’s degree in Media
Communication and German Studies, Christy began her journalism career in 2010 by working for Deutsche Welle TV in Berlin before joining Asia Television as a news anchor and reporter. Her work has
been recognised in the WAN-IFRA Asia Media Awards 2016 and the Newspaper Society’s 2020 Hong Kong News Award.
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6.
Let the Holy Spirit surprise you, Bishop Chow says.
3rd December 2021
Sunday Examiner - Hong
Kong
http://www.examiner.org.hk/
When Pope Francis, a Jesuit, was elected pope in 2013, the Church witnessed a new vitality and hope. What can we expect from Bishop Stephen Chow Sau-yan, also a Jesuit? The answer was quick: “I am not Francis!” Bishop Chow sat over a cup of coffee to chat with the diocesan newspapers—the Sunday Examiner and the Kung Kao Po, a couple of weeks before his episcopal ordination and installation as the ninth bishop of Hong Kong.
Bishop Chow acknowledged the common factor that he shares with the pope: “As Jesuits, one of our General Chapters gave great importance to spiritual conversation and discernment in communion—communion not just among the Jesuits, but we have to discern with non-Jesuits in mission and our lay-partners in mission. I think that is an important way for a bishop. And I don’t believe in running the diocese like a corporation with big strategic plans. We have to listen to different sectors, especially laypeople. They have a voice to represent. And this is what the pope means by Synodality. Francis is very much a Jesuit!”
Childhood
Bishop Chow was baptised on the 10th day after his birth at the parish of the Holy Souls of Purgatory, which is now known as Our Lady of Mount Carmel, in Wan Chai. He attended Rosaryhill kindergarten and primary school before joining Wah Yan College. He showed great interest in academics and co-curricular activities and was keen on learning judo until one day he developed a severe, life-threatening form of epilepsy.
‘When the pendulum swings, it swings to the extremes!’
Repeated hospitalisation, prolonged treatment and medication traumatised the young man. He thought he might die. His father brought him to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception to see a priest. Contrary to his fears that the priest would scold him for not going to the church regularly, he found compassion in Father Antony Tsang Hing-lam and that infused faith in his young mind.
“When the pendulum swings, it swings to the extremes!” Bishop Chow laughed. He began to frequent church and the sacraments, even to the point of the priest telling him not to come back for Confession on the same day!
His health condition affected his academic grades and even hampered his social life. Hence, he became involved in different Catholic groups on campus as well as in the parish, serving as an altar boy, with the Christian Life Community and the Apostleship of Prayer, as well as with the Red Cross … “You name it, and I was there … except that I did not go back to judo, because my parents would not allow me to!” he siad, adding that he gradually became acquainted with the Jesuit priests of the campus and began to think, “Becoming a Jesuit was not a bad idea!”
His results were not good enough to gain admission into either of the two available universities in Hong Kong. Still, his father could afford to send him to the University of Minnesota in the United States of America.
Vocational journey
Bishop Chow felt that one important development during the years he spent in the university was his attraction to the altar and the sanctuary in the church. Although the parishioners at this US parish were not so welcoming of foreigners, “I felt attracted to the altar every time I went to the church and had a feeling deep within me that that is the place where I should be,” Bishop Chow recalled, adding, “I could not lie to myself. That was an important part of my vocation story, like my heart telling me where I should go.”
He studied Psychology and Philosophy for his undergraduate degree at the university because deep in his heart, he believed that these streams would be helpful in the future if he could join the seminary. He even approached a Jesuit community of the Wisconsin Province, inquiring about the procedures for joining. However, they asked him to apply to the Jesuit Community in Hong Kong because he expressed his desire to work here. Undecided as yet, although he visited the Jesuit community in Hong Kong, he was uncertain of making a decision. Back in the US to complete his studies in 1983, Bishop Chow decided to apply to the Jesuits and wrote to the superior in Hong Kong and he was readily accepted.
Informing his parents and family of his decision was the next hurdle. “I wrote the longest letter I have ever written in my life to my parents and siblings,” he said. For him, it was important to have the permission and blessings of his parents to join the seminary. Two weeks later, when he realised that his father was going to talk to him over the phone, he rehearsed well and psychologically prepared himself for the conversation with the help of a friend and his wife!
Bishop Chow recalled the conversation as if it happened just yesterday. “How is the weather there?” was his father’s first question. “Do you know why I called?” to which he replied in the negative. “You are old enough to make your own decisions. Rationally, I can accept that [you will enter the seminary], although emotionally, I do not like your decision at all,” said his father on the other end of the phone. “I already wanted to kneel to thank God because father’s approval was important.”
In the Society of Jesus
Joining the Jesuits in Hong Kong, he was sent to Ireland for his formation, spending four years in Dublin. He completed the novitiate and two years of licentiate in Philosophy with a thesis on Karl Marx. It was the time when Liberation Theology in vogue. In 1988 he returned to Hong Kong to pursue his Theology formation at the Holy Spirit Seminary.
After completing his studies, he was ordained a deacon by John Baptist Cardinal Wu in 1993. His superiors permitted him to pursue his Masters’ degree in Organisational Development at Loyola University in Chicago before being ordained a priest by Cardinal Wu in 1995. Looking back on those years in formation, Bishop Chow acknowledges the amazing ways God has been preparing him to work for him.
He was appointed as the Chaplain and teacher at Wah Yan College. Although he had the opportunity to pursue his PhD, he chose to remain with his students and support them during the uncertainties of 1997. Two years later, he returned to the US to pursue his doctoral studies in Human Development and Psychology at Harvard University.
‘…evil is self-destructive in the long run. What is important is, we don’t join the evil to beat them’
The experience at the universities in the US gave him the idea for the ambitious project for a Liberal Arts college in Hong Kong. This stream is not provided in the universities in Hong Kong. “Our educational system does not foster independent thinking and critical thinking.” Although the project had to be scrapped, it gave him visibility among his confrères in the Chinese Province of the Jesuits, which led to his subsequent election as the provincial superior.
“During my 14 years as a school supervisor, I faced many storms. But such controversies made me stronger and made my skin thicker,” the bishop noted, adding, that these experiences gave him the conviction that “evil is self-destructive in the long run. What is important is, we don’t join the evil to beat them.”
Recalling his mission in the two Wah Yan Colleges he said, “Integrity is the core thing that makes the Church different in the world. People come to us not because we are shrewd as financiers or professionals, but because they still have hope that there is integrity in the Church. I am not saying that the Church is without any mistakes, but many good laypeople and pastors try their best to live up to what they believe in—the gospel. That is what I have strived for as school supervisor: to educate our young men with values and character.”
Bishop Chow mused over the amazing ways through which God has been guiding him over these years noting: “If I had not been a supervisor to the two schools and the Liberal Arts college project, I would not have become a provincial. And if I had not become a provincial, the Vatican might not have noticed me.”
His vegetarian lifestyle bears witnesses to his compassion towards people and nature. A cancer survivor himself, Bishop Chow has maintained a strict vegetarian diet since 2005. While studying in Ireland, there was a lot of meat to eat. “Vegetables served on the table were regarded as “certified dead on arrival,” he laughed. On his return to Hong Kong in 1989, he stopped eating meat. Since 2005, even fish has been out of his menu! “You look at a fish and the fish look at you. You feel compassion, and how could you eat it?” he asks.
Concerns for the young people
His responsibility for schools for over a decade and association with young people generated in him a special interest in their concerns. “Wagging your fingers at young people is not good. Young people want to be listened to, and they want us to listen to them,” the bishop said. To be with young people he identified two basic qualities: empathy and passive listening. Without empathy, you don’t understand a person. Empathy doesn’t mean that you have to agree with them. “If you are empathetic, you will be a little more sympathetic,” he said.
Bishop Chow envisages a practical approach in ministry towards the youth. A highly philosophical or spiritual approach wouldn’t do any good, but at the same time, he does not agree with the idea of having ‘your feet on the ground.’ “If both your feet are firm on the ground, you cannot move; you will be static. To move forward you need the balance of one foot on the ground and the other in the air,” he said.
“I want to encourage our young people to look far,” Bishop Chow said. He referred to the image of the giraffe in his Coat of Arms that looks beyond the shield. “The future of the world and the future of the Church belongs to the young people. If you are not happy with the present situation, don’t get stuck there. Instead, think of how would you want the world, the Church and Hong Kong to be in 30- or 40-year’s time? Then identify people who think similar and share the same views of life and work together. Set a vision for the future and plan for the goal,” he said.
On Synodality
When queried about what changes he expected in his life as a bishop, he laughed: “I am not a bishop yet, so I don’t know!” With the pope’s call for synodality in the life of the Church, Bishop Chow hopes we will listen to one another and discern together for the mission. “If you are serious about Vatican II, people of God as the body of Christ, you cannot walk away from the call for synodality. Francis is pushing us to live the Vatican II,” he observed.
“For example, the pandemic: it will not be with us forever. But we have to learn to live for and with each other. Are we helping the poor to receive the vaccination? If we fail to take care of the poor, the pandemic too will keep recurring. We need to learn to do that. The pandemic has taught us to love and care for one another,” he said.
The bishop further explained that “any changes could cause some amount of confusion and disturbances to the status quo. But if you do not go through those disturbances, how do you grow? Even in growing up [of a person], there is pain. When a person enters puberty, there are a lot of changes. Does anyone want to stop puberty so that you do not change? So also with the Church, we need to grow and therefore, those uncertainties are not always a bad thing.”
He said, “We should always ask: what do you want to see in the future—a divided Church and divided world, or do we want everyone to be winners? The big problem the world faces today is that we are stuck in ideologies. Ideologies kill because the very definition of ideology is ‘I am right, and you are wrong.’ There is no dialogue. We need to learn to discern together. Discernment is a gift of the Holy Spirit. But today, not many people believe in the Holy Spirit! We are often over-dependent on ourselves; our convictions. They are not bad, but we need to open ourselves to be different and to be surprised by the Holy Spirit.”
The bishop said, “We [priests or church leaders] always talk about ‘collaborators working with us.’ It should be the other way round. We have to learn to collaborate with laypeople. We are all collaborators; we listen to one another; we discern together for the mission. It depends on how far we go with synodality. I hope, we can go further. Indeed, it will be a complex process and will rock the boat, but it gives hope. And that’s how the Church grows.”
Clericalism is present not only among the priests. Sometimes the lay faithful in different associations and groups are more clerical than the priests, he said pointing out, “Titles and qualifications are required for the secular world or public occasions; not in the Body of Christ, because Christ is our only head. To stay healthy, it is important to do regular exercise and cut the fat!”
He continued, “One could be very conservative but must not attack others for not being conservative. The Church should be like a big tree where birds of different kinds and colours could find their nest.”
Support Caritas and the Diocesan Building Fund
“People with love and appreciation send me congratulatory notes, gifts and books on my appointment as the Bishop of Hong Kong! I am grateful to them for their kindness, but they are not necessary! When do I have time to read that many books! Please write this down:
‘Please donate to Caritas or the Diocesan Building Fund if someone wants to send me gifts for my consecration. You pray for me. I think that will be a lot more meaningful. Caritas and the diocese need money. I am well taken care of by my family, good friends and some alumni who are close to me…’.”
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7.
"Me and my seminary": the seminary in Beijing celebrates 40 years of commitment to priesthood formation.
24th November 2021
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
ASIA/CHINA - "Me and my
seminary":
the seminary in Beijing celebrates 40 years of commitment to priesthood formation
Beijing (Agenzia Fides) - "Me and my seminary" is the theme of the competition organized for the seminarians of the diocese of Beijing, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of
the founding of the Seminary. The competition took place on Sunday, November 21, solemnity of Christ King of the Universe, with a limited presence, due to sanitary measures, of priests, teachers and
also lay people, who have always accompanied the vocational journey of seminarians through prayer and concrete help. The seminarians retraced the past, recounted the present and imagined the future,
sharing certain themes such as "My personal history with my seminary", "The seminary in my eyes". ... "Glory to the Lord, do good to the people, at the service of the people": with this motto, the
Seminary of the diocese of Beijing has covered a 40-year path in the formation of vocations, preparing priests for the diocese of Beijing but also for many other sister dioceses, especially in the
peripheral and more remote areas. In fact, most of the seminarians who studied here are not from Beijing. Today, some have returned to their dioceses to carry out local evangelization, others have
had the opportunity to continue their ongoing formation, even abroad, and still others are involved in the pastoral care of the parishes of Beijing.
In particular, the parishioners of the parish of Beijing dedicated to St. Michael - which was once the chapel of the seminary, then became a parish in 2003 due to the pastoral needs
of the region, and also a place of pastoral formation for seminarians - consider seminarians as their children. From books to food, to fruit and vegetables: their offerings are not limited to the
period of major feasts or to the Day for Vocations, but are daily, because they are convinced that the seminary is the heart of the diocese and the seminarians are the future of the
Church.
During the last World Day of Prayer for Vocations, despite the fact that the physical presence of the faithful was impossible due to the pandemic, almost all the parish priests
pledged to mobilize parishioners to spiritually and financially support the formation of vocations. In 1980, shortly after the reopening of the Church, the preparatory seminary of the diocese of
Beijing resumed its activities in the small courtyard of the parish (then cathedral) of the Immaculate Conception, the church built by the Jesuit missionary, Father Matteo Ricci, after being closed
for twenty years. She immediately welcomed a dozen young men eager to dedicate themselves to the Lord. In 1989 it was transferred to Beijing Cathedral, the Church of St. Savior, due to the increase
in vocations, and again for the same reason, it was again transferred to another location in 1992.
Finally, in 2001, the construction and opening of a modern complex of 476 square meters. In addition to ordinary courses for seminarians, the seminary also hosts many formation
courses for nuns and lay people, as well as university activities, since the area where the seminary is located is called the "university district" of Beijing.
According to the statistics provided by the seminary to Agenzia Fides, the seminary in Beijing has formed more than 320 seminarians, not counting those who are expected to graduate
during the current year, with 187 priestly ordinations and three bishops.
There are currently 70 theology seminarians, 3 of whom are studying abroad.
End
CATHOLIC CHURCH UPDATES
November 2021
4 Updates
1. China releases 'kidnapped' Vatican-approved bishop.
2. CHINA - Promote lay catechists to be witnesses of Christ in today's society.
3. The Social Apostolate: An Important Ministry in our Chinese Province.
4. Chinese bishop who braved Cultural Revolution dies at 99.
1.
China releases 'kidnapped' Vatican-approved bishop
12th November 2021
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
China releases 'kidnapped' Vatican-approved bishop
Bishop Shao had been detained
several times for defying China's communist regime
UCA News reporter
A Vatican-approved Chinese bishop who was allegedly kidnapped by authorities more than two weeks ago has returned to his diocese, media reports
say.
Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin of Yongjia (Wenzhou) Diocese in Zhejiang province in eastern China has resurfaced, with church officials and the faithful
offering thanksgiving prayers for his return.
It is still unknown when the 58-year-old bishop was released following his arrest on Oct. 25. The authorities reportedly said the bishop was taken for
“tourism.”
Bishop Shao, ordained with a papal mandate as a coadjutor bishop in 2011, had been arrested six times prior to his latest arrest. He fell out with the
government as his appointment was not approved by the state-sanctioned Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church in China (BCCCC) and Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association
(CCPA).
His refusal to join and collaborate with state-run bodies led to a series of arrests and detentions.
Pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) reported in 2018 that Bishop Shao was arrested five times and subjected to isolation and indoctrination to communist ideology. Following his
arrest in May 2017, he was detained for seven months.
The whereabouts of Bishop Joseph Zhang Weizhu of Xinxiang in Henan province remains unknown. He was arrested in May with 10 priests and an unspecified
number of seminarians.
In China, the arrest and detention of Catholic bishops who defy the communist regime are common. Such arrests are usually carried out ahead of important
church events and feast days, observers say.
Bishop Shao was arrested shortly before All Souls' Day on Nov. 2.
Media reports claimed the authorities in Wenzhou installed iron barriers and blocked entry to the Catholic cemetery to restrict local Christians from
attending prayers and paying respect to the dead.
For decades, the governance of the Catholic Church in China had been a major bone of contention between the Vatican and the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP), with Catholics divided between the patriotic and underground churches.
In 2018, the Vatican signed a secretive deal with China to end the discord over bishop appointments and division of Catholics. Initially signed for two
years, the deal was renewed in October 2020.
Under the deal, six bishops have been ordained and the Vatican has approved seven Beijing-appointed
bishops.
Despite the agreement, Chinese authorities continue to persecute Christians, particularly after the CCP adopted new regulations on religious affairs in
May 2018.
The repressive regulations require all religious groups, organizations and clergy to be approved by the state and get permits to carry out their
activities.
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2.
CHINA - Promote lay catechists to be witnesses of Christ in today's society.
16th November 2021
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
ASIA/CHINA - Promote lay
catechists to be witnesses of Christ in today's society
Cheng Du (Agenzia Fides) - To train lay catechists so that they are "Christians of the new era" and witnesses of the Lord in today's Chinese society: these are the objectives of the
VI Formation Course for lay catechists active in the 7 dioceses of Si Chuan Province, mainland China. Due to the pandemic, the number of participants was limited to 60. The course was held at the
Major Seminary of Si Chuan (Catholic Academy of Theology and Philosophy of Si Chuan) from October 11 to 17.
In the light of Pope Francis' Apostolic Letter Antiquum Ministerium which
establishes the ministry of the catechist, the participants attended lectures on various topics: catechism, Church teaching, liturgy and sacraments, Catholicism in China, Chinese cultural tradition
and the inculturation of religion in China. Fr. Li Zheng Gang, from the diocese of Nanchong, presented Antiquum Ministerium, highlighting the important role played by catechists throughout the
history of the Church in China and also in the life of the Church today, motivating those present to a greater sense of responsibility in evangelization. Father Huang Yi Liang, professor at the
seminary, illustrated the contribution of missionaries to the development of liturgical life and the translation of the catechism into Chinese. Other priests discussed the seven sacraments and shared
their pastoral and catechetical experience.
Sister Chiara Duan, from the Pastoral Formation Center of the Diocese of Xi Chang, accompanied the spiritual journey of prayer of the
catechists.
Fr. Tong Heng Jiu, executive vice-rector of the Si Chuan Major Seminary, encouraged the participants by welcoming them with these words: "May the cradle of vocations that is the
Seminary, arouse in you, catechists of basic ecclesial communities, the missionary zeal and kindles a strong desire to be Christians worthy of the name of disciples of
Jesus".
Finally, he wished that catechists bring the fruits of their formation to the numerous brothers and sisters of the community, of society where they live and bear witness to their
faith. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides).
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3.
The Social Apostolate: An Important Ministry in our Chinese Province
26th October 2021
Social Justice and Ecology
Secretatiat
Jesuit Curia, Rome
https://www.sjesjesuits.
TESTIMONY
I am Matthew Hsu, SJ. I am the assistant of Chinese Provincial for Social Apostolate. There are 3 institutes under the Chinese Province, Casa Ricci, Rerum Novarum,andHsinchu Social Service Center. I studied social work when I was a student in the university, though I didn’t practice it later. I think that is why my Provincial wants me to be his assistant for Social Apostolate. I did my tertianship in 2018. Before my tertianship, I stayed in a parish as an assistant pastor and later I was appointed as the director of Apostleship of Prayer, now called Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, in Taiwan. I was not quite satisfied with just doing pastoral work in the parishes. During the 30-day Spiritual Exercises, I prayed for my future work to serve God where He wants me to serve. Social apostolate was one of my options.
I felt that I have the desire to dedicate myself to help people who are poor and marginalized. I wrote about this to my Provincial and he assigned me as his assistant for Social Apostolate because the person who was in charge of the work was old and wanted to retire.
Before I became the assistant for Social Apostolate I had already been a board member of our Jesuit Social Apostolate Center for several years. I found an interesting thing; the Social Apostolate in the Chinese Province began with the efforts of individual Jesuits, who saw the need of the Society and started the work by themselves. They dedicated themselves to the social apostolate with the Ignatian charisma and formed a very dynamic team to work together with them. They did a lot of wonderful service for the people in need in the past. However, after the founder retired, our Province had to see if it would continue the work and set up the governance for the institute. In fact, nowadays, Jesuits just stay in the board and rarely participate in the direct services. Furthermore, some of the directors are even non-Catholics and they are not very familiar with the Society of Jesus. The task for these social service centers is to keep their identity and their relationship with the Society of Jesus, and to use its Ignatian charisma to become a sign of God’s mercy in the Chinese society.
I am grateful that the Society of Jesus has come out with the Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAPs), 2019-2029. The UAPs confirm the social apostolate as an important ministry of the Society of Jesus. Besides serving directly people in need, the UAPs also remind us that the path we seek to stand with the poor is one that promotes social justice and the change of economic, political, and social structures that generate injustice. Finally, they also emphasize that we have to deepen our collaborationamong Jesuits and with our companions in mission; together with our collaboration among the ministries and apostolic units, other bodies in the Church, and all the persons and institutions. All these things are like lighthouses that help me find the direction to work on social apostolate in the future. I hope we Jesuits in our province can really follow the spirit of UAPs and continue to serve people in most need.
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4.
Chinese bishop who braved Cultural Revolution dies at 99
18th October 2021
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
Chinese bishop who braved
Cultural Revolution dies at 99
Bishop Stephen Xiangtai Yang of
Handan spent 15 years in labor camps until 1980 for defying China's communist regime
UCA News reporter
Retired Catholic Bishop Stephen Xiangtai Yang of Handan Diocese in Hebei province in northern China, who was persecuted and forced to spend years in labor camps during the Cultural
Revolution, has died at the age of 99.
He died from complications from old-age diseases on Oct. 13, according to a notice from the state-controlled Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church in China
(BCCCC).
The prelate was admitted to a local hospital after his health condition deteriorated. He had respiratory problems and inflammatory swelling of the body, leaving him unable to eat
and sleep for days.
In a statement, Handan Diocese paid tribute to Bishop Yang.
“For 72 years, Monsignor Yang has demonstrated strong faithfulness to the Lord, kindness to all, a life of simplicity and relentless dedication to his flock. Now that he has
completed his journey, we request clergy, religious and faithful to pray for eternal rest of his departed soul,” the statement read.
Bishop Yang’s death brings end to the life of an extraordinary churchman who stood firm and never gave up amid persecution from the communist
regime.
Stephen Yang Xiangtai was born in Wu’an City in Hebei province on Nov. 17, 1922.
He studied at the major seminary in Kaifeng in neighboring Henan province and was ordained a priest on Aug. 27, 1949. After serving as a parish priest in Kaifeng for a year, he
returned to his hometown and preached in Wu’an for 16 years.
Father Yang was arrested in 1954. However, he was released following trial and returned to his ministry.
In 1966, during the Cultural Revolution, he was rearrested, faced a trial in 1970 and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was sent to labor camps in Quzhou city, Handan brick
factory and Tangshan salt factory.
During the time of Deng Xiaoping, Father Yang was released on March 15, 1980, and acquitted of all charges.
For the next 16 years, Father Yang served in various districts in Hebei including Handan, Shexian, Wu’an and Cixian, which later became part of the Diocese of
Handan.
He became the rector of the diocesan seminary and chaplain of the Congregation of the Consolation of the Holy Spirit.
On Nov. 30, 1996, he was ordained auxiliary bishop by his predecessor Bishop Peter Chen Bolu and was appointed Bishop of Handan on Sept. 17,
1999.
Bishop Yang didn’t want to be tagged as an “underground bishop,” though he was ordained with the Vatican's mandate, and he also refused to give in and join state-sanctioned church
bodies despite oppression from the Chinese regime, church sources say.
On June 21, 2011, he secretly ordained his successor, coadjutor Bishop Joseph Sun Jigen of Handan, with the Vatican's approval. In retaliation, the authorities arrested two priests
and put Bishop Sun in custody but released him three days later.
Following his detention, Bishop Yang suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized for days.
Bishop Yang denounced cross demolitions by Chinese authorities in the name of so-called Sinicization of religions and supported strong protests by priests against cross demolitions
in Wenzhou in Zhejiang province in 2015.
End
CATHOLIC CHURCH UPDATES
October 2021
6 Updates
1. 14th International Verbiest Conference : Recordings.
2. Big heart and wide horizon, the bishop-elect’s coat of arms
3. China accelerates Sinicization of Catholic Church
4. Macau Catholic university to admit students from mainland China.
5. Maryknoll Sisters celebrate 100 years of ministry in China.
6. New Bishop ordained in China.
1.
14th International Verbiest Conference : Recordings.
Forwarded from
The Ferdinand Verbiest
Institute
Leuven, Belgium
Dear friends,
First of all a heartfelt word of thanks for being involved in our 14th International Verbiest Conference. During these Corona-times, it was a challenge for all of us to organize
this conference completely digitally, and to participate in it. We learned a lot and there are still things we need to improve, but for now we can look back with quite a satisfied feeling. The
conference was successful and this was thanks to all of you!
Now as mentioned we would send you the recordings of the conference. (We had to fix some technical issues). But finally, via the following youtube-link below you can rewatch all the
40 recordings of the keynote speakers, the lectures and Q&A. If there are any problems with opening the link please let us know and we will try our best to solve
this.
https://youtube.com/playlist?
And hopefully we will see each other again (physically) in our 15th International Verbiest Conference in Leuven!
With kind greetings,
The Ferdinand Verbiest Institute
___________________________________________________________________
2.
Big heart and wide horizon, the bishop-elect’s coat of arms
13th October 2021
HONG KONG (SE): The Diocese of Hong Kong has revealed the coat of arms of bishop-elect Father Stephen Chow Sau-yan, which includes a giraffe symbolising a big heart and a wide horizon, the Tsing-Ma Bridge which shows the importance of connecting people, and a logo in the centre symbolising unity in plurality. As a Jesuit priest, Father Chow also uses the symbol of the Society of Jesus IHS along with the Jesuit motto “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam” [For the Greater Glory of God].
Speaking about giraffe, Father Chow said many students of Wan Yan College learned about his story about the animal: that to pump enough blood to its head, a giraffe has a big heart, which symbolises a broad and generous mind. Its long neck enables it to have a wider vision. “Short-sightedness can cause fear in oneself. Looking with vision can help one calm down,” he said. “I received some pictures of giraffes from students which were posted in my office in Wan Yan College.” The uniqueness of the giraffe in his coat of arms is that it its head extends above the shield, showing an eagerness to widen its vision.
The dove, a symbol of the Holy Spirit, entering the upper right of the shield, means the Word became flesh in the history of the salvation of mankind. The dove with a seven-coloured olive branch is derived from the story about Noah’s ark in Genesis representing the rainbow covenant established between God and people after the great flood.
The logo in the centre symbolises unity in plurality and the connecting lines in different colours represent different kinds of people being together with their uniqueness respected, differences appreciated and common concerns found for cooperation.
The Tsing Ma Bridge appears in the lower portion of the shield. Father Chow said the mission of the Church is to form a bridge for different parties to meet one another, which was also what the early Jesuit missionary to China, Father Matteo Ricci did.
“The bridge itself is for people to step on. Without people walking, the bridge is not useful any more,” Father Chow said. The water flowing under the bridge symbolises the flow of time and the continuing mission of the Church to serve as a bridge at the same time.
Father Chow hopes that the coat of arms will show his pastoral concerns and invites people to keep praying for the diocese and for him.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
3.
China accelerates Sinicization of Catholic Church
5th October 2021
UCA
News - www.ucanews.com
China accelerates Sinicization of Catholic
Church
Catholics are encouraged to adhere
to the 'one direction, one road and one flag' principles of the Chinese Communist Party
UCA News
reporter
China’s communist government
is seemingly accelerating the process of Sinicization of the Catholic Church to implement in spirit and action the policies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) put forth by President Xi
Jinping.
Two recent events in Shandong
and Hebei provinces organized by the state-controlled Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church in China (BCCCC) and Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA) highlighted the willingness of
church leaders to put the CCP’s Sinicization policy into practice.
In its academic sense,
Sinicization of religion refers to the indigenization of religious faith, practice and ritual in Chinese culture and society, according to the Lausanne Movement.
However, in reality,
Sinicization is based on a profoundly political ideology that aims to impose strict rules on societies and institutions based on the core values of socialism, autonomy and supporting the leadership
of the CCP.
On Sept. 24, Catholics from
two churches in Zibo city in Shandong province attended an event called “Hundred Sermons” that sought to explain the instructions of President Xi on religious activities, promotion of Sinicization in
the Church and how to adapt to the socialist society, according to a report on the BCCCC website.
Some 30 church members and
priests attended the program at the Zhangdian Church in Zibo where Bishop Joseph Yang Yongqiang, a Vatican-approved bishop and vice-chairman of the BCCCC, delivered a
speech.
Father Wang Yutong, deputy
director and secretary-general of the Zibo Catholic Patriotic Association, made a presentation titled "Personal Experience of the Sinicization of the Church” based on his 30 years of experience in
parish management, evangelism and daily activities through the association.
The priest concluded his
speech by calling for Chinese Catholicism to carry on the legacies of pioneering leaders like Bishop Zong Huaide and follow the principles of “one direction, one road, one flag” — to adhere to the
Sinicization of religion, the path of independence and a self-run church, and the flag of patriotism and love for religion.
The presentation garnered
applause from the audience. Bishop Yang praised Father Wang for the inspirational speech and urged church members and priests to adhere to “one direction, one road and one flag”
principles.
Meanwhile, 18 key members of
the CCPA from various provinces and cities visited Xibaipo village, a prominent communist revolutionary site in Shijiazhuang city in Hebei province from Sept. 27-29.
The educational visit was
based on the theme "Take the Red Footprints and Inherit the Red Spirit" that intended to cultivate feelings of love for the Chinese Communist Party, patriotism and socialism as part of the
Sinicization of Catholicism.
Xibaipo village is considered
a sacred site for the CCP as it was once the seat of the party's Central Committee from where Mao Zedong, the founding father of communist China, led three major battles in Liaoshen, Huaihai and
Pingjin against nationalist forces.
The CCPA delegation visited
former sites of the Central Committee, the United Front Work Department, Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the CCP, and the Central Military Commission. They also visited the
war room used by communist revolutionaries such as Mao Zedong, Zhu De and Zhou Enlai, and the Xibaipo Memorial Hall.
A guide accompanied the
group, who also watched historical exhibitions while carefully listening to heroic deeds of the revolutionary martyrs and their great achievements leading to “the birth of New
China.”
The group also visited
Catholic organizations in Hebei including the Catholic Theological Seminary, Xinde Charity Foundation and Xinde Society and had a meeting with Bishop Franics An Shuxin of Baoding as well as exchange
meetings with priests and parishioners.
China is officially an
atheist republic but it recognizes the legal entity of five religions — Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism, Islam and Taoism. For years, the authorities have strictly controlled state-sanctioned
religious groups and persecuted those adhering to unregistered and unrecognized groups such as the Church of Almighty God, Falun Gong and even underground Catholics who refuse to join state-approved
bodies or pledge allegiance to the CCP.
US-based Christian group Open
Doors lists China 17th among 50 countries where Christians face severe forms of persecution.
___________________________________________________________________
4.
Macau Catholic university to admit students from mainland China.
20th September 2021
UCA
News - www.ucanews.com
Macau Catholic university to admit students from mainland
China
University of Saint Joseph can
recruit mainland students for postgraduate programs excluding theology and philosophy
UCA News
reporter
China’s communist government
has allowed the Catholic-run University of Saint Joseph (USJ) in Macau to enroll students from the mainland for the first time in its 25-year history.
USJ can now recruit students
from the mainland for postgraduate programs in architecture, business administration, information systems and science, reported Jornal O-Clarim , the Catholic weekly of Macau
Diocese.
However, it is restricted from
enrolling students for theology or philosophy courses.
The university operates under
Macau Diocese and is affiliated with the Catholic University of Portugal in Lisbon.
USJ rector Father Stephen
Morgan announced the new development, stating that permission from China’s Ministry of Education came on Sept. 9.
There are four universities in
Macau, a former Portuguese colony and now a special administrative region (SAR) of China. Until now, only the University of Saint Joseph was barred from accepting students from the
mainland.
“I was delighted to receive
the formal notification from the Ministry of Education of the Central People’s Government of the permission for the University of Saint Joseph to recruit students on a trial basis for the current
academic year and beyond to our postgraduate programs in architecture, business administration, information systems and science,” Father Morgan said.
He was thankful to Macau’s
Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng, Social Affairs and Culture Secretary Ao Ieong U and the staff of the Education and Youth Development Bureau for “the constant advocacy of our
case.”
“To them in particular, I want
to say thank you on behalf of the entire USJ community — staff, students, alumni and friends. The granting of this permission would not have been possible without the support and assistance of the
director and members of the liaison office of the Central People’s Government in Macao and the encouragement of the commissioner for foreign affairs and his office,” the priest
said.
The rector said USJ will
closely follow government regulations concerning the permit.
“I am very conscious of the
responsibility that the Central People’s Government has placed in USJ through this permission, and want to give every assurance of our gratitude and sincerity. We will closely observe the detailed
regulations concerning this permit and will spare no effort in seeking to repay the trust and confidence of the Ministry of Education as we seek to demonstrate that we are a university in, of and for
Macao, in of and for China,” he said.
Father Morgan said USJ has
developed close working relationships with various higher education and research institutes in mainland China.
“Those institutions recognize
the very special character of USJ as a unique platform within the Greater Bay Area for cooperation between Chinese and Portuguese-speaking countries and as an example of Macao as a base for the
harmonious exchange between the culture of the East and the West. The permission we have now received holds out for us the very real opportunity of deepening those collaborations in concrete ways
that had not thus far been possible,” he added.
Despite the restrictions, the
permission is a breakthrough as the authorities realized that “Catholic universities are not moved by a desire to proselytize but to develop knowledge and promote an intelligent and fraternal
dialogue between different cultures,” Father Peter Stilwell, rector of the university from 2012 to 2020, told The Tablet .
“USJ is the only university
that, with its connection to Portugal and the Western style of teaching, truly preserves the tradition of higher learning in Macau,” he said.
Macau, a gambling and gaming
hub, was under Portuguese rule from 1557 to 1999. It has an estimated population of about 700,000 on the 33 square kilometer island.
Macau Diocese has about 30,000
Catholics in nine parishes.
___________________________________________________________________
5.
Maryknoll Sisters celebrate 100 years of ministry in China.
16th September 2021
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
There are eight Maryknoll Sisters currently ministering in Hong Kong
By: Mark Pattison, Catholic News ServiceMark Pattison, Catholic News Service
It was 100 years ago -- on Sept. 12, 1921 -- when the Maryknoll Sisters assigned its first group of sisters to China, the order's first
mission.
One sister has been there nearly half that time, 49 years to be exact. To mark the 100th anniversary, Maryknoll Sister Michelle Reynolds spoke on a panel detailing the situation in
China during the sisters' general council in Maryknoll, New York.
"Many of the sisters were asking what is happening in Hong Kong," where she's ministered since 1972, Sister Reynolds told Catholic News Service in a Sept. 13 phone interview during
a break at the general council.
Sister Reynolds, from Saugus, Massachusetts, said she was attracted to Maryknoll for two reasons: Her father always had a copy of Maryknoll magazine around the house, and her own
inclination toward religious education led her to discern a vocation with Maryknoll.
She has been a member of the order for 60 years, including four years teaching in New York City's Chinatown district.
As with seemingly nearly everything else in life and society, so much has changed since she first was assigned to Hong Kong.
When she first went, the people Sister Reynolds worked with were "in a little village parish," she said.
"Many of them had been refugees out of mainland China. They were extremely poor. Their living conditions were little one-room cottages. My first 10 years I worked in that parish,"
Sister Reynolds said. "But the people were very strong as a community and very close to the point that even now, after all those years, I will have contact with many of
them."
From that village parish, Sister Reynolds moved to an area where the government had "reclaimed the land and demolished all their homes so they were all relocated into high-rises --
and so I moved with them, and continued in the parish for a couple of years and so got more or less stable," she said.
"Then there was a request for someone to work in the 'new territories,'" living and working close to Hong Kong's border with mainland China, Sister Reynolds added. "For myself, I
was initially open to whatever the needs were. So that's why I said when I moved out to the new territories, it was a whole area that was developing. So I was happy to be
there."
She remembers fondly the "pastoral sisters' association" of Maryknollers and nuns from other religious institutes ministering on Hong Kong.
"We used to make trips kind of regularly up to (mainland) China. We would connect with other religious communities there. We were a kind of support group, whether they needed
support for their schools or what have you," she told CNS.
There are eight Maryknoll Sisters currently ministering in Hong Kong, although one has been stuck on the Chinese mainland for the past year due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
Sister Reynolds said there also are five Maryknoll priests present, including one who teaches at a university in northern China.
"There was more communication back and forth with the pastoral groups. But now a lot of that has been stopped because of COVID," she said.
As for her own communication methods, "I speak Cantonese and I've studied Mandarin, so sometimes I can follow conversations. But when I open my mouth Cantonese comes out
instead."
Now, at age 80, Sister Reynolds is retired. If you can call it that.
"Being retired, I'm responsible for a diocesan building. We have groups coming for activities," she explained. "We are open to the village using the space. We have a little chapel
for occasional liturgies. We've got catechumen classes. Besides that, because of my previous connections with Catholic schools in the area, I'm on the board of the Independent School Management
Committee."
"That's being retired!" Sister Reynolds said with a hearty laugh.
She has been on U.S. soil since July, and expects to return to Hong Kong in mid-October.
Beyond the changes in ministry over the past half-century, much has changed in Hong Kong itself in just the past few years.
"The situation has very much deteriorated" since then, she said. The season of mass demonstrations in Hong Kong over a proposed extradition law and related issues "was a very
difficult period," she said. "When I left, things were still very much in a state of turmoil."
___________________________________________________________________
6.
New Bishop ordained in China.
8th September 2021
Vatican News
www.vaticannews.va
New Bishop ordained in
China
Father Francis Cui Qingqi, O.F.M.,
is the sixth bishop nominated by Pope Francis under the terms of the 2018 Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and China.
By: Vatican
News
The Director of the Holy See
Press Office, Matteo Bruni, has confirmed that Father Francis Cui Qingqui, O.F.M., received episcopal ordination on Wednesday, in Wuhan, Hubei province. Pope Francis named Fr Cui as Bishop of
Hankou/Wuhan on 23 June 2021; he is the sixth Chinese Bishop appointed and ordained within the framework of the Provisional Agreement on the appointment of Bishops in
China.
The Provisional Agreement was
signed in Beijing on 22 September 2018 by representatives of the Holy See and China with the shared hope of fostering a path of institutional dialogue and contributing positively to the life of the
Catholic Church in China, to the good of the Chinese people, and to peace in the world.
Renewed for another two years
in 2020, the Agreement does not directly address diplomatic relations between the Holy See and China, the legal status of the Chinese Catholic Church or relations between the clergy and the
authorities of the country. Rather, it is concerned exclusively with the process of appointing bishops, with the pastoral objective of allowing the Catholic faithful to have bishops who are in full
communion with the Successor of Peter and at the same time are recognised by the authorities of the People's Republic of China.
End
CATHOLIC CHURCH UPDATES
August 2021
7 Updates
1. Church proud of Chinese Catholics’ ‘witness of faith.
2. Archbishop spells out 'drama' of China's Catholics, communists.
3. Mourning in the Episcopate: His Exc. Mgr. Matthew Cao Xiangde dies.
4. Msgr. Marengo: "We must preach the Gospel with a whisper”.
5. Chinese diocese gets new bishop under Sino-Vatican deal.
6. Time for Asian churches to help flood-hit Germans.
7. Chinese Catholic writer detained six months ago remains in jail.
1.
Church proud of Chinese Catholics’ ‘witness of faith
20th August 2021
Sunday
Examiner - Hong Kong
http://www.examiner.org.hk/
VATICAN (CNS): “We are proud of the witness of faith they give. We hope that they may always be good citizens and good Catholics. That is, that they may express this dual dimension, especially in their concrete lives,” Vatican secretary of state, Pietro Cardinal Parolin, said in an interview with the Italian news site, La Voce del Nordest [Voice of the Northeast], published on August 12.
The Church “accompanies them with so many prayers,” Cardinal Parolin said.
Asked about the current status of diplomatic relations with China, the cardinal, who was in the northern Italian province of Trentino, said that “now we are always in a phase of dialogue.”
In October, the Vatican and the Chinese government extended a provisional agreement, signed in 2018, regarding the appointment of bishops.
The text, which has never been made public, outlines procedures for ensuring Catholic bishops are elected by the Catholic community in China and approved by the pope before their ordinations and installations, according to news reports at the time.
Cardinal Parolin said that Sino-Vatican dialogue “was interrupted” by the Covid-19 pandemic. While the stalled dialogue has “been difficult,” the cardinal expressed his hope that discussions will resume soon will “deal with many other issues that are on the table that concern the life of the Catholic Church in China.”
The Vatican secretary of state was also asked about comments he made in a 2019 interview with the Italian newspaper, La Repubblica, in which he said “the West should apologise” for its criticisms against Pope Francis.
Among the harshest critics of the Vatican’s agreement with China was the administration of former United States president, Donald Trump, including former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo. Prior to the agreement’s renewal, Pompeo tweeted that “the Vatican endangers its moral authority, should it renew the deal.”
In the interview, Cardinal Parolin said that Western criticism of Pope Francis resembled “that of the eldest son in the parable of the prodigal son who sees the love of the father for his brother as an injustice.”
The cardinal said, “The West is a bit like that son who has always lived closer to the father, but today no longer knows how to enjoy this closeness.” He added, “Today it is right to give more attention to those who in the past have had less, such as the people of Asia, who have known the Christian message less than others: in China only one inhabitant out of four knows who Jesus Christ is.”
He said, “The West should understand this kind of ‘geopolitics’ more.” Explaining his words, Cardinal Parolin told La Voce del Nordest that criticisms against the pope “may lead to not understanding or easy acceptance” of his message.
“I believe that’s what I meant, in the true sense that the pope is showing a path—especially with ‘Fratelli Tutti’—after the pandemic that can truly help us to get out of the sand traps in which our society finds itself in and start to build a new world, a better world,” he said.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2.
Archbishop spells out 'drama' of China's Catholics, communists
19th August 2021
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
Archbishop Hon cites three major
players in each stage: the communist regime, the Chinese Church and the Vatican
Catholic News Service
The ongoing "drama" between
Chinese Catholics and the nation's communist leaders has three stages, said Chinese Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, the Vatican's nuncio to Greece.
The current stage in the
drama, in effect since 2013, is one of "shrinking and getting confused," Archbishop Hon said.
"As a result of the drama,
people feel so disoriented, disconnected," Archbishop Hon said in his recent keynote address to the 28th international conference of the US-China Catholic Association, held at Jesuit-run Santa Clara
University.
Archbishop Hon cited three
major players in each stage of the drama: the communist regime, the Church in China and the Vatican.
The first stage he
characterized as "resisting and divided," a period lasting from 1949 to 1980, during which "the Church is also divided." Many Catholic leaders were arrested earlier during this period, Archbishop Hon
said, as the Church was being split into underground and state-recognized communities "hostile to each other."
That was the regime's intent:
"divide the people, and easy for control" Archbishop Hon said, while China continued to deride Vatican "imperialism" and offer "carrots and sticks" to Catholics, depending on how much one wanted to
do the communist government's bidding.
At this time, the Vatican was
"trying to normalize the diplomatic relationship" with China, he noted. "The Holy See encouraged the Catholics to remain faithful, stating that an independent church cannot be the Catholic Church,"
Archbishop Hon added.
The next period, between 1980
and 2013, was one for the Church of "growing by reconciliation," he said. "The two divided communities started taking up a conciliatory attitude toward one another," Archbishop Hon
noted.
The Chinese government
encouraged reform and "opening up," although its policy for religious groups remained unchanged, the archbishop said. The Vatican sought to establish dialogue with the regime and promote
reconciliation between the underground and government-recognized communities.
In 2013, Pope Francis and Xi
Jinping, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, took their current offices within a day of each other, the pope on March 13 and Xi on March 14. The two leaders exchanged letters of
congratulation.
Under Xi, China spoke of the
dream of a stronger China, Archbishop Hon said. "There are more sticks to the underground communities and more carrots to those pro-Sinicization," he added, as the regime "tightens control and pulls
down crosses" in China.
But Archbishop Hon said in
this period, the Vatican got "blinded" by abandoning a well-established consultation structure regarding China. He said because of its diplomacy with China, "The underground communities have felt
abandoned by the Holy See."
"Instead of showing light,"
Archbishop Hon said, the Vatican "diminished the light of the last teaching of the Church and the martyrdom of many Catholics."
He compared the current
situation to the outbreak of Covid-19.
He said the 2018 Vatican
agreement on the appointment of Chinese bishops — the details of which have not been published — combined with the December 2018 Vatican recognition that two previously excommunicated bishops would
head Chinese dioceses turned into a virus.
When, in 2019, the Vatican
published pastoral guidelines telling bishops and priests in China that they must follow their own consciences in deciding whether to register with the government, "the virus got mutated," he
said.
Archbishop Hon said: "This
drama presents itself as a tense play of struggle between church and state, faith and politics, conscience and power. The above is a panoramic view without depth. If we come to know the persons who
are involved in the drama, then we probably may acquire deeper insights and different perspectives to understand the Church in China."
"What kind of person I would
like to look for in this tense play? A reed swayed by the wind? Or a man for all seasons? I prefer the latter," Archbishop Hon said. "Some of them were the martyrs who shed their blood, others gave
equally valid witnesses with their life."
___________________________________________________________________
3.
Mourning in the Episcopate: His Exc. Mgr. Matthew Cao Xiangde dies
9th August 2021
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - On Friday, July 9, 2021, at 4.30 pm, His Exc. Mgr. Matthew Cao Xiangde died at the age of 92.
The Prelate, who lived in the province of Zhejiang, was born on September 16, 1929 in Tangzhen, Pudong New Area, in the municipality of
Shanghai.
In 1950 he entered the "St. Vincent de Paul" regional Seminary in Jiaxing and moved to the Beijing Seminary two years later.
He continued his studies and pastoral practice in Haimen, but he was ordained only in November 1985 by His Exc. Mgr. Luigi Jin Luxian of Shanghai, after the Cultural Revolution.
After his priestly ordination, he was able to perform his priestly ministry in Hangzhou cathedral and in the parishes of Xiaoshan and Jinhua.
On June 25, 2000 he was elected and ordained bishop, illegitimate because without papal mandate. Later, he asked for forgiveness. The Prelate asked the Holy See to be legitimated;
this was granted on June 8, 2008 but without jurisdiction.
The funeral of Archbishop Cao Xiangde was celebrated on July 12, 2021 with a reduced participation of the faithful due to the pandemic in progress.
___________________________________________________________________
4.
Msgr. Marengo: "We must preach the Gospel with a whisper”
7th August 2021
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
Ulaanbataar (Agenzia Fides) - "The ministry of the bishop in Mongolia is, in my view, very similar to the episcopal ministry of the early Church: we know how the apostles in the
early days of Christianity testified to the risen Christ in conditions of absolute minority compared to the places and cultures where they stayed. For me it is a great responsibility that brings me
closer to the true meaning of the mission", said the Prefect Apostolic of Ulaanbaatar, Giorgio Marengo, about his experiences in the Asian country and about the evangelization work of the church
there.
Father Giorgio Marengo, who was ordained bishop only last August, came to Mongolia in 2003 with his confreres, the Consolata missionaries, to provide pastoral care to the small
community of Arvaiheer in the Uvurkhangai region and to support them with initiatives and activities based on people's needs and problems: after-school childcare, public showers, a handicraft project
for women, a day therapy center and a group for men with alcohol problems. "It is a complex and sometimes hard work, but it does not discourage these true 'Shepherds with the smell of sheep', the
missionaries who live here and testify to the Gospel", said Msgr. Marengo.
The Mongolian Church is young and small and lives on the periphery, so to speak, but it lovingly cares for 1,300 faithful out of a total population of three and a half million. The
small number is inversely proportional to the commitment and dedication, based on brotherhood and harmony to the Christian roots of Syrian origin that have existed here since the 10th century and
were, so to speak, "frozen" during the Mongol Empire.
"For many centuries", Father Giorgio explains to Fides, "Christianity was not actively lived, which is why today, at a popular level, it is believed that it is something new, which
has come from abroad in recent years. Today there are eight parishes and about sixty missionaries of different nationalities and Congregations who meet regularly to discuss problems together,
coordinate activities and plan new initiatives. In 2022 we will celebrate 30 years of rebirth of the Catholic Church in this great Asian country".
"As for those who have received baptism - emphasizes the religious - it is necessary to continue the work of accompaniment and faith-building in order to help the believers grow in
the faith: mission begins, above all, with deep listening to the Lord who sends us, the Spirit who dwells in us and shapes us, and the people to whom we are sent". The missionaries are men and women
of profound spirituality, who from communion with Christ, receive the necessary wisdom used to empathize with the community: "For example, it is important to learn the language - observes the Bishop
- or to refine the tools that allow to establish a relationship with people, trying to understand what their points of reference, history, cultural and religious roots are for
them.
There is an expression - says Msgr. Marengo - which I think may well reflect the nature of our missionary commitment that I heard from Msgr. Thomas Menamparampil, Archbishop
Emeritus of Guwahati, India: we must whisper the Gospel to the heart of Asia. I like to apply this image to Mongolia: the proclamation of the Word of the Gospel, with a whisper, is therefore a
constant work of evangelization that requires - he concludes - to enter into a authentic relationship with people; and, by virtue of this authentic relationship of friendship, we can share what is
most precious to us: faith in our Lord Jesus Christ". (ES-PA) (Agenzia Fides, 7/8/2021)
LINK
Video of the interview with Msgr. Marengo: -> https://youtu.be/m03E1D5Kk8U
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5.
Chinese diocese gets new bishop under Sino-Vatican deal
28th July 2021
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
The new bishop worked with the
state-sanctioned Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church in China since 1998
UCA News reporter
Chinese Catholics witnessed the consecration of the fifth bishop under a deal that China's communist government agreed with the Vatican three years
ago.
Father Anthony Li Hui was ordained as the coadjutor bishop of Pingliang diocese at Gansu province in northwestern China on July 28, approved by both the state and the
Church.
The 49-year-old Bishop Li is the fifth bishop ordained under the China-Vatican provisional agreement signed in 2018, church sources told UCA
News.
The Sino-Vatican deal, whose provisions are still not made public, reportedly allows the pope to approve and veto bishops approved by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Initially
signed for two years, the agreement was renewed for another two years in October 2020.
Bishop Li is the third bishop consecrated after the renewal of the agreement. His election as the coadjutor bishop of Pingliang was announced on July 24,
2020.
The Vatican News said Pope Francis made the nomination on 11 January 2021.
The consecration ceremony took place at the cathedral of Pingliang presided by Bishop Joseph Ma Yinglin of Kunming, president of China's state-sanctioned Bishops' Conference of the
Catholic Church in China (BCCCC).
Bishop Nicolas Han Jide of Pingliang and Bishop Joseph Guo Jincai of Chengde, BCCCC’s vice-president were concelebrants.
Bishop Joseph Han Zhihai of Lanzhou, as well as some 200 Catholics including 30 priests, 20 nuns and representatives from the BCCCC, and Gansu province joined the ceremony,
according to the BCCCC report on its website.
Representatives of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA), the state-run organization that oversees China's Catholics, also attended the function, it
said.
Father Yang Yu, deputy secretary-general of the BCCCC, read out the approval letter during the ceremony, the report said.
Born in Mei County, Shaanxi Province, in 1972, Bishop Li joined the Pingliang diocesan preparatory seminary in 1989 and later studied at the national seminary in Beijing in 1992. He
was ordained priest in 1996. He later studied the Chinese language at Renmin University in Beijing until 1998.
Since 1998, he has worked at the secretariat office of the BCCCC and CCPA in Beijing. He has been the secretary of BCCCC’s presidents till he was elected coadjutor bishop of
Pingliang.
___________________________________________________________________
6.
Time for Asian churches to help flood-hit Germans
22nd July 2021
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
Asian churches can return the
favor of decades of German Catholics' generosity through prayer and solidarity
By: Rock Ronald Rozario
The deadly flooding in Germany has left a trail of devastation with some 160 people killed, more than 170 missing and thousands of homes
flooded.
The intensity and scale of the deluge that shocked climate scientists was a result of record-breaking rainfall of 148 liters per square meter within 48 hours in wide areas of the
Rhine river basin, nearly double the average 80 liters of rainfall in July.
Other countries including Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Luxembourg also took a hit as floodwater and mudslides leveled homes and
buildings.
The disaster came about two weeks after a deadly heatwave swept through Canada and the US when temperatures soared to 49.6 degrees Celsius.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is to retire in September after 16 years, has been touring the most affected regions to monitor and coordinate the humanitarian response to
devastated communities.
Along with the government, the Catholic Church in Germany has joined the humanitarian response and in some places Catholic groups were among the first responders to the crisis
aftermath.
The devastation and loss of lives have triggered shock and sympathy from across the globe including from Catholics in Asia and other parts of the
world.
Pope Francis offered prayers and expressed his closeness with the flood victims of Germany.
"His Holiness remembers in prayer those who lost their lives and expresses to their families his deepest sympathy," Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, said in a
telegram message to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
"He prays especially for those who are still missing, for the injured and for those who have suffered damage or lost their property due to the forces of
nature."
However, such an emotional call for prayer and solidarity with flood-hit Germans has not resonated strongly in Asian churches, most of whom are regular beneficiaries of charitable
funding from the German Church and church-based donor agencies.
The Catholic Church in Germany, one of the richest in the world, is well known globally for its charity and philanthropy. It is a major contributor to many organizations and
charities linked to the Vatican, the administrative headquarters of the global Church.
A principal source of income for the German Church is the voluntary church tax and government donations for operating costs. It also has sizable earnings from other sources such as
fees, social projects and churches' own wealth.
Media reports suggest the income has been declining in recent years as the number of churchgoers and practicing Catholics drop in Germany as well as in other parts of
Europe.
A record 272,771 people left the Catholic Church in Germany in 2019, and the number of baptisms and weddings taking place in churches also dropped sharply, Duetsche Welle, Germany’s
national broadcaster, reported last year.
The draining of church members is not a new phenomenon. Church leaders in Germany have taken note of the crisis and some described it as “a financial cross” for
churches.
"The Church's decreasing income and increasing expenses have led to a clear deficit," the late Cardinal Joachim Meisner, former archbishop of Cologne, lamented in
2004.
While churches in Germany and other parts of Europe lose members fast, churches in parts of Asia and Africa continue to experience a springtime of
growth.
Yet the German Church and its pastoral donor agencies, including Caritas Germany, Misereor, Missio Aachen, Missio Munich, Renovabis, Aveniat, Pontifical Mission Societies Germany
and Aid to the Church in Need, funnel millions of dollars to relatively poorer churches in Asia, Africa and Latin America every year.
In fact, it would be extremely challenging for minority churches and church groups in Asian nations to carry out religious, pastoral and social activities, including formation and
training of clergy, religious and laypeople, charitable services to poor communities, socioeconomic development, media activities and renovation and construction of churches, without funding from
generous Germans.
In times of humanitarian crises triggered by natural disasters like cyclones and flooding and conflicts and persecution targeting Christians in Asia, Catholics in Germany and Europe
are among the first to reach out with generous donations, sympathy and prayers.
Most churches in Asia are minority except for those in the Philippines and Timor-Leste. Due to a lack of resources — economic and non-economic — it will take many years before they
can expect to become self-reliant.
However, there are dioceses in countries such as South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Singapore and Taiwan that could well be called rich and require no foreign donations like poor
churches in other parts of Asia.
Already some of them, such as Seoul Archdiocese in South Korea, are funding poor churches in Asia and Africa. During the Covid-19 pandemic in India and the crisis in Myanmar,
churches in Asia have lent their hands to affected communities in those countries with funds and solidarity in prayer.
Now it is time for Asian churches to stand with beleaguered German brothers and sisters who are still reeling from a deadly natural calamity. It is a matter of fact that not all
churches have the capacity to return the favor economically. But that does not bar churches in Asia from reaching out to Germans and others affected in Europe in the form of prayer and
solidarity.
Let’s not forget that no matter how rich or powerful, everyone needs support in times of crisis.
* The views expressed in this article
are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.
___________________________________________________________________
7.
Chinese Catholic writer detained six months ago remains in jail
6th July 2021
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
No one can meet the activist
because of the Covid-19 situation, a detention center employee claimed
UCA News reporter
A 30-year-old Catholic writer, arrested in China’s northern province of Hebei on suspicion of secession six months ago, remains in jail with his family unable to meet
him.
Police detained Pang Jian, who writes under the pen name Gao Yang, in January at his home in Pangcheng village, Radio Free Asia reported, quoting his
father.
Pang was arrested after he reported on forced demolitions and evictions in rural areas around Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, said his father Pang Jingxian in a recent interview with
RFA.
"They have been doing coronavirus testing around here lately, and he went to line up [to get tested]," he said. "Somehow, I'm not sure exactly how, the police detained him while he
was there."
The police also raided his home and took away his belongings.
“We didn't hear anything for a while," but later received notices of his detention and formal arrest dated Jan. 15 and Jan. 28 respectively, Pang Jingxian
said.
The detention notice said the writer was detained at Gaobeidian Detention Center at 11am on Jan. 15 on suspicion of inciting secession.
Pang Jingxian said he went to visit his son but could not contact him there. "We can't get hold of him now, and we haven't found a lawyer," he
said.
Pang Jian had written about Hebei's Catholics and their unique culture, according to his US-based friend Ryan Shi.
He took photos of most Catholic churches in Hebei and wrote about Catholic customs and architectural features.
Pang Jian also featured in Hong Kong media speaking about Hebei’s underground Catholic community, which refuses to be part of the state-sanctioned
church.
An employee of Gaobeidian Detention Center told RFA by phone on July 3 that Pang Jian was still being held there on suspicion of inciting
secession.
His health was "very good," the employee said when asked if he suffered from any mental or physical health issues.
No one is allowed to visit him because of the pandemic situation, the employee said.
"One reason is that the case isn't yet closed and the other is the coronavirus situation, so no visits are allowed,” the employer said.
End
CATHOLIC CHURCH UPDATES
July 2021
5 Updates
1. Church faces its moment of truth over Hong Kong's repression.
2. Fears rising over China's looming 're-education' of Christians.
3. Deepening understanding of perspectives on theology in Asia.
4. USCCA Conference 28: New updates, an exciting August program.
5. A new bishop to pastor Hong Kong.
1.
Church faces its moment of truth over Hong Kong's repression.
9th June 20221
UCA
News - www.ucanews.com
Church faces its moment of truth over Hong Kong's repression
After China's clampdown on
Tiananmen vigils, an opportunity exists to speak the truth in the face of persecution or compromise
By: Benedict Rogers
For the first time in 32 years, Hong Kong’s Victoria Park was in darkness last Friday. Brave Hong Kongers lit candles in other parts of the city in memory of the Tiananmen Square
massacre, but the traditional gathering ground for June 4 was forbidden territory this year, guarded by no fewer than 7,000 police officers instructed to prevent anyone from
entering.
The city that until recently was the only place under Chinese sovereignty where June 4 could be commemorated has now gone the way of mainland China, where a state-enforced
collective amnesia pervades over this anniversary. Public remembrance of the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy activists by the Chinese regime is now a crime in Hong Kong, punishable by up to five years
in jail. The organizers of last year’s Victoria Park rally are all in jail.
One of the few remaining bulwarks — or perhaps oases of truth — against this indoctrination is the Catholic Church. Or, to be more precise, seven Catholic parishes. In those seven
churches, Mass was celebrated for the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre and their families at 8pm — the time the Victoria Park vigil usually began.
The decision by these seven churches to celebrate Mass was of vital importance, spiritually and symbolically. They could easily have gone the way of others in Hong Kong Diocese,
erring on the side of fear and caution. But it is at moments of real darkness that the light of truth — and faith — shines most brightly, and quite rightly they recognized their moral responsibility
to open their doors to that light.
A protest or a vigil may no longer be legal in Hong Kong but religious worship has not yet been banned. As Porson Chan, a project officer for the diocese’s Justice and Peace
Commission, said, “celebrating a Catholic Mass is a religious activity protected by our basic law,” referring to Hong Kong’s mini-constitution.
Not surprisingly, one of the celebrants of a memorial Mass was Hong Kong’s courageous bishop emeritus, Cardinal Joseph Zen, a long-time outspoken critic of Beijing. In his homily,
he said: “We dedicate this memorial Mass to remember the brothers and sisters who sacrificed their lives for our freedom and democracy in Tiananmen Square and the nearby alleys 32 years ago. What
they demanded at that time was a clean government. What they longed for was a truly strong China. Their sacrifice was for us, and we embrace their unfulfilled hope: a just and peaceful society, a
people respected by the regime, and a truly great China respected by the world.”
Speaking not long after the Hong Kong government imposed a “patriotism” test on legislators and civil servants, which in effect means a test of loyalty not to China but to the
Chinese Communist Party, Cardinal Zen highlighted a true patriotism, describing those killed in 1989 as “the patriotic martyrs” who deserve respect and love. Like them, he added, “we do love our
country, our hopes never die.” Despite dark times for Hong Kong and China today, he concluded: “We refuse pessimism. We will not lose hope.”
Of course, despite that hope and the fact that the seven churches were merely exercising their right to celebrate Mass, Cardinal Zen warned that “we do not know how tomorrow’s
newspapers will label our get-together this evening”, adding clearly: “For us, it is a memorial Mass.”
The day before the anniversary, signs appeared in front of the churches warning them not to celebrate the memorial Mass. The signs, which included images of Cardinal Zen, warned
against “evil cults” and “causing chaos in the name of paying tribute; splitting religion with hands full of blood” — language straight out of the Chinese Communist Party’s playbook. The instigators
of these warnings cited the draconian national security law, suggesting that public functions commemorating the anniversary of the 1989 massacre would violate this
legislation.
Another memorial Mass was celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing, who reminded the congregation at St. Francis’ Church in Kowloon that when Jesus’ disciples wavered,
Jesus told them that “the greatest difficulty in life is the challenge of faith.”
Even Hong Kong’s new bishop-elect, Jesuit provincial Father Stephen Chow Sau-yan, while taking a lower-key approach, said at his press conference three weeks ago that he would pray
for the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
So what does this mean for the Church? Three things.
First, it means the Church has a vital role to play, as one of the few remaining “free” spaces in Hong Kong. It must be the guardian of truth, justice and freedom, and it must
defend these values appropriately, with wisdom, and at every opportunity. It should never forget that so many Catholics — and Christians of other traditions — have been at the forefront of Hong
Kong’s human rights struggle, not least the “father” of the democracy movement Martin Lee, media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai, student activists Agnes Chow and Joshua Wong and law professor Benny
Tai.
It should remember those, like Lai and Chow, in prison for their beliefs. And it should constantly prod the conscience — if one exists at all — of Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie
Lam, who calls herself a Catholic and yet has willingly been Beijing’s number one enabler in dismantling Hong Kong’s freedoms. The Church must be a prophetic voice in Hong
Kong.
Second, however, it means that the Church is now in greater danger. The reality, however, is that would be the case whatever it did. As freedom itself is dismantled in Hong Kong,
religious freedom will sooner or later be compromised. The question for the Church is whether it will take it lying down or stand up to defend freedom of religion and conscience. In facing the
danger, the Church will need to weigh up the right balance of courage and wisdom. But it should never compromise on its freedom to speak the truth.
And third, the international community now has a greater responsibility to monitor religious freedom in Hong Kong. Pope Francis and the Vatican should re-evaluate their silence on
human rights in China and Hong Kong. If it becomes more dangerous for the Church in Hong Kong to speak out, Rome should step in.
For too long, Pope Francis — a pontiff who speaks regularly and powerfully about injustice, persecution and conflict around the world — has been on mute regarding China. He has not
spoken out against the crackdown on Christians, he has not met the Dalai Lama, he has not commemorated the Tiananmen Square massacre and he has said almost nothing about the
Uyghurs.
Only a passing reference in his book Let Us Dream gave any indication of concern about the Uyghurs, who face what the Canadian, Dutch and British parliaments, the US administration
and a growing number of experts believe amounts to a genocide. Vatican officials would do well to study the testimony and evidence presented in four days of hearings at the recent Uyghur Tribunal in
London. If the pope heard those first-hand stories, he would find it very difficult to stay silent any longer.
A rare but very welcome call for prayer for the Church in China from Pope Francis ahead of the Global Week of Prayer for China last month was some encouragement, and he would be
well advised to build on that. The seven parishes brave enough to hold memorial Masses on June 4 would no doubt be grateful if he said more.
The Church in Hong Kong — and worldwide — is faced with a moment both of great opportunity and great danger. An opportunity to shine a light and speak the truth, yet in the face of
twin dangers: persecution or compromise. Let’s hope it rises to the challenge, and let’s pray for protection as it does so.
* Benedict Rogers is a human rights
activist and writer. He is the co-founder and chief executive of Hong Kong Watch, senior analyst for East Asia at the
international human rights organisation CSW, co-founder and deputy chair of the UK Conservative
Party Human Rights Commission, a member of the advisory group of
the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) and a board member of
the Stop Uyghur Genocide Campaign. He is the author of six books, and his faith
journey is told in his book “From Burma to Rome: A Journey into the Catholic Church” (Gracewing, 2015).
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2.
Fears rising over China's looming 're-education' of Christians
31st May 2021
UCA
News - www.ucanews.com
Fears rising over China's looming 're-education' of Christians
Beijing is crushing religious
groups it deems illegal and a threat to the Chinese Communist Party's iron-fisted rule
By: Rock Ronald Rozario
The recent arrest of a Vatican-approved bishop, priests and seminarians in north-central China came as a shocking development, if not surprising, as religious persecution in the
communist country has continued to intensify under the watch of President Xi Jinping.
Bishop Joseph Zhang Weizhu of Xinxiang in Henan province was arrested by police on May 21, a day after police detained his seven priests and an unspecified number of seminarians.
They are accused of violating new regulations on religious affairs.
The prelate and the priests drew the ire of authorities by using an abandoned factory as a seminary for religious formation of future priests.
They are charged with breaching a new set of rules for religious clergy implemented this month. It requires all clergy to register with the state in order to serve Catholics while
asking Catholics to elect their bishops democratically.
The rules also make it illegal to perform religious activities including worship in places not registered or controlled by the state.
The arrests sparked condemnation from Christian and rights groups.
Mervyn Thomas, founding president of London-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), said the new regulations on religious affairs are tools for oppressing religious communities,
especially Christians.
“These arrests, which follow the introduction of the new regulations on religious staff, appear to confirm fears that restrictions on religious communities will continue to tighten.
We call for the immediate and unconditional release of these Christians and all those detained across China on account of their religion or beliefs. We also encourage the international community to
raise this and other cases of arbitrary detention and harassment of religious leaders,” Thomas said.
The CSW also noted that prominent Christian leaders such as Zhang Chunlei of the Love Reformed Church and Pastor Yang Hua from the Living Stone Church in Guiyang in Guizhou province
were harassed and assaulted before being arrested by authorities.
Local authorities shut down the Living Stone Church in 2016 and the Love Reformed Church in 2018. The leaders have been detained after they were accused of fraud and illegally
running unauthorized organizations.
Pastor Yang was beaten so badly by a local leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in a police station in Guiyang that he had to be admitted to the emergency department of a
hospital in the city.
Yang was also arrested in 2016 when his church was shut down and spent 2.5 years in prison on fabricated allegations of “deliberately divulging state secrets.” On his release in
2018, Yang told fellow members of the church to “hold fast to the faith,” according to US-based international advocacy group China Aid.
Bishop Zhang has faced the ire of authorities for decades. It is because China never recognized Xinxiang as a diocese since it was set up by the Vatican in 1936. Bishop Zhang,
ordained secretly in 1991, was not approved by the state-aligned Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church in China and Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.
Bishop Zhang has been under pressure from the state for years due largely to his allegiance to the pope and refusal to join the state-aligned open church. He was never allowed to
run the diocese effectively and the diocese has been in the custody of a government-appointed administrator since 2010. The prelate was also arrested on several occasions but released
later.
Since the latest arrests, the whereabouts of Bishop Zhang, priests and seminarians remain unknown, while some media speculated that they have been held in solitary confinement and
are subject to “political lessons.”
There are rising fears among China watchers and observers that the communist regime has been moving slowly to crush religious groups, including Catholic and Protestant churches that
it deems illegal and a threat to the CCP’s iron-fisted rule in mainland China.
In a recent article in Forbes magazine, Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab, a London-based expert on international law and genocide researcher, suggested that Christians in China might be next in
line for “re-education” like Uyghur Muslims.
Christians are subject to high levels of persecution, while the situation of all religious groups in China is dire and has been deteriorating in recent years, she
said.
The Christian Post reported this month that Chinese authorities have been removing Bible apps and Christian WeChat public accounts. International Christian Concern reported that
Bibles in hard copy are no longer available for sale online either, adding that Bible apps can only be downloaded in China with the use of a virtual private network
(VPN).
In April, Radio Free Asia (RFA) published a report that claimed authorities in China were detaining Christians in secretive, mobile "transformation" facilities to make them renounce
their faith.
The RFA report used the testimony of Li Yusee, a pseudonym for a member of a Christian “house church” in Sichuan province. Li said he was held in a secret facility run by the United
Front Work Department of the CCP in collaboration with the secret police for 10 months after a raid on his church in 2018.
"It was a mobile facility that could just set up in some basement somewhere. It was staffed by people from several different government departments," Li said, adding that it had its
own political and legal affairs committee working group and mainly targeted Christians who are members of house churches.
Li said he was detained in a windowless room for nearly 10 months, during which time he was beaten, verbally abused and "mentally tortured" by
staff.
He said most of his fellow inmates were also people who had been released on bail during criminal detention for taking part in church-related activities. Although they didn’t commit
any criminal offense, police sent them to “transformation facilities.”
The chilling account resembles the detention and persecution of ethnic Uyghurs Muslims and other banned religious and cult groups such as Falun Gong and the Church of Almighty
God.
China’s repressive policies and actions against religious groups have been documented by global watchdogs.
On Jan. 13, 2021, US-based Christian group Open Doors published a World Watch List that assesses 50 countries where Christians face the most severe forms of persecution. It listed
China (17) among the top 20 countries due to a widespread crackdown on Christians and other religious minorities.
“The policy of ‘Sinicizing’ the church has been implemented nationwide as the [CCP] limits whatever it perceives as a threat to its rule and ideology. Thousands of churches have
been damaged or closed. In some parts of China, children under the age of 18 aren’t allowed to attend church — part of the country’s efforts to stunt future growth,” Open Doors
reported.
Sinicization aims to impose strict rules on societies and institutions based on the core values of socialism, autonomy and supporting the leadership of the
CCP.
In its 2021 report, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCRIF) commented that China continues to persecute Christians and harass Catholic bishops despite the 2018
Vatican-China deal on bishop appointments.
Under the deal, which was renewed last year, the Vatican recognized eight bishops ordained by the state without papal mandate. However, China didn’t recognize a number of
Vatican-approved bishops including Bishop Zhang of Xinxiang.
“Despite the Vatican-China agreement on bishop appointments, Chinese authorities continued to harass, detain and torture underground Catholic bishops — such as Cui Tai and Huang
Jintong — who refuse to join the state-backed Catholic association. They also harassed, detained, arrested and imprisoned members of Protestant house churches who refuse to join the state-sanctioned
Three-Self Patriotic Movement,” USCRIF reported.
It also pointed out that the government continued to demolish both Catholic and Protestant church buildings and crosses under its Sinicization
campaign.
___________________________________________________________________
3.
Deepening understanding of perspectives on theology in Asia.
The Buddhist Studies and Dialogue Group of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific has published a collection of lectures by world-renowned theologian Fr Michael Amaladoss SJ into a book titled, “Peoples’ Theology in Asia”.
The book draws from a series of lectures the author gave to Jesuit scholastics participating in the East Asia Theological Encounter Program (EATEP) from 2006 to 2018. EATEP is an intensive course on Asian contextual theology designed to supplement the theological formation of young Jesuits in Asian cultures and religions. These lectures were also given by Fr Amaladoss to audiences in Chennai where the series received an enthusiastic response.
“Theology is our search for a better understanding of our faith in relation to our lives. It is encountering God in the way God challenges our lives and our relationships. This is affected by the historical, geographical, cultural, and religious circumstances in which we live. For those of us living in Asia, our situation will affect our experience of God and the way we speak about it. This is Asian theology. This book is an attempt to share my reflections and provoke your own thinking!” writes Fr Amaladoss.
He explains that Asian countries are multi-cultural and multi-religious, but share similar theological issues. “The Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, over the last 45 years, has created a common theological atmosphere in South, South-East and East Asia. This is the area I have in mind while speaking of an ‘Asian’ theology. We can also speak of an Asian way of thinking as compared to the African and the Euro-American ways, as I try to show in an introductory chapter. So I think that this book will be accessible and useful to my different Asian audiences though they will have to apply what they read to their particular situations and their challenges.”
Fr In-gun Kang SJ, EATEP Director and Coordinator for the Buddhist Studies and Dialogue Group, says in his foreword to the book: “Fr Amaladoss underscores the fact that theology is not only a ‘faith seeking understanding,’ but a peoples’ living experience of the liberating God in their seeking the total transformation of themselves and the world. Therefore, the author of theology is no academic thinker or writer, but the people of God themselves.” He highlights how “Fr Amaladoss aptly points out that peoples’ experiential theology in Asia can be summarised as the three-fold dialogue of the Gospel with the poor, the cultures, and the religions.”
The book is divided into three parts. The first part on Our Mission in Asia includes chapters on mission as dialogue, Jesus Christ amidst the religions, and the various images of Jesus in an Asian cultural and religious context. The second part, God with Us, delves into people’s experience of God in various forms of Asian spirituality. The book concludes with the Challenges We Face, detailing the different challenges Asian churches face in journeying towards the Kingdom of God with people of other religions and all people of goodwill.
“Peoples’ Theology in Asia” is available to download for free in pdf, and epub files for both iOS and Android devices.
___________________________________________________________________
4.
USCCA Conference 28: New updates, an exciting August program.
This August you are invited to “China, Christianity, and the Dialogue of Civilizations”. This 28th international conference of the US-China Catholic
Association comes at a time when we have been tested. So let us come together.
Join us to take stock. Stand by companions for the journey.
Scroll down and find out more!
I hope to see you this August,
Fr. Michael
USCCA Executive Director
___________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5.
A new bishop to pastor Hong Kong.
28th May 2021
Sunday Examiner - Hong Kong
http://www.examiner.org.hk/
EDITORIAL
A new bishop to pastor Hong Kong
Pope Francis APPOINTED the Jesuit Father Stephen Chow
Sau-yan as the next bishop of Hong Kong on May 17. This is indeed good news for the local Church, which has been awaiting a new bishop for over two years.
The bishop-elect, who met with the media on May 18, shared his thoughts and feelings
about accepting the appointment and revealed some of his pastoral concerns about the days ahead.
Father Chow went through a discernment process, initially declining, as he felt the
bishop should be a diocesan priest. However, noting that his obedience it to the pope, he recounted that Pope Francis wrote him a letter agreeing that he should be the bishop. So in full obedience
and loyalty, Father Chow finally accepted the appointment.
At the start of the press conference, the bishop-elect clearly expressed his hope to
help neglected communities such as those who suffer from domestic abuse and job loss. He understands that to achieve these aims, the Church needs to work with other religious groups, charities and
the government to help improve livelihoods in Hong Kong
In this process, the issues of religion and politics cannot be avoided in the broadest
sense, politics is everyone’s business and involves every aspect of life. Religion emphasises the salvation of human souls and empowers everyone to lead a better life with human dignity being
respected. The Church gives mission the priority and mission can enhance the quality of human souls and people’s livelihoods.
The bishop-elect also touched on that fact that the Church must accompany young people,
a big part of which must be empathetic listening. Empathy is conducive to understanding another person’s situations and views. It does not necessarily require full agreement. However, understanding
and sensitivity to the feelings expressed is a good beginning. Father Chow expressed a hope to help diverse young people to develop empathy so that all of us can walk
together.
The Church needs to understand their different views and to find an opportunity to
invite them to dialogue instead of engaging in debates to determine wins and who loses. There should be an expectation for all parties to have real dialogue, in which they listen to each
other.
Starting in May, the Society of Jesus launched the Ignatian Year, commemorating of the
500th anniversary of the conversion of its founder, St Ignatius of Loyola, with the theme: To see all things new in Christ,.
This primary aim is the celebration of the great work God has done through Ignatius,
transforming a soldier and courtier to a humble and great pilgrim who did God’s will. During a battle, he suffered severe leg wounds and nearly died. This destroyed all his aspirations. However, it
was during this experience that he saw all things new.
This transformation is an inspiration to the local Church and to the Catholics in Hong
Kong to do God’s will.
Let us pray for the diocese and Hong Kong, especially for Bishop-elect Stephen Chow. As
John Cardinal Tong longed for, under the leadership of the bishop-elect, the diocese can serve the Church and society with wisdom and love. SE
*** *** *** *** *** ***
‘I want to love like a good ‘papa,’” says Hong Kong’s bishop-elect
Bishop-elect Stephen Chow Sau-yan during a press conference on May
18.
Updated: 12:46 UTC, 18 May 2021
HONG KONG (SE): “I want to love like a good ‘papa,’ a good father, have understanding
like a good principal, and be merciful as God is merciful,” said Jesuit Father Stephen Chow Sau-yan, the bishop-elect of the Diocese of Hong Kong. The Vatican announced the appointment of Father Chow
as the 9th bishop of the diocese of Hong Kong on 17 May 2021.
The appointment comes after a long wait of two years and four months following the death
of Bishop Michael Yeung Ming-cheung on 3 January 2019. Father Chow belongs to the Society of Jesus, and is currently the provincial superior of the Chinese Province at the time of the new
appointment.
The appointment is a moment of gratitude for the Catholic Church in Hong Kong, as it has
been prayerfully awaiting the shepherd who will accompany the faithful in these times of socio-political and religious polarisation in the city.
Born to a Catholic family in Hong Kong on 7 August 1959, Father Chow joined the Society
of Jesus on 27 September 1984 in Dublin, Ireland. Before joining the seminary, he already had a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology/Philosophy and a Master of Arts in Educational Psychology (Counselling)
from the University of Minnesota in the United States (US). After completing his Theology formation in Hong Kong, he was ordained a priest by John Cardinal Baptist Wu Cheng-chung on the feast of
Mount Carmel on 16 July 1994.
Meanwhile, Father Chow obtained a Master of Science degree in Organisational Development
at Loyola University, Chicago, US, and worked at Wah Yan College Kowloon and Hong Kong for five years, from 1995 to 2000, as minister, ethics teacher, vocations director and chaplain. At Wah Yan
College Hong Kong and Kowloon, he also served as school manager (trustee).
In 2000, he went to Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education to study Human
Development and Psychology, and completed his Doctorate in Education in 2006.
After finishing his doctorate in the US, Father Chow took up the position of school
supervisor at Wah Yan College, Hong Kong in 2007 as well as Wah Yan College, Kowloon the next year. Educating the youth, not to become champions, but to become responsible citizens has been the
priority of Jesuit Education mission.
Father Chow has headed the Education Commission of the China Province since 2009. Since
2012, he has also been serving at the Holy Spirit Seminary as part time lecturer in Psychology. He also served as a member of the Diocesan Priests’ Council from
2012-2014.
In America magazine, Father Arturo Sosa, the superior general of the Society of Jesus,
said of Father Chow’s appointment as bishop of Hong Kong: “I am happy that Father Stephen can continue to serve, and I wish him every blessing in this new ministry. The Jesuits are proud of our links
with the Chinese people, which go back to the great missionary Matteo Ricci who had such a respect for Chinese culture.”
End
CATHOLIC CHURCH UPDATES
May 2021
6 Updates
1. US Bishops promote prayer octave for China.
2. Don't regard Beijing as the enemy, says Hong Kong's new bishop.
3. Hong Kong gets new bishop after two-year wait.
4. Card Bo calls for a 'Global Prayer for China'.
5. Macau honors Our Lady of Fatima with postal stamps.
6. Student volunteers from The Beijing Center teach English to local community children.
1.
US Bishops promote prayer octave for China.
21st May 2021
Catholic News Agency
By: CNA
Staff
Washington D.C.,
America/Denver (CNA).
The chair of the US bishops’
international justice and peace committee on Thursday called for participation in the prayer octave for the Church in China urged by Charles Maung Cardinal Bo of
Yangon.
In 2007, Benedict designated
May 24, the feast of Our Lady Help of Christians, as a Worldwide Day of Prayer for the Church in China. In March, Cardinal Bo called for that day of prayer to be expanded into an octave, observed May
23-30.
Bishop David Malloy of
Rockford said May 20 that “recognizing China’s growing global power, Cardinal Bo has expressed his hope that through these prayers, China ‘may become a force for good and a protector of the rights of
the most vulnerable and marginalized in the world.’ Similarly, Pope Francis has also affirmed his prayers for Catholics in China, acknowledging their difficulties, assuring them of his daily prayers,
and exhorting them to be good citizens, ‘to make a prophetic and constructive contribution born of their faith in the kingdom of God.’”
“In unity and great love, let
us join with the Church universal in our prayers to Our Lady Help of Christians, for China,” Bishop Malloy concluded.
Cardinal Bo had said in March
that “Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the peoples of China have faced increasing challenges, which impact us all. It is right that we should pray not only for the Church but for all persons
in the People’s Republic of China.”
“We should ask Our Lady of
Sheshan to protect all humanity and therefore the dignity of each and every person in China, in the words of Pope Benedict XVI’s prayer, ‘to believe, to hope, to love’,” he
added.
In February 2020 China began
enforcing administrative measures to control every aspect of religious activity within the country, mandating that all religions and believers in China comply with regulations issued by the Chinese
Communist Party, which must be acknowledged as the higher authority.
In May the legislature of
China approved a resolution to impose new “security laws” on its formerly autonomous region, Hong Kong— a move pro-democracy protestors and Catholics in the country feared would undermine Hong
Kongers’ freedoms, including freedom of religion.
A bishop of the underground
Church was arrested in June.
In July a technology
publication reported that the Diocese of Hong Kong has been targeted by “spear-phishing” operations from the Chinese government.
The Hong Kong diocese
intervened in August to cancel a Catholic pro-democracy ad campaign and prayer that was set to run in local papers.
The same month, Hong Kong
entrepreneur and media executive Jimmy Lai was arrested on criminal charges stemming from his support for democracy on the island territory.
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2.
Don't regard Beijing as the enemy, says Hong Kong's new bishop.
19th May 2021
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
Bishop-designate Stephen Chow aims
for dialogue to ensure religious freedom as a basic right in the Chinese territory
Catholic News Service and UCA News reporter
Bishop-designate Stephen Chow Sau-yan has urged Hong Kong Catholics to start with a sense of faith and not assume Beijing is the enemy as he hoped for dialogue to develop a better
understanding.
“It is not that I am afraid to talk about controversial or political issues. Rather, we believe prudence is a virtue,” he said.
“Religious freedom is our basic right. We want to really talk to the government not to forget that. It is important to allow religious freedom, matters of faith — not just Catholic
but any religion should be free.”
Hong Kong Diocese introduced the bishop-designate at a news conference on May 18, the day after Pope Francis named him a bishop. Father Chow, 61, is provincial of the Chinese
Province of the Society of Jesus. To allow for the Jesuits to appoint a new provincial superior, his episcopal consecration will be on Dec. 4, reported the Sunday Examiner , the
newspaper of the Hong Kong Diocese.
The Catholic Social Communications Office announced that Cardinal John Tong Hon, apostolic administrator of Hong Kong, will continue in office until Father Chow takes canonical
possession of the diocese after his installation.
At the news conference, Father Chow answered an array of questions regarding his vision for the diocese, its relationship and integration with Hong Kong society and its relationship
with the Church in China.
Responding to a question about how he would bring about unity in the church community, which has been highly polarized in the recent past, he said that since he has just been
appointed, he has no big plans.
“But I do believe that there is a God who wants us to be united. Unity is not the same as uniformity. I always mentioned in my schools, we must respect unity in plurality. It is
something that we must learn to respect — plurality,” he said.
The appointment of Father Chow, who is seen as non-divisive, is regarded by observers as a way to tackle the polarization among local Catholics divided between those who expect the
Church to be more vocal about China's policies and those who prefer less confrontation.
Since 2006, Father Chow has been supervisor of the Wah Yan colleges, two prestigious Jesuit educational institutions in Hong Kong. He described his role of supervisor as that of
being a “bridge.”
When the Sunday Examiner quizzed him on his role of being a bridge in the larger perspective of the diocese, Father Chow said: “Two years ago, Hong Kong and even my school community were much divided.
The question was how to bring healing. It takes a long process — and I am not saying I was successful, but I am doing my best. Listening with empathy is very important, and this is the fundamental
point.”
Responding to a question on what his fears or concerns might be and the difficulty that he had in accepting the appointment, he said he believed “the bishop of the diocese should
better come from among the diocesan priests.”
However, he said, “I have discussed and discerned with my father general in Rome. At the end, as a Jesuit, I owe my obedience to the Holy
Father.”
He recounted, “The Holy Father wrote something — in his handwriting — that he ‘agrees that I should be the bishop.’ I read the letter — in Italian, I don’t know Italian — but it was
translated for me. For me, that was a sign that I should take it up. And Hong Kong is a place I really love, my birthplace and the place where I grew up.”
Responding to a question about accompanying young people in the future, especially on occasions like observing the June 4 anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, Father Chow
said: “There are different ways of commemoration. Sometimes in the past, I had joined the event in the public arena, but there were times I could not go. So I pray, I pray for China, pray for all
those who passed away in 1989. Whether it is possible this year depends on the legal requirements.”
When asked about the removal of crosses from churches on the mainland, he said he was saddened to see that but there were many backstories to these incidents which he was not
knowledgeable of.
Concerning the crackdown on Catholics on the mainland, the Jesuit said he did not think it was wise for him to comment on matters that he did not fully understand without sufficient
information.
“That would be rash. It’s not because I’m afraid. But I believe prudence is also a virtue,” he said.
A journalist asked Father Chow what advice he would give Carrie Lam, chief executive of Hong Kong, who is also a Catholic. She has been criticized for losing touch with the people
and refusing to listen to their views. He responded that he has not yet met the chief executive and it is not proper for him to advise her through a news
conference.
Lam and other officials in Hong Kong have faced increasing pressure since China implemented a new security law that bans subversive and secessionist actions in the former British
colony. Last July, Zheng Yanxiong, a senior Chinese politician who crushed a mainland democracy movement, was appointed to oversee its implementation.
When Britain handed back Hong Kong to China in 1997, certain democratic rights were guaranteed for at least 50 years under the “one country, two systems” agreement. However, the
imposition of the security law practically brings Hong Kong under full Chinese administration and indirectly ends the agreement that allowed Hong Kong’s semi-autonomous
status.
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3.
Hong Kong gets new bishop after two-year wait.
17th May 2021
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
Jesuit Father Stephen Chow Sau-yan
'has strong faith and strong leadership skills'
UCA News reporter, Hong Kong
The Vatican has appointed a 61-year-old Jesuit as the new bishop of Hong Kong after delaying the appointment for more than two years because of diplomatic sensibilities over China’s
communist regime.
Father Stephen Chow Sau-yan was appointed on May 17 to succeed Bishop Michael Yeung Ming-cheung, who died on Jan. 3, 2019, leaving the diocese
vacant.
“The appointment is a moment of gratitude for the Catholic Church in Hong Kong as it has been prayerfully awaiting the shepherd who will accompany the faithful in these times of
socio-political polarization in the city,” the diocese said while announcing the news on its website.
Cardinal John Tong Hon, 82, has been leading the diocese as its apostolic administrator, although he retired as bishop when Bishop Yeung was appointed in
2017.
The Vatican overlooked Hong Kong’s Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing for the post after he openly criticized Beijing and supported the pro-democracy movement in the city that
began in 2019.
Observers say the Vatican delayed the appointment in order to find a candidate acceptable to the Chinese communist regime that has tightened its control over Hong Kong’s
administration since last year.
Bishop-elect Chow was the Jesuit provincial superior of the Chinese Province at the time of his appointment.
Bishop Ha, a Franciscan, is seen as unacceptable to Beijing as he often appeared at prayer vigils and at protest gatherings saying that “no matter how long” the protesters stayed,
he would stay with them.
Beijing’s approval of the Hong Kong bishop is also seen as essential after the Vatican and China inked an agreement on the appointment of bishops in China in an effort to stop the
state from appointing bishops without the Vatican’s mandate.
Although Hong Kong enjoys autonomy as a special administrative region, China treats the city as part of its territory for all practical purposes, especially after Hong Kong’s
national security law was enacted in June 2020.
“Father Chow is a good choice for the diocese. He has strong faith and strong leadership skills,” said a local Catholic who has known the Jesuit for a few
decades.
“His experience with education will boost the Catholics’ confidence in Catholic education.”
After completing his doctorate in education in the US, Father Chow took up the leadership of Wah Yan College in Hong Kong in 2007.
Father Chow has headed the Education Commission of the China Province since 2009.
“Educating the youth not to become champions but to become responsible citizens has been the priority of the Jesuit education mission,” the diocesan site said while introducing
Father Chow.
Since 2012, Father Chow has also served at Holy Spirit Seminary as a part-time lecturer in psychology. He also served as a member of the Diocesan Priests’ Council from 2012 to
2014.
“Reconciliation and unity are much needed in the Catholic Church in Hong Kong and unity is most important for the diocese at the moment,” a Catholic woman told UCA News, indicating
the division among clergy and laity.
While some Hong Kong Catholics adamantly oppose having any links with the communist regime, others seek a compromise to practice their faith without being communist victims, another
Catholic woman said.
“It is definitely a wise decision of the Vatican and will probably help the local Church move forward with a more united spirit,” said the woman, who identified herself only as
Theresa.
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4.
Card Bo calls for a 'Global Prayer for China'.
5th May 2021
AsiaNews - www.asianews.it
CHINA – VATICAN – UNITED KINGDOM
A group of experts, politicians
and academics launch a week of prayer for the persecuted in China: Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Hong Kong activists, prisoners of conscience. Theis follows Card Charles Maung Bo’s call for a Week
of Prayer for the Church in China, like the Day of Prayer established by Benedict XVI in 2007, on the feast day of Our Lady of Sheshan.
London (AsiaNews) – A group of Christian lay people from six continents started a Global Prayer for China campaign, calling on the faithful to pray from 23 to 30 May 2021 for the
Church and peoples of China, including Xinjiang’s persecuted Uyghurs, prisoners of conscience, Protestant clergymen, activists and jailed prominent Hong Kongers.
The coalition members include US Congressman Chris Smith, British Lord David Alton, Canadian MP Garnett Genuis, Australian MP Kevin Andrews, Law Professor Jane Adolphe, Hudson
Institute Senior Fellow Nina Shea, CSW’s expert Benedict Rogers; Canada’s former religious freedom envoy Andrew Bennett is the spokesman.
The campaign provides information about political and religious prisoners, the situation of religious freedom in China, as well as means for homilies and vigils to be held during
the last week of May.
The campaign is inspired by a message from Card Charles Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon (Myanmar) and President of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC), who last March
launched the idea of holding a Global Week of Prayer for the Church and the Peoples of China.
Pope Benedict XVI established a World Day of Prayer for the China in 2007, to be celebrated on 24 May each year, the feast day of Our Lady of Sheshan, Mary Help of Christians, who
is venerated at the Marian shrine of Sheshan, near Shanghai.
In order to explain the reasons for this week of prayer, Card. Bo said: “I am expressing my love for the peoples of China, my respect for their ancient civilization and
extraordinary economic growth, and my hopes that as it continues to rise as a global power, it may become a force for good and a protector of the rights of the most vulnerable and marginalized in the
world.”
At the same time, “I urge the faithful, [. . .] to join with Pope Francis, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and the whole Church to ask, in the words of Benedict XVI, the ‘Mother of China
and all Asia’ to support the faithful, that ‘they never be afraid to speak of Jesus to the world, and of the world to Jesus”, and ‘always be credible witnesses to this love, ever clinging to the rock
of Peter on which the Church is built.’”
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5.
Macau honors Our Lady of Fatima with postal stamps.
10th May 2021
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
Move recognizes Church's role in
enriching society and culture in the former Portuguese colony
UCA News reporter, Macau
Authorities in Macau have decided to publish postal stamps of Our Lady of Fatima to honor the long-held tradition of devotion to Mary by Catholics in the Chinese-ruled
territory.
The Directorate of Postal and Telecommunications Services will launch a set of two stamps and a block featuring the traditional, decades-old Procession of Our Lady of Fatima in
Macau on May 13.
The date of publication coincides with the Church’s celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Fatima commemorating the Apparition of Mary to three young shepherds in Fatima, Portugal,
on May 13, 1917, when Mary asked the world to recite the rosary daily for peace in the world and for sinners to repent for their wrongdoings.
Church officials hailed the decision as a recognition of the Church’s important role in enriching society and culture in Macau.
The feast of Our Lady of Fatima followed by a nine-day novena was introduced by Portuguese Bishop Jose D. Costa Nunes of Macau in 1929 when the territory was under Portuguese
rule.
Since then, the feast has become a signature annual Catholic event for Macau Diocese. Every year, many people from various parts of China and abroad flock to Macau to participate in
the event that also features a colorful procession.
The procession also features two girls and a boy attired in Portuguese traditional costumes, symbolizing the shepherds who witnessed the apparitions. With recitations of the rosary
and singing of hymns, the procession makes its way from St. Dominic’s Church to the Penha Chapel, providing a very impressive scene, noted the Cultural Affairs Bureau of
Macau.
In 2019, Macau's government recognized the procession of Our Lady of Fatima by including it on its Intangible Cultural Heritage List.
The procession was suspended last year due to the coronavirus pandemic and is expected to be held on a limited scale this year. The island has recorded only 49 cases — all recovered
and no deaths — from Covid-19.
Catholics in Macau number about 30,000 spread across nine parishes and Catholicism bears the legacy of Portuguese rule from 1557 to 1999.
The resort-cum-casino city has an estimated population of 680,000, mostly Chinese originally from various provinces, several thousand ethnic Macanese and foreign migrants including
Portuguese, Filipinos and Vietnamese.
About 80 percent of people in Macau follow Buddhism, about 7 percent Christianity and the rest follow various faiths including Judaism and Islam, according to Pew Research
Center.
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6.
Student volunteers from The Beijing Center teach English to local community children.
13th April 2021
JCAP - Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific
By: Vukica Elenovska
The commitment to service-learning has long been a core practice and value for students at The Beijing Center. This semester, the Spring 2021 students had the opportunity to visit an organization that The Beijing Center has collaborated with for years, Five Loaves and Two Fish.
At Five Loaves and Two Fish, the dedicated volunteers continue to support local communities of migrant children in Beijing, by providing them a safe space to improve their education and nurture their well-being, as their families work towards a better living. As part of this community service, The Beijing Center students participate by extending their knowledge to help the children learn more by running lively activities for the children on the weekends.
On arrival, the students were welcomed by Fr. Zevola Giovanni, the organization’s founder, and devoted supporter. While The Beijing Center’s Executive Director, Dr. Simon Koo, and Fr. Giovanni exchanged a few words, the students became acquainted with the children they would be teaching for the day.
The Beijing Center students and staff came prepared with a lesson plan to teach the children English. The lesson plan included an engaging rhythmic children’s cartoon in English, which presented new vocabulary words that were used in the following game. After watching the cartoon, the children were able to better understand and memorize the new words, and their knowledge was tested in a fun banter game of guessing words in English. The students were able to teach the children new words in an interactive way, by using their English skills to help them practice speaking and reading in another language. This lingual delight left the children energized and student-volunteers inspired by the positive influence they created.
Through such service-learning activities, which are part of the academic curriculum at The Beijing Center, students are able to develop holistic perspectives by encountering and engaging with marginalized communities, while also providing an invaluable experience to children who greatly benefit from additional and diverse learning activities.
Founded in 1998, The Beijing Center for Chinese Studies (TBC) is a center of higher education in mainland China committed to fostering mutual understanding between China and
other cultures through cultural exchange, education, and research. What makes us unique is our placement in a long and storied tradition of Jesuit education, one that teaches us that true cultural
engagement starts first with friendship. To learn more, visit https://
End
CATHOLIC CHURCH UPDATES
April 2021
7 Updates
1. Chinese Christians honor ancestors at Easter.
2. Online exhibition: The Jesuits between East and West.
3. USCCA: Save the Date and Share! 2021 USCCA Conference.
4. Hong Kong's homeless continue to increase, says Catholic missionary.
5. China's new measures on clergy ignore Vatican agreement.
6. Mgr. Andrea Han Jingtao dies
7. Bishop Joseph Zong Huaide died
1.
Chinese Christians honor ancestors at Easter.
8th April 2021
As the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday approached, parishioners of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Xiantao city in China's Hebei province were alarmed by the sounds of fireworks and firecrackers.
Xiantao, some 100 kilometers from provincial capital Wuhan, where the first human infections from the deadly novel coronavirus were detected in late 2019, was mostly lifeless at Easter last year due to a strict lockdown to stem the invisible enemy that has claimed some three million lives globally.
Life in many parts of China has returned to normal and so Christians flocked to churches in droves to celebrate Holy Week leading to Easter Sunday.
Many Christians in Xiantao joined in setting off fireworks and firecrackers before joining the Easter Vigil in the church, though their actions had nothing to do with Easter. They were related to the traditional Qingming festival, also known as Tomb Sweeping Day, that coincided with Easter Sunday this year.
In Chinese culture, the Qingming festival is a memorial celebration to honor ancestors. It is believed to be more than 2,000 years old and is observed by Han Chinese people across mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.
Please click below to read more:
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2.
Online exhibition: The Jesuits between East and West
Cultural anxieties and suspicions are likely to prevent the development of more realistic images of each other. Therefore, it is instructive to look more closely at a relevant episode from the past: the adventures of the Jesuits in China in the 17th and 18th century.
These missionaries managed to establish a real dialogue on religion, philosophy and science with the oft well-educated upper echelons of Chinese society.
This online exhibition centres on the often lavishly illustrated books about China from Maastricht University’s Jesuit Collection. Driven by missionary zeal, many Jesuits embarked on a risky journey to the East – and quite a few of them did not survive the hazardous ocean journey.
The new exhibition is devoted to the role of the Jesuits as mediators between East and West, a theme which fits well with Maastricht University’s interdisciplinary Global Studies programme, which includes a focus on Tolerance & Beliefs. From the start, the Jesuits were known for the importance they attached not only to spirituality, but also to education. Many of them were – and are – themselves critical intellectuals with a scholarly mindset, an open attitude towards cultural contact and a global, international outlook.
This is the first online exhibition of Maastricht University. To view the online exhibition in English, see here:
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3.
USCCA: Save the Date and Share! 2021 USCCA Conference
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4.
Hong Kong's homeless continue to increase, says Catholic missionary
10th March 2021
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
Social distancing measures
designed to stem the spread of Covid-19 have worsened economic stagnation
Catholic News
Service
Oblate Father John Wotherspoon loves McDonald's restaurants, and it's not because of the fries.
The reason the Catholic priest favors the fast-food chain is that the 24-hour stores were among the few places that allowed homeless people to stay in the late evening and early
morning hours. The unofficial policy even resulted in a nickname, "McSleepers," for the late-night denizens.
"God bless McDonald's for their compassion to the poor, it was the only place for these people to go," Father Wotherspoon said, noting that the restaurant chain has regularly
donated meals for the homeless in Hong Kong.
But the after-hours haven of the golden arches ended abruptly about a year ago when the coronavirus pandemic tightened its grip on the city, prompting the government to order the
closure of all restaurants at 6 p.m. -- recently amended to 10 p.m. -- and forcing scores of homeless onto the streets to look for places to sleep.
"When people couldn't go to McDonald's, that's when things increased rapidly (for the worse)," Father Wotherspoon said.
The city's social welfare department said there were just over 1,100 homeless people in Hong Kong in 2017. But charities and nongovernmental organizations say the actual number is
much higher now in this city with a population of about 7.5 million. Pro-democracy protests in 2019 crippled the economy and jobs were jettisoned. The economy reached a nadir as the pandemic
intensified with waves of new infections.
Social distancing measures designed to stem the spread of COVID-19 have continued the stagnation. With the city government struggling to reverse the economic tailspin and unwilling
to provide shelter for the growing number of homeless people, a crisis was in the making, Father Wotherspoon said.
"In my opinion, this is the worst the homeless problem has ever been in Hong Kong," said Father Wotherspoon, 74, a native of Brisbane, Australia, who has been in Hong Kong for 36
years and in the Jordan neighborhood on the Kowloon side of the city for 11 years.
But it was a moment of apparent divine intervention that provided some relief.
A local report in a Cantonese-language newspaper last year about the looming homeless crisis mentioned the priest's name and resulted in an unprecedented flood of donations, Father
Wotherspoon said.
"It just multiplied from there," he said. "I never looked for money. It found me."
A friend who asked Father Wotherspoon for permission to post his bank account number on a Facebook page increased the flow of donations.
The funding allowed the priest and the NGO he started in 2016, MercyHK, to rent rooms in an apartment building in the adjoining neighborhood of Yau Ma Tei for those without a place
to sleep. Some of the homeless work in a shop in Jordan opened last year by MercyHK; it sells secondhand goods. Those who cannot work due to age or infirmity are helped in applying for government
assistance.
Father Wotherspoon said he and his NGO currently rent 40 rooms for 60 people at a cost of over HK$200,000 (US$25,700) a month in a city with the most expensive residential real
estate in the world.
Soon after MercyHK found apartments for those who used to be on the street, a restaurant in the same apartment building agreed to donate free meals every
Wednesday.
The rented apartments are each occupied by two or three people of the same gender and include a shower and toilet. One man who lost his cleaning job and was sleeping in the noisy
airport and other places that were open late said the peace and safety of his shared apartment was a significant improvement.
"This is so much better," said 76-year-old Ah Ming, who moved into his Yau Ma Tei apartment 10 months ago. "There are no planes here."
But Father Wotherspoon said the homeless problem will get worse as the effects of the pandemic continue and the economy remains in the doldrums. There are still scores of homeless
who are addicted to drugs or suffering from mental illness who are unsuitable to be placed in an apartment and thus remain on the street. They are still given food and support. The city's poorest
district, Sham Shui Po, has an even worse homeless problem, he said.
Father Wotherspoon admitted he occasionally has difficult days.
"But it's never as bad as it is for these people," he said.
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5.
China's new measures on clergy ignore Vatican agreement
25th February 2021
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
China's new measures on clergy ignore Vatican
agreement
New regulations ask Catholics to
elect their bishops democratically and report to the state administration
UCA News
reporter
The communist government in China has promulgated a new set of rules for religious clergy to be implemented in two months, but they ignore the Sino-Vatican agreement on bishop
appointments by asking people to elect their bishops democratically.
The new Administrative
Measures for Religious Clergy, set to come into effect from May 1, cover priests of all five authorized religions in China — Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Protestantism and
Islam.
The new measures, adapted from
the 2018 Regulation on Religious Affairs, were promulgated on Jan. 8 as State Administration of Religious Affairs Order No. 15. An English translation of the original text in Chinese appears
on bitterwinter.org,
a website on religious liberty.
“Catholic bishops are approved
and consecrated by the Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church in China (BCCCC),” says article XVI of the order, which refuses to mention the 2018 Sino-Vatican agreement on bishop appointments,
which was renewed for another two-year term in 2020.
The BCCCC, which is not
recognized by the Holy See, and the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA), which directly works under the Chinese administration overseeing the state-approved Catholic Church, are given
responsibility for reporting the election of bishops.
Within 20 days of the
consecration of a bishop, the BCCCC and CCPA should report it to the State Administration of Religious Affairs, stipulates article XVI.
One of the documents to be
submitted to the State Administration of Religious Affairs for the record of electing the bishop is “a statement issued by the Catholic community … on the democratic election of the
bishop.”
The Catholic community
electing a bishop could be of a province, autonomous region or municipality functioning directly under the central government, the article says.
The new regulations indirectly
assert that the election of Catholic bishops will be done by the state-approved system under the Chinese Communist Party’s direction and the Vatican and Pope Francis will have no role in
it.
It runs contrary to the
laborious China-Vatican deal on appointment of Catholic bishops, signed in September 2018 after several years of negotiations. The still undisclosed deal aims to appoint bishops with the agreement of
China and the Vatican.
It also aims to end the
division in the Chinese Church between the state-approved church and the Vatican-recognized church. While state-appointed bishops lead state-approved church communities, Vatican-appointed bishops
lead the other group, also known as the underground church.
Since the Sino-Vatican deal,
the Vatican has approved seven Beijing-appointed bishops, while the state-sanctioned church has approved and installed at least five Vatican-appointed bishops.
But the new regulations aim to
smother the underground church by criminalizing the existence of clergy outside the state-approved database of the clergy.
“Religious clergy should love
the motherland, support the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, support the socialist system, abide by the constitution, laws, regulations and rules, and practice the core values of
socialism,” says article III of the regulations.
The clergy should also “adhere
to the principle of independent and self-administered religion in China, adhere to the direction of the Sinicization of religion in China, operate to maintain national unity, national unity,
religious harmony and social stability,” it says.
Hundreds of underground
Catholic clergy have refused to register with the state-approved database because they are unwilling to obey atheistic dictates in the services of the Church.
However, under the new
regulations, clergy who are not registered with the state could be arrested and jailed if they perform any clerical office, Catholic insiders say.
A church observer said the new
regulations are a legal tool to intensify the crackdown on underground clergy and annihilate the underground church.
Mainland Catholic leaders have
been skeptical about the Sino-Vatican deal ever since it was signed, pointing to Beijing’s lack of respect for international deals and conventions in pushing communist ideology in
China.
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6.
Mgr. Andrea Han Jingtao dies
23rd February 2021
Agenzia Fides - www.fides.org
ASIA/CHINA - Mgr. Andrea Han Jingtao dies: after 27 years of
forced labor, he devoted himself primarily to the formation of priests, nuns and lay people
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) -
Bishop Andrew Han Jingtao, of the "unofficial" community of Siping (Jilin), died in the night between 30 and 31 December 2020. Born on July 26, 1921, to a devoted Catholic family from Shanwanzi,
Weichang County, Hebei, the family moved to Linxi County, Inner Mongolia during his childhood. In 1932 he entered the Minor Seminary of Siping and in 1940 joined the Major Seminary of Changchun. He
was ordained a priest on 14 December 1947. Because of his Catholic faith and his loyalty to the Pope, he was arrested in 1953 and, after a period of imprisonment, he was sentenced to forced labor for
27 years, 6 of which he spent in isolation in a bunker.
In 1980, thanks to the
intervention of Vice-President Deng Xiaoping, he was released in consideration of the services that he, as a scholar, could render to the State. He worked as a lecturer at Changchun Normal University
and at The Institute for the History of Ancient Civilizations at the Northeast Normal University, with the title of associate professor. He introduced many Chinese students to the study of Latin and
Greek as well as classical western culture. After dedicating himself to his studies at an early age, he was regarded by the faithful as a "giant of culture and faith", but was also valued for his
commitment to civil education. His main works include the translation of the Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas Aquinas into Chinese.
On May 6, 1982 he was secretly
consecrated Coadjutor Bishop of Siping, of which in 1986, after the death of Mgr. Chang Zhenguo, he became ordinary bishop. As such, he was particularly involved in the formation of priests, nuns and
lay people, not failing to sensitize all the faithful about evangelization and charity. In the diocese he founded the Legio Mariae and the Religious Congregation of Mount Calvary, a male branch and a
female branch. In 1993 he founded the first health center and the first retirement home of the diocese, as well as an orphanage.
In recent years, Bishop Han
Jingtao lived under the tight control of the police. After the funeral, in which neither the clergy nor the faithful were able to participate, the remains were cremated. Thanks to the urgent requests
of the members of his family, the local authorities allowed that the ashes of the Bishop to be placed in the cemetery of his native village, alongside his parents. No religious sign or title of
Bishop is present on his tombstone.
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7.
Bishop Joseph Zong Huaide died
23rd February 2021
ASIA/CHINA - Bishop Joseph Zong Huaide died at the age of
100: he devoted himself to prayer and charitable works
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) -
On January 5, 2021 at 8 p.m., His. Exc. Mgr. Joseph Zong Huaide, Bishop emeritus of Sanyuan, in the province of Shaanxi (Mainland China) died.
He was born on June 16, 1920
in a village in Wuguanfang, in Sanyuan County, the fourth of five children to a Catholic family. He entered the Minor seminary of Tongyuanfang in 1935.
After completing his
theological studies, he was ordained a priest on June 5, 1949.
Later he carried out the
pastoral ministry in Fuping and in Tongyuanfang, as parish priest and then in the Cathedral of Sanyuan. From 1961 to 1965, he was forbidden to exercise the pastoral ministry, which is why he retired
to his house and began to cultivate the land there. He was arrested for his belief in 1965 and sentenced to forced labor in 1966. In February 1980 he was released and returned to work as a priest in
Tongyuanfang.
On 9 August 1987 he was
secretly ordained bishop and after a few years he was officially recognized as such by the civil authorities. On 23 December 1997 he was able to make a pilgrimage to Italy, where he was received by
Pope John Paul II in the Vatican.
In 2003 the Holy See accepted
his resignation. Since then, Bishop Zong Huaide spent his time in prayer and charitable service. His loving and delicate character made him popular with everyone. Numerous memories and praises for
his testimony were shared on social media after his death.
From January 5th to January
10th, the body of Bishop Zong was exposed to the faithful in the church of Tongyuan: on January 11th, the funeral was celebrated there and the prelate was buried.
Currently, the Diocese of
Sanyuan has about 40,000 faithful, with 46 priests and the presence of various religious orders for men and women.
End
CATHOLIC CHURCH UPDATES
March 2021
4 Updates
1.Cardinal Bo calls for week of prayer for China Church.
2. China orders clergy to toe Communist Party and socialist line.
3. Catholicism and Taiwan: A model of growing together.
4. Church in China: 2021 dominated by the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party.
1.
Cardinal Bo calls for week of prayer for China Church
14th March 2021
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
Catholicism and Taiwan: A model of growing together
Taiwan has shown how society can benefit when ethnic and religious diversities are acknowledged and human rights are upheld
By: Rock Ronald Rozario
On July 18 last year, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen attended the installation ceremony of Archbishop Thomas Chung An-zu of Taipei in the nation’s capital.
Besides greeting and posing for photographs with the new archbishop, President Tsai delivered a speech where she hailed the Church’s century-long presence as having been vital for the development of Taiwan.
"Over the past few decades, the Church has helped Taiwan society in so many ways and at so many levels that it is impossible to describe them in a few words or a few days," Tsai said.
The gesture of amity and solidarity from the outspoken leader had political connotations, most likely aimed at communist China some 160 kilometers away, where Christians and other religious minorities are persecuted in a strikingly contrasting sociopolitical scenario.
The nation’s first female president has recently enraged Chinese authorities by supporting the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong and by offering a haven to victims of the former British colony’s draconian national security law.
Taiwan is a sovereign, democratic nation even though it has never officially declared independence, but China still considers Taiwan as one of its provinces and has threatened to annex it militarily. It does not have sovereign status at the United Nations, at the behest of China, yet it has diplomatic relations with 14 countries and maintains unofficial and economic relations with some 47 states. The Vatican is the only European state to have diplomatic ties with Taiwan while the United States is its strongest ally.
Taiwan has expressed disquiet over a secretive Vatican-China deal signed in 2018 over bishop appointments, and it has warned the Holy See against cozying up to a communist regime that violates religious and human rights.
In the Republic of China, as Taiwan is officially known, Christianity has become very much part of national life in a country that embraces diversity of faiths and ethnicities for the common good and integrated development.
About 4 percent of Taiwan’s nearly 24 million-strong population are Christians, while Buddhists make up about 35 percent, Taoists 33 percent and non-religious about 19 percent.
Catholic missionaries first arrived in Taiwan in 1626 when six Dominican priests led by Father Bartolome Martinez joined a Spanish expedition team. The island, then called Formosa, was under the Dutch East India Company and was inhabited mostly by Taiwanese aboriginals.
However, it took another two centuries before missionaries from the Philippines arrived again to establish a permanent Catholic presence. In 1859, the Dominicans returned and started evangelizing among aboriginals and migrants from mainland China, mostly from the provinces of Fujian and Guangdong.
Shortly after the re-emergence of the Catholic Church, Presbyterians from Britain, the US and Canada landed in Taiwan. Although Christians are a minority, Protestants have played an important role in politics thanks to their involvement in democracy movements. Since 1949, four Taiwanese presidents have been Protestant Christians. Chen Chien-jen, a Catholic epidemiologist, served as vice president from 2016-20.
For more than 160 years, the Church has not only played an important role in developing the nation but also acted as a vital bridge between the nation, the Vatican and China despite the atheist republic’s overarching political and military maneuvering.
Form about 5,000 members in 1949, the Taiwanese Church today has an estimated 300,000 Catholics in one archdiocese and six dioceses, with a significant number being refugees from mainland China. Migrant Catholics, mostly Vietnamese, Filipinos and Indonesians, are estimated to comprise around 100,000.
The exodus of many Catholics from China over the decades is intertwined with Taiwan’s tumultuous political history starting from 1949, when the Chinese Nationalist Party led by Chiang Kai-shek along with about one million supporters and 800,000 troops fled mainland China and settled on the island following defeat to the communists spearheaded by Mao Zedong.
Chiang Kai-shek ruled Taiwan as a military dictator from 1950 until his death in 1975. His son, Chiang Ching-kuo, ruled the island from 1978-88. Under Chiang Kai-shek’s regime, hundreds of majority Taiwanese accused of being anti-government were oppressed, imprisoned and executed in what was known as the White Terror. The dynastic and despotic rule ended as the nation gradually moved to democracy with legislative reforms in the 1980s to 1990s.
Economic boom
Due to liberal and expansionist trade policies, Taiwan has seen an economic boom, especially in computer electronics. By 1986, Taiwan had become one of the world’s largest producers of computer terminals, circuit boards, monitors and electronic calculators. Today, the manufacturing sector is the mainstay of the nation’s US$605 billion economy, which has not faltered amid Covid-19 as Taiwan was highly successful in battling the pandemic with only 937 cases and nine deaths.
Throughout Taiwan’s history, religious groups, especially Christians, didn’t face any major persecution thanks to their international connections, although the faith didn’t attract ethnic Taiwanese who followed their folk religion influenced by Buddhism and Taoism.
Thus, most Catholics in Taiwan as well as most Taiwanese priests are descendants of migrants and refugees from China. Initially, the Church had to battle pro-integration and pro-independence groups within itself.
It has been a long-running challenge to convince converts to attend church liturgy once a week as traditional faiths such as Buddhism and Taoism don’t make it mandatory for the faithful to visit temples.
The state refrained from interfering in the Church’s affairs and the Church operated independently to engage in national development.
The Church in Taiwan runs about 50 schools, colleges and universities to educate thousands of pupils each year. Fujen Catholic University in Taipei is an internationally acclaimed institution. Two other prominent Catholic universities are Providence University and Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages.
Taiwan Catholic Regional Seminary in Taipei is a melting pot for training priests from all over East Asia including China.
The Church also operates seven large hospitals and about 100 nursing homes that offer standard but affordable healthcare services. A large chunk of the Church’s pastoral care is dedicated to immigrants from various countries.
During the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) in Maoist China, the Taiwanese Church was a vital passage for the Vatican to get information and provide support to persecuted Chinese churches. The Church also launched its Bridging Endeavor project to provide a genuine assessment of communist China for left-wing intellectuals and students in the West who had a great interest in Maoism.
As the Church found its place in the diverse religious landscape of Taiwan, it provided opportunities for members to engage in the Focolore Movement and experience monastic communities, pastoral ministries and dialogues on morality, sociocultural and environmental issues with Buddhists and Taoists.
Missionaries also helped sustain the local language and culture. Maryknoll missionaries, who arrived in Taiwan in the 1950s, learned the language to work among Taiwanese people, which was once forbidden. Maryknoll has also operated Friendship House in downtown Taipei since 1974 to serve Catholics who moved to the city for work.
Priests from the Bethlehem Mission Society (SMB) worked extensively among ethnic aboriginal people in Hualein where they founded schools and hospitals. The missionaries also translated the New Testament to the native language, which was close to extinct. Their great efforts paid off and in 1998 the first aboriginal bishop, John Baptist Tseng Chien-tsi, an ethnic Ami, was ordained. He retired in 2017.
Close ties with mainland
Despite being separate from the mainland, the Catholic Church in Taiwan has continued to maintain close ties with both the state-sponsored and underground churches in China for decades. Almost all liturgical books composed in Mandarin Chinese and used in China are from Taiwan.
The Taiwan Church often sends priest-professors to teach in Chinese seminaries run by the state-run and underground churches. However, Taiwanese priests often cannot celebrate Mass openly in China out of fear of a state backlash.
As of 2020, there were 664 diocesan and religious priests and about 1,033 nuns in Taiwan. Yet the Church faces challenges to get priestly and religious vocations. In an interview, former Taipei archbishop John Hung Shan-chuan said: “The social status of the priests is not high. The people of Taiwan want their sons to be trained as doctors, professionals, technicians, financial leaders, but not priests.”
Interfaith marriage also poses a challenge for the Church. Catholics who marry non-Christians tend to stop practicing their faith. In 2014, Maryknoll started a Catholic dating site, Love Cana, to help Catholics find marriage partners.
The life and history of the Catholic Church in Taiwan is a great example of how the state and the society can benefit when ethnic and religious diversities are acknowledged and appreciated, and civil liberties and human rights are upheld.
This wonderful story should be a lesson for states and religious groups who are at war with each other, especially in China. Political and religious hawks need to realize useless fighting can bring nothing good, but harmony can bring peace and prosperity.
* The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.
___________________________________________________________________
4.
Church in China: 2021 dominated by the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party
22nd February 2021
AsiaNews - www.asianews.it
Church in China: 2021 dominated by the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party
By: Bernardo Cervellera
This year's work program for Catholics has been drawn up by bishops and the Patriotic Association. Deepen the history of the Party, the Long March, Socialism, aligning with the leadership of
Xi Jinping. A Theological Forum on Sinicization is also planned. More than a "pastoral" program, it is a political program in which the "independent and autonomous Church" is exalted.
Rome (AsiaNews) - July 23, 1921 is the date of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. The event occured in Shanghai in what was once the French Concession. One hundred years after that date, in 2021, the Catholics of China will hold a symposium "in memory of the centenary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party" and will deepen their understanding of "the moving events during the period of the Long March", which laid the foundations for the definitive victory of Mao Zedong over Chiang Kai Shek.
The information is reported in an article published in the state-Catholic magazine "The Church in China", by a certain Hui Jing, citing a preparatory meeting between the Chinese bishops and the leaders of the Patriotic Association, held in early February.
The symposium and the study of the Long March are just some of the events that will characterize the program of ecclesial commitments drawn up by the Council of Bishops and the PA for this year.
The article lists "formation courses in collaboration with the Central Institute of Socialism"; preparatory courses for the national gathering of the "Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference" (held in March); the "construction of the Patriotic Association", and much more.
Naturally, Catholics are firstly required to deepen "the guidelines of the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party and the 5th Plenary Session of the 19th National Congress", as well as assimilate "Xi Jinping's thinking on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era”, strengthening “our awareness of the need to maintain political integrity, to think in general terms, to follow the heart of the leadership and keep in line with the central Party leadership."
If there are those who find this lacking in pastoral and religious terms, the program provides for the assimilation of the Party's vision of the Catholic religion: in 2021 believers will also be called upon to familiarize themselves with "the laws and regulations concerning the Regulation on religious affairs and Measures for the administration of religious communities, carrying out the principles of love for the homeland and love for religion, the independent and autonomous Church, the democratic management of the Church."
Beyond the titles and slogans, 2021 will be a period in which the Catholic Church in China must "assimilate" the vision of a "State Church", subject in all respects to the orders of the Patriotic Association and to the Party vision. And despite the provisional agreement between China and the Vatican, with the so-called recognition of the Pope as head of the Church, the principle of the "independent and autonomous Church" and of "democratic management" is reaffirmed, which actually means the submission of bishops to the Patriotic Association.
In this political (rather than pastoral) program, the only element vaguely linked to the mission of the Church is that of Sinicization, of bringing Christian theology closer to Chinese culture. And indeed, the program includes the convening of a "Theological Forum on Sinicization, [whose] topics will include rites, sacred music and art, etc.".
What a pity that this too is under the supervision and control of the Patriotic Association, an organization linked to the Communist Party which for the most part is made up of atheist officals. And in fact, far from being an attempt to nurture faith within Chinese culture (a fact that has existed for a long time), Sinicization is only a nationalist translation of the Party’s political control over the Catholic Church.
End
CATHOLIC CHURCH UPDATES
February 2021
6 Updates
1. INFO from US-China Catholic Association.
2. Hong Kong Catholic nominated for Nobel Peace Prize.
3. A silent massacre of Hong Kong's freedoms.
4. 'Catholic well' supplies clean water to Mongolian families
5. Chinese Catholics urged to help state fight pandemic.
6. New issue of the e-journal „Religions & Christianity in Today’s China“ 2021, No. 1
INFO
US-China Catholic Association
Speaker series - Online event
The Vessel Overturned:
Current Views on Hong Kong Christian Civic Life
Presented by: Lida V. Nedilsky, Ph.D.
February 25, 2021
5 pm Pacific / 6 pm Mountain / 7 pm Central / 8 pm Eastern time
More Info please click the link https://www.uscatholicchina.org/event-20210225
Dialogue of Civilizations
28th International Conference of the US-China Catholic
Association
cosponsored by the Department of Sociology, Santa Clara
University
August 6 - 8, 2021
More Info please click the link https://www.uscatholicchina.org/conference-2021
USCCA STUDY TOURS
Connecting Chinese and Americans in fraternity, faith, and mutual respect.
More Info please click the link https://www.uscatholicchina.org/tour
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2.
Hong Kong Catholic nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
3rd February 2021
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
Hong Kong Catholic nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
'Father of democracy' Martin Lee singled out by Norwegian MPs for devoting his life to the cause
By: Luke Hunt
Martin Lee Chu-ming, known to many as the "father of Hong
Kong democracy," has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize after China’s crackdown on the enclave effectively dashed promises of universal suffrage made before the 1997
handover.
Two Norwegian parliamentarians nominated the veteran
pro-democracy leader, saying he was “a source of inspiration for the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong and advocates for freedom around the world.”
He is currently on bail awaiting trial following his
arrest last year with 14 others for unauthorized assembly in the wake of massive pro-democracy marches in August and October 2019.
Lee, a London-trained Catholic barrister, championed
democracy for many years as Britain negotiated the handover of its then colony to Beijing and worked closely with its last governor, Chris Patten.
He was founding chairman of the first pro-democracy party,
the United Democrats of Hong Kong, in 1990 and led its successor, the Democratic Party, while serving in the territory’s legislature for more than two decades.
Importantly, he served on the drafting committee for the
Basic Law, also known as Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, which was supposed to guarantee 50 years of autonomy under the “one country, two systems” framework while protecting basic rights including
freedom of assembly and free speech.
Lee, 82, was nominated for the Peace Prize by two members
of the Norwegian Conservative Party, Mathilde Tybring-Gjedde and Peter Frolich, who noted Lee had devoted his life to the cause.
“Martin Lee Chu-ming has pursued every avenue for over 40
years that has been at his disposal for the aim of securing freedom and safety for the people of Hong Kong,” Tybring-Gjedde said.
As a politician and member of the legal profession Lee had
fought for a democratic constitution in Hong Kong before and after the 1997 handover, Frolich said.
“He has worked peacefully for democratic institutions,
free elections by universal suffrage, and political and civil rights, even in the face of mounting pressure from mainland China,” he said.
Their nomination of Lee will anger the Chinese government
and irritate pro-Beijing supporters in Hong Kong, where the crackdown on pro-democracy activists and their arrests have sparked a long-running outcry, particularly in the
West.
Britain has responded, offering special visas with the
right to remain in the UK to holders of the British National (Overseas) passports, which were issued prior to the handover.
About 5 million Hong Kongers are eligible and at least
300,000 are expected to apply, with about 7,000 taking up the offer in the last six months of 2020.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee normally announces the Nobel
Peace Prize in October before it is presented in December. However, there have been exceptions when no awards have been made due to war or a lack of suitable
candidates.
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3.
A silent massacre of Hong Kong's freedoms.
22nd January 2021
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
HONG KONG
A silent massacre of Hong Kong's freedoms
As church leaders stand on the wrong side of history, we must hope that Catholics keep their soul and values intact
By: Benedict Rogers
Hong Kong is facing today its almost silent, legislative Tiananmen. No shots have been fired, no tanks are on the streets, no soldiers are pulverizing protesters. Instead, bit by bit, with every
knock on the door, every arrest, every threat, Beijing is carrying out a massacre of Hong Kong’s freedoms and occupying every corner of Hong Kong’s public square.
There have been many nails hammered into the coffin of Hong Kong’s freedoms over the past few years, from abductions and disqualifications to deportations, unjust arrests and police brutality.
The imposition of the draconian national security law, the ensuing detention of activists and the removal of the entire pro-democracy camp from the legislature were among the final straws.
But if we thought things could not get any worse, 2021 began with the biggest single mass arrest of recent times. On Jan. 6, some 53 pro-democracy politicians and activists were charged under the
national security law for the simple act last summer of conducting a primary election to choose their candidates for the expected Legislative Council elections, which were, of course, subsequently
postponed for a year anyway, using the pandemic as an excuse.
The swoop marked the latest death knell for any hope of any semblance of promised representative democracy in Hong Kong. Such hope had already been snatched away in November when Beijing disqualified
four pro-democracy legislators and their remaining colleagues quit in solidarity, protesting that they could be next.
But few expected that former legislators, candidates, academics, pollsters, lawyers and activists, ranging from the most moderate democrats to those more radical, would be hit by a dawn raid by Hong
Kong police early in the new year for having conducted an electoral exercise to give the public a say in choosing candidates six months earlier.
We have since seen further arrests, including of 11 Hong Kongers charged with assisting 12 youths who tried to flee the city by boat last August. Among them are lawyer and district councilor Wong
Kwok-tung, independent musician Fok Long-chai and a Ukrainian national.
In a shameful act of poor judgment, British barrister David Perry QC was hired by the Hong Kong government to prosecute not only pro-democracy Catholic media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai but also Martin
Lee, a senior Catholic barrister and father of Hong Kong’s democracy movement, respected barrister Margaret Ng and others.
He rightly came under a torrent of criticism from fellow lawyers such as Catholic barrister Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, director of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, former
UK justice secretary Lord Falconer and UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab, who described him as “mercenary.” Under the glare of worldwide condemnation, Perry withdrew, and rightly so.
The truth is that within a year Hong Kong has gone from being an open, if turbulent, city to a closed city of repression, fear and lies. There are a handful of courageous media outlets, journalists,
religious leaders and activists who continue to push the boundaries, test the limits and speak the truth, but they are fewer and braver and they risk much more than in the past.
Before last July, I was in daily contact with friends in Hong Kong, talking freely, exchanging ideas, communicating a mix of political ideas, spiritual encouragement and informal jokes. Today, I
hardly hear from anyone on the ground in Hong Kong and I am ultra-cautious about contacting anyone — and the few I do, it is only to exchange pleasantries.
Attack on religious freedom
Besides the mass arrests and the political repression, there are two other dimensions to this all-out assault on freedom. The first is the attack on religious freedom; the second is the complicity of
the banks.
Until relatively recently, some might say that political freedoms have gone but churches are free to worship and religious freedom has not been impacted. I always knew that was nonsense because as
soon as freedom itself is attacked, it’s only a matter of time before freedom of religion or belief is compromised. And sure enough, it’s happening.
We have seen a police raid on the Good Neighbour North District Church, simply because its brave and inspiring pastor, Roy Chan, dared to stand between young protesters and the police in 2019 and
effectively said to the police, “Beat me, not the kids.” But worse than the cops raiding a church is the fact that HSBC, a global bank, has frozen the assets of the church, the pastor and his family.
It also froze the accounts and credit cards of former pro-democracy legislator Ted Hui and his relatives. This despicable conduct by a multinational bank should not be tolerated by consumers. Whose
side is it on, its global customers in the free world or the tyrants in Beijing? HSBC must now choose.
The Catholic Church has a choice to make too. Hong Kong’s retired Cardinal Joseph Zen is clear on what side he stands, and his long and courageous record of speaking for freedom is there for all to
see.
Hong Kong’s apostolic administrator, Cardinal John Tong Hon, is equally clear — he has signaled the siren of surrender.
In banning a public prayer campaign for Hong Kong’s freedoms, inspired by a call for prayer by the president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, Cardinal Charles Bo, and in issuing a
heartbreaking instruction to clergy to “watch your language” in homilies, as well as refusing to stand in the way of the rollout of so-called “patriotic” education in Catholic schools in Hong Kong
and issuing instructions to students in Catholic schools not to participate in protests, the hierarchy in the Church in Hong Kong has stood on the wrong side of history. That said, so many of the
leaders of the movement for freedom in Hong Kong are Catholics, so many of them are already in jail or risk arrest, and all need our prayers and support. And, of course, we wait to see who will be
appointed the new bishop of Hong Kong.
We have a choice to make now. Do we give up, sell out or fight on?
Catholic social teaching does not countenance the first two options. So, we fight on, for Hong Kong’s freedoms and ultimately for freedom itself, even if the price is high, because the alternative —
selling our souls — requires an even higher price that is simply unacceptable.
I hope those in the Vatican, in the Diocese of Hong Kong and in institutions used to engaging with Hong Kong will reflect on these dilemmas and will, in the end, choose to hold their soul and values
intact. For that, ultimately, is the choice we must all make. It is time to choose sides.
* Benedict Rogers is a human rights activist and writer. He is the co-founder and chief executive of Hong Kong Watch, senior analyst for East Asia at international human rights organization CSW,
co-founder and deputy chair of the UK Conservative Party Human Rights Commission and a member of the advisory group of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC). The views expressed in this
article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4.
'Catholic well' supplies clean water to Mongolian families
14th January 2021
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
MONGOLIA
'Catholic well' supplies clean water to Mongolian families
Salesian mission plays an important role in the mission of the tiny Mongolian Church
UCA News reporter,
Ulaanbaatar
Every day hundreds of people from at least 300 families
line up to collect clean water from the Catholic mission station in Shuwuu, about 30 kilometers from Ulaanbaatar, capital of Mongolia.
This water point has been the only source of clean water
for hundreds of families in the area since it was set up in 1998.
Throughout the year, many more come from the countryside
to collect drinking water to take to their homes.
Safe drinking water is a rare commodity in Mongolia and
water scarcity is seen a threat to development in the mineral-rich Central Asian nation.
According to the 2030 Water Resource Group, groundwater
supplies for 80 percent of water consumption in the country have been constantly depleting amid the desiccation of rivers and lakes. Up to 40 percent of Mongolians have no access to safe water, while
in Ulaanbaatar roughly half of 1.3 million residents face water scarcity.
Charity groups estimate that one in every four primary
schools in Mongolia has no safe drinking water and students are compelled to use water from unsafe sources, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of children from diarrheal
disease.
Mongolia’s water crisis is a common global phenomenon.
According to UN-Water, about 2.1 billion people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water and by 2050 another 2 billion people in the world would push demand for water up to 30 percent higher than
today.
In many places in Mongolia, especially rural areas, tanker
trucks bring water to villagers from faraway water sources.
The water point was set up during the tenure of the late
Bishop Wenceslaus Padilla, of the Apostolic Prefecture of Ulaanbaatar, who led the tiny Catholic Church in Mongolia from 1992 to 2018.
Bishop Padilla, a Filipino, entrusted the mission center
to missionaries from the Salesians of Don Bosco in 2016. The Salesians have continued to serve people during challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a recent video on the clean water service, Solongo, a
local catechist, described the difficulties ordinary Mongolians in Shuwuu faced every day due to water scarcity before the well was set up.
“The well was an urgent need as the only water supply in
the village was done by trucks,” she said.
Tsegmed, a villager and mother of four, said her family
uses 10-15 liters of water for washing and cooking every day and it comes from the well of the mission.
“We needed more water during the Covid-19 pandemic to
clean ourselves and the house more frequently,” she said.
Mongolia, a nation of about 3.2 million, has been able to
keep Covid-19 at bay. It has recorded 1,456 cases and only two deaths thanks to a state of isolation since January 2020.
The pandemic, however, has caused suffering for many
Mongolians as some 28 percent of people live below the poverty line, a figure the World Bank expects to jump to 35 percent.
Poverty in Mongolia steadily declined from about 60
percent in 1990 thanks to the nation’s break-up with the Soviet Union and switching to a market economy. Mongolia’s economic rebound was mostly credited to foreign investment linked to vast mineral
resources and mining.
However, the excavation industry is also blamed for
gradual depletion of groundwater in many parts of the country.
Salesian Brother Andrew Le Phuong, director of the
Salesian planning and development office in Ulaanbaatar, said that despite the difficult situation during the pandemic they are glad to continue supplying water and expected to serve even more people
in the coming days.
“Our hope is that clean water services and the other
initiatives of the Salesians in Mongolia will become better known and attract more and more generous people around the world to contribute to our mission,” he told Salesians’ ANS
service.
Brother Andrew also functions as an important bridge
between potential donors or benefactors of the Salesian mission in Mongolia. He publishes a monthly newsletter on programs and activities of the Salesian mission that include a daycare
center-cum-elementary school, centers for street children and disadvantaged youth and a technical school.
The Salesian mission plays an important role in the
mission of the tiny Mongolian Catholic Church that has about 1,200 Catholics served by three churches.
____________________________________________________________
5.
Chinese Catholics urged to help state fight pandemic.
13th January 2021
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
Chinese Catholics urged to help state fight pandemic
Government-sanctioned church bodies ask Catholics to restrict activities
UCA News reporter, Hong
Kong
The official state-sanctioned Catholic Church in China has
asked Catholics to join their "thoughts and actions with the spirit" of Chinese President Xi Jinping's call to prevent and control the resurfacing Covid-19
pandemic.
The Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church in China
and the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association jointly issued a notice to all Catholic institutions and dioceses on Jan. 8 asking them to take precautions as people began to travel for the Lunar New
Year festival, which falls on Feb. 12 this year.
During the festival season, some 3 million people travel
across the country to be with their families in what the media calls the largest annual human migration.
The travel rush is expected to be less this year after
authorities issued Covid-19 restrictions and urged people to avoid travel as the virus continues to trouble the country.
The notice said the pandemic had recently spread to
several places in Hebei province and some people had spread rumors on social media linking the Catholic Church with the spread of the infection.
However, the Catholic Patriotic Association of
Shijiazhuang city and the Diocese of Shijiazhuang promptly clarified and dismissed the rumors.
At a Jan. 9 press conference, Li Zhanling, director of the
government Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs of Shijiazhuang city, said there was no evidence that the epidemic source was directly related to religious
gatherings.
The notice reiterated that "although there is no Covid-19
cluster in the Catholic area, we still need to be vigilant and strengthen prevention and control, especially as the spring festival is approaching."
Traditionally, Catholics gather for Masses and special
prayers in churches seeking blessings for the new year.
Catholics should "fully understand the current severe
situation" and "unify thoughts and actions with the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's series of important speeches on the prevention and control of the new epidemic," the notice
said.
The Communist Party's Central Committee and the State
Council have made arrangements to follow "strictness and tightness" in checking the pandemic spread "and will not slack in the prevention and control" of the
infection.
As travel has increased in the spring festival season,
church activities have been relatively concentrated and the pressure on epidemic prevention and control has increased.
"It is necessary to minimize the movement and gathering of
people, strictly control the number of religious activities such as the New Year's Thanksgiving Mass, and formulate various emergency plans to ensure safety and order," the notice
said.
It called on priests and church members to guide everyone
"to exert the patriotic spirit of the Catholic community to actively fight the epidemic" and abide by various prevention and control measures.
The notice also asked priests and church members to pray
for the early elimination of the pandemic.
Several provinces and major cities, including Beijing,
Shanghai and Shenzhen, have issued notices asking people to avoid unnecessary travel during the festival travel season of 40 days until the first week March.
In southern China, a similar notice was issued by the
official church of Guangdong province on Jan. 10, urging dioceses and parishes to take strict prevention measures for religious meetings and activities.
____________________________________________________________
6.
New issue of the e-journal „Religions & Christianity in Today’s China“ 2021, No. 1
2nd December 2020
China-Zentrum e.V. – „China heute“
Arnold-Janssen-Str. 22, 53757 Sankt Augustin, Germany
www.china-zentrum.de
New issue of the e-journal „Religions & Christianity in Today’s China“
Dear Readers,
Today we can present you the first issue 2021 of Religions & Christianity in Today’s China. As in other issues you can, first of all, find the News Update on recent events and general trends with
regard to religions and especially Christianity in today’s China.
In his article “A Perpetual Migrant Church? 125 Years of Orthodox Mission in Taiwan,” Fr. Dr. Piotr Adamek SVD, Fu Jen Catholic University in Taipei, describes how due to the lack of missionaries,
the Orthodox Church has remained a migrant church throughout Taiwan’s turbulent history. The 125th anniversary of the Orthodox mission in Taiwan is an opportunity to look back at its history and its
present situation.
The Xaverian father Dr. Paulin Batairwa Kubuya, formerly Fu Jen Catholic University in Taipei and now undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, speaks about his
book Meaning and Controversy within Chinese Ancestor Religion . In the book he looks at how ancestor related practices in the Chinese context were interpreted over the centuries.
As an African observer in Taiwan, he argues that ancestor related practices should be regarded as a religion.
All articles of this and the previous issues are available for free on our website here:
http://www.rctc-journal.org/
We are grateful for your interest and support and would also appreciate any donation to help us carry on with this
endeavor:
http://www.rctc-journal.org/
Yours sincerely,
The Editors
*** *** *** *** *** ***
Religions & Christianity in Today’s China - 2021, No. 1
Contents:
Editorial
News Update on Religion and Church in China
October 1 – December 2, 2020
Piotr Adamek
A Perpetual Migrant Church? – 125 Years of Orthodox Mission in Taiwan
Paulin Batairwa Kubuya
When Ancestors Are a Problem – Answers Questions about His Book: Meaning and Controversy within Chinese Ancestor Religion
In order to download these articles or the whole issue please click here:
http://www.rctc-journal.org/
End
CATHOLIC CHURCH UPDATES
January 2021
6 Updates
1. Bishop Andrew Han Jingtao, a ‘giant of culture and faith’ of the underground Church, dies.
2. In One Of China's Rare Catholic Communities, Christmas Is A Colorful Mix Of Customs.
3. Second bishop ordained under renewed Vatican-China deal.
4. The three great pillars of Chinese Catholicism
5. An unwavering bridge: Forty years building relations between the Church in China and the universal Church.
6. Msgr Thomas Chen Tianhao is the new bishop of Qingdao
1.
Bishop Andrew Han Jingtao, a ‘giant of culture and faith’ of the underground Church, dies.
31st December 2020
Bishop Andrew Han Jingtao, a ‘giant of culture and faith’ of the underground Church, dies
By: Bernardo Cervellera
A great scholar, he spent 27 years in a forced labour camp, and later taught at a university. He was also appreciated by prison authorities. Upon becoming bishop in 1982, he divided his time between academic and pastoral work. After 1997 he was under constant police surveillance. He was a supporter of the Legions of Mary and founder of the Women's Congregation of Mount Calvary.
Rome (AsiaNews) – Mgr Andrew Han Jingtao, underground bishop of Siping (Jilin), passed away last night at 11pm (Beijing time). He was 99 years old.
Described by some faithful as “a giant of culture and faith” of the unofficial community, Bishop Han was a great scholar from an early age.
His first studies took place under the direction of Canadian missionaries from Quebec, to whom the apostolic vicariate was entrusted.
His great culture was even recognised by the authorities of the forced labour camp where he spent 27 years (1953-1980) for refusing to join the “independent and autonomous” Church, following Mao Zedong’s directives.
Once free, the authorities hired him to teach English at Changchun University. A few months later he became associate professor at the Institute for the History of Ancient Civilisations at Northeast Normal University.
He taught undergraduate, master and doctoral students, and introduced many Chinese to the study of classical cultures and languages (Latin and Greek).
In 1987 he retired from teaching, but not from his Church and missionary work. Even before his imprisonment, he had focused on educating the laity through the Legions of Mary, pushing them to pray, proclaim and engage in charity work. At the same time he had started a congregation of nuns, later called “Mount Calvary”.
He said that in the 1950s, the regime tried to “get rid of the Pope's interference and expel foreign missionaries. At that time, I realised that the Church was facing a great challenge and needed great strength to resist; otherwise, she would not be able to stand up. This is why I decided to establish a religious congregation.”
In 1982 he was appointed bishop of Siping, but his ordination took place in secret in 1986. For several years, he had to divide his time between pastoral work and university commitments.
In the early 1980s, the government unified all ecclesiastical districts in Jilin province into a single diocese, that of Jilin. The Diocese of Siping, still recognised by the Holy See, coves sections of Jilin province, Inner Mongolia and Liaoning.
Starting in 1997, his home came under constant surveillance making his ministry difficult. Even the congregation of nuns he founded went through a difficult time: convents shut down, members dispersed, secret reopenings, members living in various underground communities.
According to the latest figures, the diocese has about 30,000 members, including 20,000 in the unofficial Church and 10,000 in the official one, with 20 priests and a hundred religious Sisters.
The diocese also offers some social services, including an orphanage and a medical centre.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2.
In One Of China's Rare Catholic Communities, Christmas Is A Colorful Mix Of Customs.
25th December 2020
Heard on All Things Considered
For the past 150 years, Cizhong Church in southwestern Yunnan province has been home to one of China' rare Catholic communities.
Amy Cheng/NPR
Cizhong Church in China's southwestern Yunnan province is bathed in a golden light on Christmas Eve.
The faithful are streaming into the church in full Tibetan regalia, with the women splitting off to sit on the left in their bright pink headscarves and silk brocades, and the men to the right in cowboy hats and shearlings. Neighbors wave at each other. Heavily swaddled children run up and down the church aisle.
The rare Catholic community has survived more than 150 years here in the village of Cizhong, just a few dozen kilometers away from the border with both China's Tibetan region and Myanmar.
Their traditions are a colorful mixture of Buddhist and Christian practices. The church embodies this amalgamation: painted Buddhist lotuses spiral around the balustrades, while Tibetan yin and yang symbols panel the ceiling.
Inside, several hundred of Cizhong's faithful chant Catholic prayers — with a twist. My companion in the pews explains their prayers and their Bible were originally written in Latin but were translated by French and Swiss fathers into Tibetan — and written phonetically in Chinese characters. Outside, church attendants light round after round of firecrackers to announce the official beginning of mass.
The traditions of the Catholic community in Yunnan province are a mixture of Buddhist and Christian practices. The Cizhong Church embodies this amalgamation.
Amy Cheng/NPR
Cizhong lies in a part of Yunnan province that is predominantly Tibetan and Naxi, another ethnic minority. They are both largely Buddhist. In 1852, the first French missionaries settled up river from here.
In 1905, Buddhist Tibetans attacked, killing at least two fathers and driving out the survivors downriver, to Cizhong, where the church they rebuilt four years later stands today.
"They further withdrew to essentially avoid the influences of the state. That withdrawn nature allows them to maintain that identity and that culture, despite outside influences elsewhere in China," says Matthew Chitwood, a researcher who once lived in the region.
Cizhong's remote location then helped it weather the decades after 1949, when China's now ruling Communist Party took control of the country, ushering in a period of political turmoil and often violent persecution of religious and intellectual leaders.
Members of the faithful filled the Cizhong Church in China's southwestern Yunnan province on Christmas Eve.
Amy Cheng/NPR
During this time, the Cizhong church was defaced of much of its Chinese and Buddhist inscriptions. It narrowly escaped full demolition because its hefty stone walls proved too difficult to burn down.
China today still does not allow free and unfettered religious worship. The state has demolished religious sites and imprisoned Islamic and Christian religious leaders.
A woman says a prayer during Christmas Eve services at Cizhong Church.
Amy Cheng/NPR
But now Cizhong is rising in prominence as authorities work to rebrand Deqin county, where Cizhong is located, and neighboring Zhongdian county as attractive tourism destinations. In 2001, the area was renamed "Shangri-la," after the fabled but fictional utopia of religious tolerance described in the novel Lost Horizon.
"Having this community of Catholics has also allowed the government to promote the community, you know, as a sort of a tourist spot because of this Catholic identity," says Brendan Galipeau, an assistant professor of anthropology at National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan who has done fieldwork in Cizhong.
Wine-making is becoming a draw. Cizhong's first French fathers brought with them grape vine cuttings with them from France, and they grow to this day in a vineyard adjacent to the church. More than 20 years ago, villagers began nurturing the vines once again and planting new cuttings on their own plots of land to make a range of full-bodied red wines and ice wines that have further drawn in tourists.
The region is also the site for official poverty alleviation projects, bringing in about 400 new residents relocated from even more remote villages nearby.
"There's a big concern the Catholics, who had been a majority, are now going to become a minority in the community," says Galipeau.
In the past four years, the local county government tore down nearly all the rice fields and replaced them with squat cement homes for the new residents, more than doubling the size of Cizhong. The sound of construction is ubiquitous.
So is the state scrutiny. NPR was followed by several government minders in Cizhong who questioned anyone NPR spoke with.
I tried to meet Xiao Jieyi, a French-speaking 90-year-old Tibetan Catholic who once aspired to be Cizhong's priest. Those ambitions were dashed when the church was closed during a decade of political turmoil in the 1960s.
Now, while Xiao can sing First Noel to us, he cannot talk freely. He receives a phone call as soon as I step into his courtyard: it is the police. He tells me - there are orders from above.
The same thing happens when I try to meet with Yao Fei, Cizhong's first resident priest since the 1950s. (The last one, Reverend A.F. Savioz, was expelled from China in 1952.) In 2008, Father Yao was sent to Cizhong by the state-run Catholic Association of China, which is not recognized by the Vatican, and now runs several masses a week.
Cizhong's celebrations conclude on Christmas Day with hours of Tibetan music and dancing. Worshipers bring large cakes — which they pile in front of the altar to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Later, the cakes are distributed to anyone who comes by.
Amy Cheng/NPR
A child smiles as she listens to men playing music during Cizhong's Christmas celebrations.
Amy Cheng/NPR
"Merry Christmas," he manages to tell me as he finishes receiving confessions before rushing off to mass. After the service, he remains surrounded by several state minders who also prevent NPR from speaking individually to revelers.
Cizhong's two-day celebrations conclude on Christmas Day with hours of Tibetan music and dancing. Worshipers bring large birthday cakes, which they pile in front of the altar to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Later, the cakes — as well as large vats of chicken-infused rice liquor — are distributed to anyone who comes by, including many Buddhist relatives who enjoy the festivities and help with the preparations. Many families are mixed religion, with both Buddhists and Christians among their ranks.
"Buddhism, like Christianity, has many sects, but none of us have disputes," said a Tibetan Buddhist surnamed Xu, who spent Christmas eve slaughtering pigs with several of the Catholic choir boys, for the communal lunch the next day. "It is simple. You believe in your god, and I believe in mine."
Amy Cheng contributed research from Cizhong, Yunnan.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3.
Second bishop ordained under renewed Vatican-China deal.
23rd December 2020
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
Father Peter Liu Genzhu becomes bishop of Hongdong in Shanxi province
UCA News reporter, Hong Kong
The ordination of Father Peter Liu Genzhu as bishop of Hongdong (Linfen) on Dec. 22. (Photo: chinacatholic.cn)
A bishop has been ordained in China with the approval of both the country’s communist regime and the Vatican in the second such ceremony since an agreement between the two was renewed in October.
Father Peter Liu Genzhu was ordained bishop of Hongdong (Linfen) on Dec. 22 in Shanxi province.
The ordination came just a month after Bishop Thomas Chen Tianhao of Qingdao, Shandong, was ordained on Nov. 23, the first ordination with the approval of the Holy See and the Chinese government under the provisional agreement.
The Vatican and China signed an agreement on bishops’ appointments in September 2018 for two years and it was renewed in October. The details of the agreement have not been published.
The episcopal ordinations were considered the authentic fruits of the agreement, according to a source from the Holy See.
Candidates went through the process of episcopal election from the local Church and the selections were recognized by Chinese authorities and approved and appointed by Pope Francis, the source told UCA News on Dec. 23.
The system is expected to become the normal practice of bishop appointments in China.
Under the provisional agreement, the election result is communicated to the Holy See and only after an investigation can the decision be approved and an appointment made by the pope.
The papal appointment of Bishop Liu was confirmed in November, a month after the renewal of the Vatican-China provisional agreement on Oct. 22.
The controversial provisional agreement, which has been renewed for another two years, aims to end China's communist government directly appointing Catholic bishops without papal recognition.
The ordination of 54-year-old Bishop Liu was held at the Catholic church in Hongdong County Square, according to the official website of the state-approved Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in China (BCCCC) and the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA).
The consecration was presided by Bishop Paul Meng Ningyou of Taiyuan, deputy director of the provincial CCPA. Other concelebrants included Bishop Wu Junwei of Yuncheng, Bishop Ding Lingbin of Changzhi and Bishop Ma Cunguo of Shuozhou.
At the ceremony, Father Yang Yu, deputy secretary general of the Council of Chinese Bishops, announced the mandate of Bishop Liu on behalf of the BCCCC in an approval letter dated Dec. 16 in which papal approval of the candidate was noted.
About 63 priests joined the celebration along with 200 seminarians, nuns and Catholics from dioceses across the province.
Bishop Liu succeeds Bishop Joseph Sun Yuanmo, who died in 2006 after a long illness.
Born in 1966 in Hongdong, Bishop Liu graduated from the Shaanxi Catholic Theological and Philosophical Seminary in Xian in 1991 and was ordained a priest in the same year. He was appointed vicar general of Lifen Diocese in 2010 and was a deputy director of the provincial CCPA.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4.
The three great pillars of Chinese Catholicism
14th December 2020
US-China Catholic Association
Fr. Michael, USCCA director@uscatholicchina.org
The three great pillars of Chinese
Catholicism
At this time in the Church’s year, we celebrate the memory of Leon LI Zhizao (1565–1630), Paul XÚ Guangqi, (1562–1633), and
Michael YÁNG Tíngyún (1557–1627). These renowned scholar officials lived during the Ming Dynasty and became ardent champions of a new teaching brought to China by missionaries from the West,
Christianity.
All three men were thoroughly trained in the Chinese classics. They were highly respected for their integrity. And they rose
to high position in the Empire. Paul Xu eventually rose to the rank of Deputy Senior Grand Secretary, roughly equivalent to prime minister of the realm.
These men met the Jesuit Matteo Ricci and his companions, engaging with them in wide-ranging conversations about everything
from mathematics and astronomy to ethics and spirituality.
In their encounter with the Gospel, they did not view Christianity as a foreign faith that posed a threat to Chinese culture –
quite the opposite. Yang, Xu, and Li were men who had committed their lives to the traditions of their ancestors and the good governance of the realm. They saw Christianity as providing a sure
foundation for their efforts, its capstone and guarantee. Why be virtuous? Because the world has a moral structure whose Lord is a benevolent redeemer of our broken inner and outer
lives.
Many scholars have misunderstood this historical moment of encounter. Even the great Jonathan Spence has treated the
mathematics, map making, and Western science brought by the Jesuits as mere strategic efforts to gain a hearing for Christianity, as if religion were some category set apart. Such a way of thinking
of religion as set apart in its own sphere is thoroughly foreign to the Renaissance humanism of the early Jesuits, who saw God at work in the majesty of the cosmos, the order of mathematics, and the
beauty of friendship.
At the core of Jesuit spirituality is the imperative of St. Ignatius: See God in all things! And so the Jesuits, for their
part, also appreciated how God was at work in Chinese culture.
During this season of Hope, as we await the Prince of Peace, let pray that those hopeful conversations that took in everything
from math to ethics to spirituality continue in our own day and in the generations to come.
*** *** *** *** *** ***
Also see this article by Jean Elizabeth Seah reprinted in the Hong Kong Sunday Examiner.
http://sundayex.catholic.org.hk/node/5016
USCCA Website: https://www.uscatholicchina.org/
Inspired by the Gospel, the mission of the US-China Catholic Association is to build bridges of friendship and dialogue
between people of China and the United States by offering educational, service, and cultural programs in support of the Church and the larger society.
Copyright © 2020 US-China Catholic Association, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this because you are subscribed to our newsletter list.
Our mailing address is:
US-China Catholic Association
1646 Addison St
Berkeley, CA 94703-1404
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5.
An unwavering bridge: Forty years building relations between the Church in China and the universal Church.
27th November 2020
Sunday Examiner - Hong Kong
http://www.examiner.org.hk/
POSTED IN CHINA, CHINA BRIDGE, FEATURES |
COMMENTARY, HONG
KONG
On 1 October 1980, the first four staff members—Father John Tong, Father Angelo Lazzarotto of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME), Father Elmer Wurth and Father Peter Barry, of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers (MM)—opened the doors of the Holy Spirit Study Centre.
The primary attitude of staff members on this milestone 40th anniversary is thanksgiving. First of all, we must thank God for the many graces he has bestowed on our centre throughout the last 40 years.
Secondly, we must thank John Baptist Cardinal Wu, then the ordinary bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong, for having the foresight to set up the centre to act as a bridge between the resurrected Church in China and the universal Catholic Church. We must thank the rector and staff of the Holy Spirit Seminary for giving us space for our office.
We must thank former staff members, like Father John Cioppa MM, who in 1979, when he was on the Maryknoll General Council, assigned Father Elmer Wurth and Father Peter Barry, and later, Father Michael Sloboda to Hong Kong for China research work.
We thank the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, the Paris Foreign Missions and the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM) for respectively assigning Father Angelo Lazzarotto, Father Gianni Criveller and Father Sergio Ticozzi, Father Bruno Lepeu and Father Pierre Jeanne, and Father Leo Van den Berg and Father Patrick Taveirne to work in our centre. Father Carlos Linera of the Dominicans also worked with us for many years. And let us not forget Jesuit Father Norman Walling and Father Ray O’Toole of Scarboro Missions.
The primary attitude of staff members on this milestone 40th anniversary is thanksgiving. First of all, we must thank God for the many graces he has bestowed on our centre throughout the last 40 years.
We thank the Maryknoll Sisters for assigning Sister Betty Ann Maheu, Sister Maureen Corr and Sister Miriam Xavier Mug and the Sisters of the Precious Blood for assigning Sister Beatrice Leung and Sister Goretti Lau to our centre. The latter sisters served as editors of the Chinese side of Tripod (later replaced by Catholic layperson, Anthony Lam), while Sister Maheu was editor of the English side for many years. We also thank all the faithful staff, past and present, who have worked with us over the years.
Above all, we thank the members of the Ricci Study Team and all our benefactors, who have supported us with their gifts and prayers over these 40 years, and we ask God to continually bless them with good health and many graces throughout their lives.
Looking back, I think we can say that during these 40 years we have never wavered from the mission given us by the centre’s real founder, Cardinal Wu, who instructed us: “Build a bridge between our brothers and sisters inside and outside of China, promoting the mission of reconciliation through the gospel.”
Exchange visits soon began to take place. An example of visits abroad by church people from China, was the invitation in 1986 of the United States (US) Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities to 10 Chinese bishops, priests and lay people to visit the US.
When Holy Spirit Study Centre first started, our initial purpose was simply to help the Church in China to get back on its feet. In the beginning we
sent Bibles, catechisms and missals, and religious articles, such as medals and rosaries, to the newly awakening Christian communities in China. Then we helped the various dioceses, now numbering
about 100, from the 144 in 1949, to apply for funding from overseas agencies to re-build churches, seminaries and convents.
Exchange visits soon began to take place. An example of visits abroad by church people from China, was the invitation in 1986 of the United States (US) Association of Catholic Colleges and
Universities to 10 Chinese bishops, priests and lay people to visit the US.
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The bishops were Bishop Michael Fu Tieshan of Beijing, Bishop Alysius Jin Luxian of Shanghai, and Bishop Bernardine Dong Guangqing of Wuhan, plus some priests and lay people. Father Laurence T. Murphy mm, who was at that time the secretary general of the association, organised the trip.
The group visited the University of San Francisco, Notre Dame, Fordham, Saint Elizabeth’s in Convent Station, New Jersey, and the Catholic University in Washington, DC. In every place the delegation met local Church leaders as well as university personnel. Father John Tong and Father Peter Barry accompanied the group as translators.
In recent years, Father Bruno Lepeu MEP, and Annie Lam of our centre organised formation programmes for Chinese Catholics on Church-related topics, such as marriage and family. The participants and their Church leaders greatly appreciated these exchanges.
All the above activities have been written up in previous publications, most notably in a pictorial history Sister Maheu, then English editor of the centre’s journal, Tripod, edited for the centre’s 25th anniversary. Tripod, 197 issues of which have been published since 1980, started as a vehicle for dialogue with Chinese intellectuals.
I would like now to relate some satisfying experiences of my own involvement in this China liaison work. One day during the summer of 1994 I went up to Jilin Province in China’s northeast, to visit some members of my missionary society, Maryknoll, who were teaching English in the Korean Autonomous Region.
When I met the rector of the seminary, the first words out of his mouth were, “Qing jiao women yixie dongxi,”— “Please teach us something.”
Maryknoll used to be in charge of the Diocese of Fushun in that area. Since I speak Mandarin, one of my confrères suggested that I stop at the Jilin Seminary to see if I could be of any use to them. So that’s what I did.
When I met the rector of the seminary, the first words out of his mouth were, “Qing jiao women yixie dongxi,”— “Please teach us something.” The reader must remember that there were not many trained professors in Chinese seminaries in those days. Two old priests taught catechism from old manuals and acted as spiritual directors. The rector taught moral theology and a deacon taught dogmatic theology.
Not really knowing what to say, I blurted out: “OK, give me a Chinese Bible.” I stayed at the seminary for three days. My next problem was what to teach the seminarians.
Luckily I studied theology at Maryknoll from 1961 to 1965, at the same time that Vatican Council II was taking place. Almost every day, our professors would tell us what was happening at the council.
One day, in April 1964, our professor of New Testament came into class brandishing a piece of paper. Waving it, he said one sentence: “Now we can believe in Sitz im leben.” That was a German phrase which meant “situation in life.”
The document, issued that month by the Biblical Commission in Rome, was entitled Sancta Mater Ecclesia, and was on the historicity of the gospels. It pointed out that there were three stages in the formation of the gospels: the situation in the life of Jesus, the situation of the early Church and the situation of the evangelist.
Not really knowing what to say, I blurted out: “OK, give me a Chinese Bible.” I stayed at the seminary for three days. My next problem was what to teach the seminarians.
German Protestant biblical scholars expounded this theory of Bible study in the mid-1800s. The Biblical Commission’s document declared that now we
Catholic students of the Bible could accept the explanation of this process in the formation of the gospels.
This explanation was also incorporated into Vatican II’s own document on Revelation, Dei Verbum, the following year, 1965 (paragraph 19).
I told my students in Jilin in 1994, that while the gospels are historically accurate, we may wonder why some things were chosen to be included and other things left out. As a conclusion to his gospel John would write: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.” (John 20: 30-31)
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I covered the characteristics of each of the four gospels. For instance, Matthew’s gospel has passages like, “You have heard that it was said, ‘an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,’ but I say to you, ‘love your enemies, do good to those who persecute you.’” One of Luke’s characteristics is “filled with the Holy Spirit,” whenever Jesus or one of the Apostles said or did something. John has many “I am” sayings, like I am the way, the truth and the life,” “I am the bread of life,” I am the Good Shepherd,” etc. I emphasised to my students that Catholic seminarians must know these characteristics of the gospels.
I told them that the 1964 document of the Biblical Commission is an example of St. Anselm’s definition of theology, Fides quaerens intellectum,—“Faith seeking understanding.”
The three stages in the formation of the gospels are tools to help us understand the background of the gospels. In fact, they were incorporated into
the Catechism of the Catholic Church of Pope John Paul II in 1994 (para. 126), which however calls them by a different name: 1. the life and teaching of Jesus,
2. the oral tradition, and 3. the written Gospels. The footnote for all three is paragraph #19 of the Vatican II: Dogmatic Constitution on Divine
Revelation, Dei Verbum.
That single incident in my life demonstrates what we have been trying to do for the last 40 years.
We were not just passing on knowledge, but “a spirit.” Just as my professors at Maryknoll imparted to me a love for the sacred scriptures, so too, 30 years later, in 1994, I was trying to impart that same love for the Word of God to the seminarians of the Jilin Seminary.
We were not just passing on knowledge, but “a spirit.” Just as my professors at Maryknoll imparted to me a love for the sacred scriptures, so too, 30 years later, in 1994, I was trying to impart that same love for the Word of God to the seminarians of the Jilin Seminary.
I took my inspiration from the last chapter of Luke’s Gospel, when the two Emmaus disciples said: “Were not our hearts burning within us, as we were walking on the road and he explained the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32), or as Jesus did later for a larger group of disciples: “He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24: 45). PJB
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
6.
Msgr Thomas Chen Tianhao is the new bishop of Qingdao
23rd November 2020
AsiaNews - www.asianews.it
CHINA - VATICAN
By :Wang Zhicheng
Officially he would be the first bishop ordained according to the provisional agreement between China and the Vatican. The new bishop is considered very obedient to the government's religious policy. He is a member of the Standing Committee of the National Patriotic Association.
Beijing (AsiaNews) - Msgr Thomas Chen Tianhao, 58, is the new bishop of Qingdao (Shandong). His ordination took place this morning in the city cathedral, dedicated to St. Michael. Msgr. Fan Xingyao of Linyi, president of the National Chinese Patriotic Association presided over the ordination ceremony. The other concelebrating bishops were: Msgr. Yang Yongqiang of Zhoucun, vice president of the Council of Chinese bishops, and Msgr. Zhang Xianwang of Jinan, vice-president of the "liang hui", the "double organization", which includes the Council of Bishops and the Patriotic Association.
Some faithful have pointed out that the large presence of high-ranking members of the Patriotic Association is due to the fact that the newly ordained himself was president of the Patriotic Association of Qingdao, and since 2010 he has been a member of the Standing Committee of the National Patriotic Association.
According to some experts, this would be the first episcopal ordination to take place following the modalities prepared in the Provisional Agreement between China and the Holy See. But the consecration formula would have remained the old one, in which the mandate of the Council of Bishops is mentioned, but nothing is said about the Pope and the Holy See.
The new bishop is known as a loyal state official when it comes to religious policy. He succeeds Msgr. Giuseppe Li Mingshu, who died in June 2018.
Due to the limitations caused by the pandemic, the celebration was not open to everyone. But there were 21 priests and over 200 nuns and faithful.
Bishop Chen Tianhao was born in Pingdu (Shandong) in 1962. He studied in the Holy Spirit seminary in Shandong and in December 1989 was ordained a priest. According to official data, he was elected and appointed bishop of Qingdao on November 19, 2019.
Photo: chinacatholic.cn
END
CATHOLIC CHURCH UPDATES
November 2020
3 Updates
1. Does China really need more bishops?
2. All Saints' Mass in Shanghai Cathedral
3. The blood of martyrs, the seed of civilization: reflections on the life of St. Agatha Lin Zhao.
1.
Does China really need more bishops?
16th November 2020
UCA News - www.ucanews.com
Does China really need more bishops?
It is not good for the Church to structure itself as a territorial administration only
By: Michel Chambon
The recently renewed Sino-Vatican provisional agreement on appointing bishops has been questioned by many observers. Even though the Holy See has repeatedly reaffirmed the benefit of such a development, many commentators remain doubtful. For them, the agreement does not really bring any good to Chinese Catholics but gives more leverage to the administration to control the clergy.
In a context where political pressure and administrative interference on official and unofficial communities have increased significantly, many do not understand how the Holy See can present the agreement as positive.
The main critical argument refers to newly appointed bishops. Over the past two years, only a very few bishops came to office while many episcopal seats remain vacant. Thus, progress seems extremely limited while political pressure continues to increase. In the eyes of most observers, if the agreement is incapable of appointing new bishops, it only helps state officials to increase their anti-religious control. Thus, it brings more harm than good.
This rationale needs to be questioned. It is true that about 40 episcopal seats remain empty today. But which seats are we referring to? Due to historical reasons, the Holy See continues to apply the pre-1949 map of Chinese ecclesial structures. For Rome, the country remains organized into 143 jurisdictions (dioceses and apostolic prefectures). Yet many agree that this mapping of Chinese Catholicism is outdated and needs updates.
Over the past decades, the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association has unilaterally abolished or merged more than 40 ecclesial jurisdictions and established a few ones. Thus, in the eyes of Beijing, China counts only 104 Catholic dioceses. This means that Beijing and Rome do not share the same mapping of the Chinese Catholicism. And between their two conflicting maps, the exact number of needed bishops is unclear.
Still, a significant number of episcopal seats remain empty. Why? Is that beneficial or detrimental to the Church? I would like to take the example of one eastern province of the country to see how things work on the ground. Of course, this cannot summarize the complexity of the whole country. But it sheds light on factors we need to consider.
The province in question hosts four state-approved dioceses. Three are small in size but with a robust number of Catholics. The last one covers a vast and mountainous territory — almost half of the entire province — with small and scattered Christian communities. This extended diocese is the fusion of two apostolic prefectures plus a few parishes — a decision that has not yet been approved by Rome. During the Maoist Era and after, since they were no local priests, local Catholics were supported by clergy members visiting from nearby dioceses. Until today, this diocese has never had a bishop.
Before the agreement, one small diocese of this province had one official bishop and its ecclesial situation was relatively harmonious. Another diocese, however, was sharply divided between a vast majority of underground Catholics and a minority of official ones. While both camps had their own bishop, the state-approved bishop was excommunicated by Rome due to his illicit ordination. Thus, the 2018 provisional agreement reintegrated him into the communion of the Church. And to do so, the underground bishop was asked to become his auxiliary.
Yet tensions between priests remained extremely high. And just before the renewal of the Sino-Vatican agreement last month, the former underground bishop — a humble man with modest education dealing with a restless clergy and a devious Religious Affairs Bureau — finally resigned from his auxiliary office.
Then, if we move to the last diocese of the province, the situation is not really better. Before the agreement, the small state-sanctioned community had no bishop. For several years, more numerous underground Catholics were divided into two clans fighting each other. After internal reconciliation of the underground communities, and before the renewal of the Sino-Vatican agreement, the elderly underground bishop was finally recognized by the government as the official bishop of the diocese. No one can tell how this will reshape the diocese, nor how long the elderly bishop will survive. Still, things are on the move.
In sum, the province has currently three bishops — two with a fragile status despite a resourceful diocese — and one (or two) empty episcopal seat(s) depending on the map we apply.
Time needed for reconciliation
Where recent episcopal changes occurred, local communities and their regional networks need time to truly reconcile and find a way to work together. This cannot be imposed by Rome or Beijing. Yet this will impact new nominations across the province.
For example, one priest coming from the hometown of the former excommunicated bishop has been serving the vast and mountainous diocese for more than 20 years. Since his quality and modesty are indisputable, he has acted as diocesan administrator for years and would be the most suitable bishop. However, if the Holy See and Beijing appoint him, this will appear as more credit given to the circle of the formerly excommunicated bishop. In the current context, no one can predict how local underground Catholics will respond, and if they do not receive him, a formal appointment will bring more divisions than reconciliations.
Furthermore, many consider that in the vast territory of this rural diocese it might be better not having an identified head. Under the current decline of religious freedom, loose networks of Catholic communities are harder to grasp by civil authorities. Local Catholics like to repeat the saying: “The first bird to bob up will get shot.” Whoever will get appointed as bishop will become the target of political pressure. So, for a diocese with very limited resources, it might be better to keep a low profile — with no single head.
With these different ecclesial territories, each unfolding its own dynamics and influencing its neighbors, this province shows the complexity of the Church’s situation as well as the limited control of Beijing and the Holy See. Clearly, appointing more bishops is not a magical solution to all difficulties of the Church. This is clericalism. When a local context is sore, the Holy See knows how to wait before making a formal decision (see the recent appointment in Jerusalem). This is not weakness but cautiousness.
This being clarified, we may still ask what the Sino-Vatican agreement brings. Clearly, it does not multiply the number of bishops. However, we need to remember that over the past 40 years, Beijing and Rome have each demonstrated abilities to ordain more bishops. Both know how to be efficient and tough on that front.
Through coercion and kidnapping, the Chinese Communist Party has several times organized forced episcopal ordinations. On the other side, through special privileges and secret communications, the Holy See has let Chinese bishops ordain new bishops without papal nomination. So, if the Vatican or Beijing wants more bishops, they know how to get them. Yet those solutions have proven to generate all sorts of complications and disasters, not only detrimental to Chinese Catholics but to both authorities as well. In light of this tortuous path, the agreement appears as a bilateral effort to find an alternative solution.
The renewed Sino-Vatican agreement is about strengthening common ground acceptable for both authorities as well as for the different factions of Chinese Catholicism. Surely this is a slow process if we look solely from the perspective of newly appointed bishops. But the fact that all bishops are now in communion with Rome is a first step toward healing.
When Chinese Catholics and their clergy split into antagonist groups attacking each other, parts of the body of Christ suffer from other parts. This autoimmune disease is, of course, partially fueled by external pathogens that triggered the immune system of the Church. But since Chinese Catholics cannot be put into a sterilized bubble, the Holy See needs other options. Reintegrating excommunicated bishops, suspending institutionalized divisions, and regaining a certain control over episcopal nominations are ways to encourage the Church in China. It helps to regenerate some levels of communion within the Church. Yet the whole body needs to do his job. Fraternal communion cannot be imposed by Rome.
Therefore, I believe that evaluating the Sino-Vatican agreement only through newly appointed bishops is shortsighted. This is a very political, top-down and administrative approach. Having more bishops is not a solution to all problems. Moreover, turning the spotlight on bishops without considering the diversity of the Church is problematic. A tree cannot hide the forest. Which kind of ecclesiology are we promoting?
Among the many challenges that the Church in China is facing, there is one that we need to spell out. Unlike the rest of the world where local communities can be served by both, secular and regular clergy, the Chinese Church is supposedly unidimensional. Due to political constraints, the Church is only made of dioceses. Transregional as well as transnational religious orders are forbidden. Unlike in Paris, Nairobi or Buenos Aires where a single street can host a Dominican convent, a Franciscan chapel and a diocesan parish, Chinese streets cannot. Only parishes administrated by their diocese are allowed.
This undue political restriction may seem acceptable to some church leaders who look down upon the contribution of religious life. I have heard a well-educated Chinese priest telling me that the Church does not need monks since “we all know how to pray”. Others may use Vatican II to claim that bishops and their dioceses are the fundamental backbone of the Church. But this unidimensional ecclesiology fails to embrace the variety of Catholic needs and sensibilities.
Unlike elsewhere in the world where the Church is irrigated by two kinds of ecclesial institutions, local dioceses and transregional religious orders, the Church in China is forced to hop on one foot. Of course, underground networks of national religious orders exist. But their impact is limited. Thus, the necessary diversity of the Church tends to be institutionalized through an unhealthy opposition between “patriotic” and “underground” communities while traditional resources are left behind.
It is this challenge that we need to face. The lack of religious orders, especially male religious orders, is concerning in many countries. It is not good for the Church to structure itself as a territorial administration only. But in China the problem is worse and observers turn blind eyes. While the number of bishops is important, we should worry about the absence of transregional religious orders. Without them, the Body of Christ cannot deploy its diversity and deepen its spiritual roots. Without birds on its trees, a forest cannot really sing the glory of God. And it is this absence — unnoticed by most social scientists and journalists — that Catholics need to question.
* Michel Chambon is a French Catholic theologian and anthropologist. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.
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2.
All Saints' Mass in Shanghai Cathedral
2nd November 2020
AsiaNews - www.asianews.it
CHINA
All Saints' Mass in Shanghai Cathedral
By: Chiara Xu
Due to the pandemic, the number of Masses has increased so that fewer participants attend and approach the communion. Non-Christians often visit, especially young people. The seed of faith never dies, whatever soil receives it.
Shanghai (AsiaNews) – The Solemnity of All Saints, celebrated yesterday, was an unforgettable moment for the Church in Shanghai.
Given the unstable situation caused by the pandemic, it is difficult to ensure regular operations in the various parishes. However, in Shanghai, taking part in Sunday Mass was already possible in July, obviously with fewer worshippers but more daily Masses to give all Christians an opportunity for communion.
Yesterday, St Ignatius Cathedral (the Catholic church in Xujiahui) was packed with believers beyond belief. Groups of people prayed first in front of the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, and then entered the cathedral to wait for Mass.
When we arrived at the cathedral, the previous Mass had just ended. Every Sunday, four Masses are performed and each always has hundreds of worshippers.
The 10 am Mass started right on time. The celebrants headed towards the altar, accompanied by the sweet melody of the choir and the pipe organ.
My heart was pounding with feelings. I looked around and saw old people, young people, mothers and fathers with their children. As an international metropolis, Shanghai is home to Chinese and foreigners, but before God we are all his children, without distinction.
Inside the Cathedral, a solemn yet familiar atmosphere reigned. When they stood to pray, many worshippers kept their hands joined at the level of their heart, their head slightly lowered, an almost innate gesture, engraved in the depths of everyone's soul.
During the Eucharistic blessing, the assembly knelt in silence, their gaze turned to the altar, as if to fix hope and trust on Christ. Many were moved by the presence of the Eucharist.
Chinese Catholics have great faith. But non-believers have also shown a keen interest. Many people often arrive, especially young people, to visit places of worship. It is noted that the seed of faith never dies, whatever soil receives it.
Had Jesus Christ come as far as the Far East during his years of preaching, I think he would have come with the same mercy and love that he showed the people of Jerusalem, forgiving all sinners and behaving as he did in the encounter with the adulterous woman.
Perhaps he would not have condemned the "doctors" who were in power and who sought to eliminate the threat posed by Christ, nor Pontius Pilate who sentenced him to death.
* A. is a young baptised woman living in Shanghai.
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3.
The blood of martyrs, the seed of civilization:reflections on the life of St. Agatha Lin Zhao.
By: Fr. Dr. Peter ZHAO Jianmin
The life of St. Agata LIN Zhao (林昭)
St. Agata LIN Zhao (圣亚加大 林昭)was born in 1817 in a small village called Ma Chang (马场) , located in Xingyi County (兴义县) in the Province of Guizhou during Qing Dynasty, China. Her house were still standing in 1891 when Mgr. Guichard passed through there. He also suggested to buy that house to build a church. Her father LIN Guoxiang (林国相)was selling salt for the family living.
Her mother YIN Shi (尹氏),who lived to a ripe old age, was taking care of the family life as at that time no women could go out to work.
We do not know the exact time when this family was baptized. However, it is sure that they were converted by a Chinese catechist, St. Giuseppe ZHANG Dapeng(张大鹏). St. Agata Lin's father had been tortured several times by the county's local governor because he did not renounce his faith. When St. Agata Lin was born, her father was still in the county prison. Three days after her birth, St. Agata Lin was baptized by her mother, and later the family had to move to Longli County (龙里县), south of Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou Province, and they remained in Longli for three years.
At that time, there was a very popular Chinese custom: proposing a marriage by pointing to the stomach (指腹为婚) or proposing a child marriage by both parents of the children. When St. Agata Lin was a baby or very little, following the popular Chinese custom at that time, she was engaged by her parents to another catholic family of Liu in Ta-pa-tien(大坝田?) village. Perhaps her parents wanted her, when she was growing up, to marry into a catholic family. Compared with the population as a whole at that time, even today perhaps, Catholics were very few. So this child engagement was a good idea for both family and gave them catholic connections.
At that time, there was another Chinese custom. Only boys, if the family rich enough, were sent to a traditional private school (私塾) or a home school with private tutor in a village or a town. A large number of girls had no possibility of learning how to read or how to write unless the family was very rich. The parents, in a rich family, could pay a home tutor to come to their house to teach their girls. Therefore, the very ancient custom was that girls would not be educated and therefore they would remain within their husband's home to assist husband and bring up children (相夫教子). St Agata Lin's parents were not very rich. However, it is evident that St Agata Lin's parents were influenced by their Catholic faith and were so open-minded that they asked other catholic catechists to teach their girl to study Chinese language at the seven years age. This learning opened St Agata Lin's eyes.
Later, when St Agata Lin was growing up, her parents informed her of her “child engagement”. Nonetheless, she informed her parents that she did not wish to be married and she would like to be a virgin (贞女), to serve God. Because of this, her parents had to call off the “child engagement”.
When Fr. Matthew Liu(刘玛窦), a Franciscan priest, came to St Agata Lin's village for the Eucharist, she revealed her intention to the priest. Then, Fr. Liu discussed the matter with St Agata Lin's father and asked her father to send her to Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou Province. In the capital there were two schools, one for boys directed by a catechist, and one for girls guided by Chinese virgins from Sichuan, whose family name was Yuan(袁). A few months later, a persecution began and the two virgins had to move out of the town. Later, the first Chinese priest in Guizhou, Thomas Luo (骆文灿), whose ordination was on 23 May 1850, asked St. Agata Lin to initiate a girls school in a small and quiet village. This girls school was quite successful.
In 1852, Paul Yang's (杨保禄) family, newly converted to Catholic Faith, moved from Zhenning County (今贵州省安顺市镇宁布依族苗族自治县)to the village of Maokou (毛口) near Langdai County (今贵州省安顺市郎岱镇). In the 1 village Paul Yang distributed two books to a learned Chinese Lu Tingmei(卢廷美). One is Sheng Jiao Li Zheng (《圣教理证 published in 1852 by Bishop Bai (Etienne Raymond Albrand), Apostolic Vicar of Guizhou) and the other Zhen Dao Zi Zheng (沙守信的《真道自证),published in 1718 by the Jesuit Emeric de Chavagnac). Subsequently, Lu Tingmei's family were all baptized. Later, Lu Tingmei, namely St. Jerome Lu, was martyred with LIN Zhao. By the end of 1853, when Fr. Thomas Luo (骆文灿) came to Maokou, there were already more than 200 neophytes (men and woman) in the surrounding villages. These neophytes were mostly from ethnic Dongzu(侗族). Since the numbers of neophytes were growing rapidly and many of them were women, Fr. Thomas Luo and St. Jerome Lu asked the virgin St. Agata Lin to come to Maokou(毛口) to establish a female school to teach Catholic doctrine, reading and writing to the women and girls.
On 4th June 1857 behind the church in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou, a virgins community was established and those virgins in Guizhou were asked by the Apostolic Vicariate to be admitted to this community.
Some time later the governor of Anshun(安顺) Prefecture, to which Maokou village was subject, released a public notice that prohibited people to become a Catholic. In January 1858, Lawrence Wang Bing(王炳), who was a catechist in a nearby county named Puan County(普安县), south-west by 100 kilometers from Maokou, came to the small village to visit Jerome Lu Tingmei to discuss a project to build an oratory. Catechist Jerome Lu had prepared some donations and rice for building of the chapel.
On 27 January 1858, governor Dai(戴) with some soldiers, came from Langdai(郎岱厅), arrived at Maokou in the evening and surrounded the oratory there. Lawrence Wang, Jerome Lu and some other Christians were arrested. After being questioned, they were all released to go home but required to stay in their home. A little later Wang and Lu went to visit Agata Lin to let her knows there were freed. As usual at that time the female school(女堂) was separate from the male school(男堂). St Agata Lin encouraged them and said: “Prepare you souls. It may be martyrdom, or at least, most likely you will be taken to the town of Langdai for judgement.” Then, the two catechists returned to their home for night.
In the early morning, 28th January, the governor with Jerome Lu's uncle and some soldiers went to the river bank of the Maokou and selected a place for executing the death penalty. Then they returned to the village and arrested Jerome Lu, Lawrence Wang and a little later Agata Lin, the virgin catechist who was in charge of the female school. The governor ordered them to renounce their religion again.
However, they all refused.
After interrogating Jerome Lu and Lawrence Wang, governor Dai turned to St Agatha Lin and interrogated Agata Lin.
“What is your family name?”
“My family name is Lin”. Agata Lin answered.
“Which place are you from?”
“From Lao-ouang-tang, behind Hong-hoa-ti.”
“Your name Lin: is it your parents name or that of your husband when you were married?” Dai asked again.
“It is my parents name, because I am not married.”
“Why you don't want to marry?”
“Me, a poor and humble woman, I guard my virginity.” Lin answered.
“Ha! You guard your virginity! The whole world should get married. In renouncing marriage, you are destroying the five relations necessary for a human being. How can you come to Maokou? What are you coming here for? Why did you come here?”
“I come to teach books.”
“What books do you teach? You teach something to men, youth and old people?”
“In this place, the young girls ignore our language and our custom; I teach them that they can contract an honest marriage and then they can more easily have conversation with their parents and their husband. I also teach them obedience. At the end, these young girls can have their own honor which belongs to them.” Lin explained.
“You are a noble race of Chinese, how can you come so far to instruct Tchongkia-tse(侗家子, ethnic Dongzu)? What relationship do you have with these people? 4 You said you come to teach them. What you said is very foolish. All of you, and Teacher Wang, comes from Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou, to Maokou; you are from the place of Lao-ouang-tang, a distance of 80 or 90 Li (里); you all come to the place of Maokou! You are all race of Han Chinese, but you are doing well with the families of Tchong-kia-tse(ethnic Dongzu)! What are you really trying to do here? I am afraid that you may organize something. I am afraid that you are trying to start a rebellion. As for me, I am the governor, and I learned in my town Langdai (郎岱) that you are destroying stability a lot in this area. Really, I am afraid that later the country may suffer a serious harm. As the governor here, I come here to examine your doings. …... You said you come here to teach the Tchong-kia-tse(ethnic Dongzu). Teacher Wang also said the same thing. I am afraid that you are provoking a rebellion. As the governor, I require that you go to abandon this evil religion? ”
St. Agata Lin firmely replied: “I will not abandon it. Lu Da Shanren (卢大善 人) and Wang Shanren (王善人) are men. I am just a poor and humble woman, 5 virgin, and what I can do to destroy the public peace? Your great man ordered me to renounce my religion. How can I do that? I received it from my ancestors. A poor and humble woman, I adore the Supreme Spirit, the Highest God for everything. I cannot renounce my religion.”
“Nonsense! You are stupid! You even do not obey the governor. You do not know the difference between the governor and the Tchong-kia-tse(ethnic Dongzu). Ha! You come and conspire with Dong Jia zi! No doubt, you come to teach the 6 young people and the old people, even the governor orders you to renounce this sect and to rejoin your family, you refuse to obey, you look down upon the governor! I can sentence you to death, don't you understand?”
St Agata LIN Zhao was sentenced to death immediately.
The death penalty at that time had a procedure: the local governor had to report to the emperor to ratify the death penalty. According to “Laws and Regulations of the Qing Dynasty”(《大清律例》), the death penalty generally has two procedures: one is the execution immediately (斩立决), the other is a delayed execution (斩监侯). Normally, the death penalty would be carried out by hanging, in some most serious cases, it could be by beheading. In Chinese law and custom, beheading as a penalty was more serious than hanging. Nevertheless, both sentences needed to be ratified by the Qing Imperial Court (刑部) or by the emperor himself. Of course, there were exceptional cases that did not need the ratification of the Imperial Court, such as during a war. However, there are also other cases where the death penalty could be executed immediately in its place (就地正法), such as in the plot of treason (谋反), rebellion(叛乱) or gathering together to challenge the government(聚众抗官). According to the “laws and regulations of Qing Dynasty”, “Those who spread and promote sects are to be sentenced as slave to ethnic Elute according to the imperial edict, and in the case of those who escaped, on the recapture they were to be executed death immediately.”
During the rebellion of Heavenly Principles Sect (天理教) in Henan(河南) Province, Emperor Jiaqing(嘉庆) in September 1813 decreed that with regard to rebellions “on the one hand to record and report, and on the other hand to be executed to death immediately”. Possibly, this imperial edict could be the most recent example for local governors in Guizhou to deal with the matters of Catholic catechists. This imperial edict, in 1855, was influenced by the Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864) in Guangxi Province. The ethnic Miaozu, at that time, together with ethnic Dongzu in south-east of Guizhou, lead by Zhang Xiumei (张秀眉 1822-1872), started a rebellion at the end of 1855 and in September 1858 they even seized Zhenyuan county(镇远县), which is located east of Guiyang by about 250 kilometers.
Yet, how did the governor of Langdai dare to abuse his power to put the three catechists to death? It is evident that the governor of Langdai used the exceptional procedure to punish the three catechists with a death penalty under the guise of organizing a rebellion by the ethnic Dongzu, spreading a sect in the area and gathering together to disobey the government. Because of these three issues the governor of Langdai was able to abuse his power and sentence the three catechists to death in a way that “at one hand to record and report, and at the other hand to be executed death immediately”, a further factor was that in the same province the ethnic Miaozu and Dongzu were just rebelling and making war against the government army.
However, even in this case, following the Chinese custom then, the three catechists still had a chance to be saved from a death penalty. There was a very old Chinese custom called “Dadian” (打点) or “Dadian Dadian” for the prison guards and even for the local governor. If the relatives or friends of the one who was put into prison wanted him or her to be less tortured or to reduce the penalty or to have a little better board and lodging, they must give some money to the guards or the governor. This was called “Dadian” in Chinese and it was well-known, popular and semi-public custom in Chinese prison system. For example, if one was punished by a penalty of “Dabanzi”(打板子, beating on the buttock),which was a quite popular penalty for people given by the local governor according to laws that determined how many strikes should be beaten. If the guards got some money or “Dadian” they would beat the people very slightly, otherwise, they would beat the prisoner as heavy as normal. Even though there was a custom that “It is improper for men and women to touch each other's hand in passing objects”(男女授受不亲), however this penalty of “Dabanzi” was the same for both a man and a woman. However, this long standing Chinese custom “Dadian” was seen as bribery by the missionaries and the Chinese christians were forbidden to use “Dadian”. In a letter dated on 14th September 1858, eight month later after the three catechists were beheaded, Fr. Paul Perny (童文献), the pro-vicar apostolic of Guizhou made reports about the three martyrs and said also that whenever Christians were put in prison “it is a rule in the Mission of Kooytcheoo never to purchase life. If our neophytes are poor, we support them in prison; and this being done, their fate, like our own, is in the hands of God.”
St. Agata Lin, as a woman, followed another ancient Chinese custom, foot binding. Therefore, on the road to the bank of the river of Maokou, where she with Jerome Lu and Lawrence Wang would be beheaded, the soldiers seized her by the hair to train her move so that she can follow the others. Hundreds people, indifferent to what was happening, followed them just to see the death of the tree catechists. At the place nearby, the River-god Temple, Agata Lin was beheaded. The executioner were not accustomed to performing the penalty of beheading, so that he chopped several times to cut off the head of St. Agata Lin. According to the custom, the garments of those beheaded, and their shoes, etc. were shared by the executioners. The day is 28 January 1858. The heads of the three catechists were hung up in the trees along the road for some days. One of the executioners who beheaded Jerome Lu lived in the Maokou village, at least, till 1889. In 1890 when Mgr. Guichard visited the village he obtained the saber with which St. Jerome Lu was beheaded.
Then, in the afternoon of that day, the bodies of the three catechists were buried in a nearby place. St Jerome Lu's son buried his father. St Agata Lin and St. Lawrance Wang were buried by some Christians named Lou Lao-pe (卢老伯--音译), Pe-y(白义 —音译),Pe San-ye(白三爷) and Lou Tin-chen(卢廷真—音译). Their heads were still hanging by the roadside of Maokou as the custom for the great criminals. Some long time later, one month or three months, by the order of the local official, their heads were allowed to be taken down and to be buried in a hill in Maokou. According to the tradition for the great criminals, the heads of those executed were not allowed to be buried with their bodies. Only some time later, St. Jerome Lu's son took his father's head and buried together with the body. Five years later, on the night of 4th January 1860, Fr. Jean-Victor Muller, with the help of catechist Joseph Zhang and some Christians, collected the heads of those executed, and 6 days later the bones of three Saints were transferred to the missionary college at Lu Chongguan (鹿冲关, 贵阳北郊) in Guiyang. Fr. Paul Perny (童文献) received them in pleasure respectfully. There, the relics of the three Saints were in safe keeping.
Reflections on St. Agata LIN Zhao's life
On 2nd May 1909, Agata LIN Zhao was beatified by Pope Pius X and on March 10th , 2000 her canonization with other 120 Chinese Saints was announced by Pope John Paul II. St Agata Lin's feast is celebrated each year on 9th July, the feast of Chinese Blessings and Martyrs, in the Catholic Church's calendar.
Of course, there are many possible perspective for reflection on the life of a Saint. The well-know wisdom is from Tertullian, who wrote in the year 197: “the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians”. The first Christians at the beginning of Christianity witnessed to their Faith by offering their life. It is beyond doubt that their witness imitated their Lord Jesus Christ, who died on the Cross and He taught his followers that "unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit" (Jn 12: 24) The martyrs become the seed of Christians because the Seed, that is the Word of God, produces much fruit in their life. “The seed is the word of God. ”(Lk 8:11) The seed is the Word of God, that is Jesus Christ. Beyond all appearances, it is in keeping and spreading the Word of God that the martyrs offered their life once and completely. The Book of Revelation clearly states that “I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the witness they bore to the word of God.”(6:9) The martyrs are identifying themselves with Christ. Identifying with Christ is asked for by Jesus Christ to his followers in their day to day life. “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”(Jn 8:12) Thus, in the Catholic Church there are not only martyr Saints but also other type of Saints, such as confessor of the faith. Canonization in the Catholic Church is a statement of the Church that the person certainly enjoys the Beatific Vision of Heaven. As Pope Francis said in his recent Apostolic Exhortation, Gaudete et Exsultate, “The processes of beatification and canonization recognize the signs of heroic virtue, the sacrifice of one’s life in martyrdom, and in certain cases where a life is constantly offered for others, even until death.”
We have the long parable of the sowing of the seed in Mt 13:1-43. Jesus Christ, explained this parable to his disciples. Nevertheless, his disciples did not seem to understand the parable quite well because later they approached him and asked: “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”(Mt 13: 36) Then, Jesus explained to them that “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one.”(Mt 13:37-38) However, Jesus did not stop here, he continued to say “and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.”(Mt 13:39)
The martyrs and the Saints are the good seed, the children of the Kingdom, in the field of the world. The good seeds have been sowed in the field of the world during their life time. The good seeds are growing little by little and “When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.”(Lk 13:19) The time that it is fully grown is the time of harvest, and “the harvest is the end of the age”. This perspective allows us to take in a much more longer historic view, in understanding martyrdom. Particularly in the postmodern and multi-religions world of today, seeing martyrdom in this historic view is extremely important for human society and culture.
As well as this long historic view, another point should be mentioned. The canonization of a Saint, even a martyr, is not the Church making a martyr or making a Saint, but, as Pope Francis said, is to “recognize the signs of heroic virtue, the sacrifice of one’s life in martyrdom, and certain cases where a life is constantly offered for others, even until death.” Therefore, from the life of a Saint we evidently can see “the signs of heroic virtue”, “the sacrifice of one's life in martyrdom” and “a life is constantly offered for others”. These elements or signs of the life of a Saint cannot be completely separated from one another since a human life is a life in its totality. Nevertheless, as Pope Francis said, “Their lives may not always have been perfect, yet even amid their faults and failings they kept moving forward and proved pleasing to the Lord.”
From the life of St. Agata LIN Zhao, we can see the signs of her heroic virtue, the sacrifice of being beheaded, and her life constantly offered for others. Reflecting on St. Agata Lin's life, we can obviously see the good seed, the Word of God, that she has sowed. She is keeping and spreading the word of God in the field of the world. St. Agata Lin is, in her life, building the “kingdom of love, justice and universal peace.” Jesus Christ, whom St. Agata Lin followed, is the perfect visible example of keeping and spreading the word of God because He himself is the Word of God. If we go into detail of St. Agata Lin's life, we will recognize that the seed is growing although it might be not very fast.
St. Agata Lin, in her life, has broken the Chinese custom of child marriage. There was a very popular Chinese tradition of pointing to the stomach where the unborn child would be and it was time for marriage(指腹为婚); or the girl child, at an early age, would be sold to the boy husband and sent to his home for marriage(童 养媳). In both cases when they reached a certain age, they could get married. According to reports, even in the present times there were still some cases of child marriage in China, although according to present Chinese law the legal marriage age is 20 for a girl and 22 for a boy. Following the Chinese tradition, St. Agata Lin was also engaged at a very early age with another Catholic family by her parents. In following this custom, it was a simple way for both Catholic families to avoid their children marrying into a non-Catholic family. However, when St. Agata was growing up, she decided to follow a call to be a virgin to devote herself to God. Then, she has to break the early engagement made by her parents. Within the Chinese custom of the time, this would be seen as unbelievable. However, St. Agata Lin, following her conscience and her calling from God, made her decision and asked the missionary to help her to persuade the parents of both family not to proceed with this arrangement. Encouraged by her faith, St. Agata Lin firmly called off the child engagement that was one of most popular Chinese tradition in that time. Considering this popular bad Chinese custom in that time, wasn't this firmly calling off the child marriage engagement a sign of heroic virtue?
After calling off the engagement, St. Agata Lin devoted herself to God and to educate women and girls. A Chinese virgin (贞女) at that time was some one staying in family, not in a convent, but devoted her life to God and, under the guidance of the missionary, to educate women and girls, to teach the neophytes Catholic doctrine, to baptize the new converts and the abandoned infants, to care for orphans and attend to the medical cares centers opened by the Catholic Church. According to the records, in Guizhou Province from 1855-1859 there were 121,841 abandoned infants baptized.
In the year 1853 there were already four medical care pharmacies in Guiyang(贵阳 府), Dingfan(定番州), Duyun(都匀府),Zhenyuan(镇远府). The abandoned 16 infants were already in a very bad state of health, some were even dying, and many of the infants died after baptism. The Church baptized the dying infants because she believed that the baptized infants, if they dead before growing up and committed any sins by themselves, they would enter immediately to Heaven. In the year 1855 there were total 2,600 Catholics in Guizhou Province and ten years later in 1865 there were 5,200 Catholics. Comparing to the population in Guizhou, the Catholics were small and minority. However, there were good numbers of Chinese virgin in Guizhou Province.
In 1723 the Yongzheng Emperor began to expel foreign missionaries and later Qianlong Emperor in 1736 also decreed the prohibition of people to believe in Catholic Faith. During this persecution period, the virgins played a very important role in spreading the gospel. The virgins normally lead some small women communities in their nearby villages according to the arrangement of missionaries (including Chinese priests), both hidden in rural areas and working in the emperor's court.
Nevertheless, the virgins had to face a heavy social pressure. According to a long Chinese tradition in that time, a widower was highly praised and honored for not marrying again. There was a saying that a good women never marries a second husband (好女不嫁二夫). Some famous widows, who were widowed for a long time, could obtain an honorable decree from the emperor. But if a woman did not marry she would not be tolerated by her family and by the society. A Chinese priest, Fr. Li Ande(李安德), reported in 1748 that a clan elder refused to recognize his blood sister and granddaughter because they became a virgin. People in the village would gossip that they were vampires or sinister evil attempts behind the decision not to marry. The governor of Langdai in questioning St. Agata Lin showed this idea clearly. He said that “The whole world should get married. Renounce marriage, you are destroying the five relations necessary for human being.” The five relations were Emperor and Subjects(君臣),Father and Son(父子), Elder and Younger brothers(兄弟), Husband and Wife(夫妇) as well as Friends(朋友). These five relations were under the three cardinal guiding principles, namely Emperor guides the Subjects(君为臣 纲), Father guides the Sons(父为子纲), Husband guides the Wives(夫为妻纲). That was the reason that the governor of Langdai considered that a woman who did not marry was destroying the five relations.
However, even under this heavy family and social pressure, the virgin group in Guizhou Province as well as in other provinces developed very well. “The Christian virgins phenomenon was initiated by the Chinese themselves. In the beginning all Christian virgins were Chinese women. They chose not to marry and devote themselves to religious life. Albeit at the beginning they obviously intended to limit themselves for a life of meditation, but in 1770s, they accepted the mission for apostolate and social works.” Then, the missionaries in Guizhou and nearby province of Sichuan developed some regulations for the Chinese virgins. They would educate themselves in reading and writing, even though they were from a poor family. This was an obviously breaking through in the long Chinese tradition that girls seldom could get some education. Also, they started to make decision for themselves through having a devoted celibacy life. In some cases they would have a public vows in front of Catholic people. Besides these, the Chinese virgins could guide a female school as leader and teacher if their education and personality qualified them like St. Agata Lin. This was also a significant break-through in the long Chinese tradition that only men could teach and dominate women under one of the three cardinal guiding principles. St. Agata Lin, a Chinese virgin, a Chinese female, in living her faith became an educated leader and teacher in a male dominated rural Chinese villages, even if only in a female school. What a significant sign of heroic virtue in the Chinese traditional culture under the heavy unjust social pressure! Could we not say this was a kind of persecution for St. Agata Lin even if the Saint was not beheaded? In fact, Saint Ambrose has said, when the external persecutions had ended in his time, that “How many today are Christ’s secret martyrs, bearing witness to the Lord Jesus!” (Comment for psalm 118).
St. Agata Lin's life was constantly offered for others, especially for those uneducated ethnic women and girls. This constant offering of her life for others was significant in that time. The women and girls groups that St. Agata Lin was leading and educating were mostly Dongzu Ethnic. In the time of Qing Dynasty, these ethnic minorities were discriminated by the Han nation. The governor Dai from Langdai clearly showed his attitude to the ethnic Dongzu: “You are a noble race of Chinese, how can you come so far to instruct Tchong-kia-tse.” “You are all race of Han Chinese, but you are doing well with the families of Tchong-kia-tse(ethnic Dongzu)!” In the eyes of governor Dai the ethnic Dongzu, especially the women, were not worthy of being educated. Even to get along well with them was wrong and should be avoided. However, St. Agata Lin as a female of Han nationality did not take this attitude and encouraged by her Catholic faith she knew that the ethnic Dongzu “young girls ignore our language and our custom” and she came to teach them so that “they can more easily have conversation with their parents and their husband.” This basic education for the ethnic Dongzu women and girls were greatly needed! It is true that at that time nearly all women in China lacked basic education. However, St Agata Lin was instructing the discriminated ethnic Dongzu women! That shows the significant sign of her heroic virtue and her life constantly offered for others who were un-justly discriminated against by her own Han nation. In her life which she constantly offered for others, St Agata Lin was promoting equity among the nations by leading and educating the ethnic Dongzu women and girls. The purpose of her doing was not only spreading the gospel and teaching Catholic doctrine to the ethnic Dongzu women, but, as the Saint has said, “at the end, these young girls can get their own honor that belongs to them.” Helping people to get their own honor and their own dignity, that was the end St Agata Lin for which constantly offered her life. It is evident that in St. Agata Lin's vision this end could be reached through Catholic faith as instructed by her, and in her leading and teaching groups of ethnic Dongzu women and girls.
St Agata Lin not only constantly offered her life for this end but also sacrificed her life totally. Obviously, it is possible that if the Christians and missionaries followed the Chinese bad tradition or custom to make some “Dadian” or, in other words, bribery, St Agata Lin and other two Saints would have not been beheaded by the governor of Langdai. Yet, the missionaries had their principles that “it is a rule in the Mission of Kooy-tcheoo never to purchase life. If our neophytes are poor, we support them in prison; and this being done, their fate, like our own, is in the hands of God.” In fact St. Jerome Wang's family was rich enough to “Dadian Dadian”(打点 打点). But, the Christians in Maokou kept their faith and observed the rule of the Church, and they did not engage in bribery or they did not purchase life!
Nevertheless, this could be considered by Chinese custom as foolish because the Christians did not want to spend money to purchase life. St Agata Lin and the other Christians in Maokou witnessed in their life the truth that “Dadian” or bribery was a bad and dark custom that should be destroyed. They, following Jesus Christ, the light of the world, walked out of the darkness of life and the darkness of the culture, and by totally offering their life they witnessed to the light of the life and the light of the civilization.
End
Bishop Jin Luxian RIP - NO 1 set of commentaries
Bishop Jin Luxian, RIP: 2nd set of commentaries