Unfortunately for the Catholic Church in China and in particular Bishop Jia Zhiguo, the prominent underground Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Zheng Ding in Hebei Province, the Chinese persecution is far too easy to verify. See our post today on yesterday’s arrest of and underground Catholic Bishop And the point of contention seems to be the promulgation of the very letter that commenters here and elsewhere say is an endorsment of the Patriotic Church. Out of respect for these suffering Christians let all denial of these Chinese atrocities cease!!

Ave Maria!

I apologize for the factual error.Thanks for the correction.

What do you think, may I ask, a “proposed demolition” means for religious freedom in China, and what about the suppression of the letter?

Have you read the Holy Father’s letter, and if so, where do I misrepresent it?

You guys cloak your whacked out and ignorant right-wing politics in all of this piety. But politics is what it is. There are brave men in the open Church – braver than a bunch of church bloggers on their sofas back in the US taking shots at them for not being pure enough – and you folks really need to open your hearts to them.

You want to talk about respect? How about some respect for the DE JURE bishop of Shanghai instead smacking away at him, calling him a commie. Take a look in the mirror, pal.

Andy,

Fr. Angelo is on retreat but I will try to answer in his stead. You say "facts are important, Angelo" Yes, Andy, facts are important and so is respect. And so I should point out that its Father Angelo. Second, I don’t have time to list all the persecutions but it is clear that the persecution is being carried out and is being done in 2007 with threats of demolition (as even you admit) and actual arrests, see China’s rough answer to Pope’s message: priests in prison (AsiaNews)(08/02/2007) .

You say we have to go to China before we can comment. Come on, Andy. You don’t have to crawl inside a fish to know that it’s rotten. The smell gives it away from quite a distance, thank you very much. And the news from China stinks all the way across the Pacific. The only mystery I see is why you have decided to ignore the stench.

Friar Roderic Mary

http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=9625&size=A

In either case, that proposed demolition most definitely has not taken place. Facts are important, Angelo, but like many people suspicious of the open Church, you seem to prefer that the facts conform to your reality, and not the one on the ground in China. Plane tickets are cheap, now; go and visit.

Thanks for the kind help. However, things like the destruction of churches are happening in 2007, not 1975. Actually, the destruction of this church happened AFTER the release of the Holy Father’s letter.

Yes, Catholics are to seek unity in obedience to the Holy Father, but also in obedience to the Holy Father, the Bishops of China are to lead them to Catholic unity as defined by the Holy Father in the letter:

It is therefore indispensable, for the unity of the Church in individual nations, that every Bishop should be in communion with the other Bishops, and that all should be in visible and concrete communion with the Pope (5). . .

Communion and unity – let me repeat (cf. section 5 above) – are essential and integral elements of the Catholic Church: therefore the proposal for a Church that is “independent??? of the Holy See, in the religious sphere, is incompatible with Catholic doctrine (8).

The suppression of the letter by the government and faulty translations on the Vatican website have been well reported. Has anyone checked the version of the letter now being publicly distributed? That verification would indeed be of interest.

The following report posted on Fr. Z’s blog seems balanced to me:

On 2 July in an editorial the SCMP says about the Pope’s new Letter to Chinese Catholics,

“The letter does nothing to bridge the gulf over the Vatican’s insistence on the Pope’s prerogative to appoint bishops. But its conciliatory tone and gestures symbolic of wiping the slate clean break new ground. Hopefully it will help answer the Pope’s prayers for more productive dialogue. The foreign ministry has reacted by reiterating Beijing’s well-established position on Sino-Vatican relations. A leader of the official church on the mainland has said the Pope’s letter is well intentioned. It will now be interesting to see whether Beijing responds with any action.

“The Vatican’s scrapping of a regulation that discouraged members of the underground church loyal to the Pope from contact with clergy of the officially approved church is unprecedented. But it recognises the reality that the two have been moving closer together. The Pope’s call for those who have suffered for refusing to join the official church to forgive and reconcile for the sake of unity should add momentum. Forgiveness and reconciliation, however, will test the charity of those who suffered the most from past repression.

“It is to be hoped that Hong Kong’s Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun is right when he says the letter is a common starting point for dialogue. The sticking point remains the Vatican’s insistence that the Pope’s right to appoint bishops is fundamental to religious freedom and Beijing’s view that this is tantamount to meddling in domestic affairs. In expressing trust that an agreement can be reached, the Vatican has in mind the arrangement in communist Vietnam, where it proposes a few names and the government chooses. Resolution of the dispute would be a victory for religious freedom on the mainland. It would do China’s image no harm either.”

Yes, the faithful should be docile to legitimized bishops, but the Holy Father expects legitimized bishops to “provide unequivocal and increasing signs of full communion with the Successor of Peter” (8). Remember the Church works from the top down. Unity begins with the unity of the bishops with the bishop of Rome. The faithful will learn by example.

My mindset is not locked in the 1970’s. It’s actually locked in the apostolic period. The papal prerogative to teach and govern as universal shepherd is not a cultural or merely disciplinary thing. One may not deny it with out denying the faith as such.

CH03151.1458 August 17, 2007 59 EM-lines (693 words)
CHINA Catholics Reminded Of Papal Letter At Assumption Liturgies

XUANHUA, China (UCAN) — On the feast of the Assumption, Catholics in northern China were reminded of the call for unity in the recent papal letter to Chinese Catholics.

The Aug. 15 feast was the first major Church festival since the letter was released on June 30.

In Xuanhua diocese, Hebei province, about 1,000 parishioners attended the solemn 5-a.m. Mass at Xiheying Church in Yuxian county on the feast day. Yuxian is 160 kilometers west of Beijing.

Father Xia Shaowu of Xuanhua said in his homily: “Today we celebrate the feast day of our Blessed Mother, the caretaker of our souls. We should also give thanks to all mothers who take care of our material and spiritual needs.”

He highlighted Pope Benedict XVI’s emphasis on one Church and unity in the papal letter. “No matter which way we have taken before, we should now return to the side of our Blessed Mother on this feast day,” the priest said.

In a separate Mass that day, some Catholic youth of Xuanhua presented the papal letter as an offertory gift. They later dedicated the letter and their acceptance of it to the Blessed Mother by burning it in a basin in front of a Marian statue. Burning “gifts” such as paper money is a traditional Chinese way of making symbolic offerings to their ancestors.

The youth, mostly university students, were taking part a weeklong formation activity that ended Aug. 16. During the week, they shared with each other their understanding of the papal letter and of unity in the China Church. They also discussed the role of Catholic youth in the Church and how they could live out their faith in their study and work.

Chen Chen, one of the students, told UCA News she would strive harder to live Christian virtues from now on and would “bravely admit her Catholic identity in her workplace.” She added that she previously thought revenge was the way to deal with foes, but learned from the pope’s letter that the best way toward unity is love and forgiveness.

To help Catholics understand Pope Benedict’s message, Father Xia told UCA News, his parish has published 1,000 copies of the letter for free distribution and holds daily sharing on it.

The latest issue of his diocese’s monthly magazine, Faith Life, published a special issue for the feast day that dedicated the Church in China to the Blessed Mother in the spirit of the pope’s letter.

Father Xia said the letter has prompted some conservative “underground” Catholics who had refused to enter any church to come to his parish and be in communion with other parishioners. This was also the case in other areas of the diocese, the priest added.

Conservative underground Catholics, accounting for a small proportion of Catholics in Xuanhua, usually gather at a layperson’s house for Mass and religious activities since they regard all church buildings as belonging to the “open” Church, even though underground clergy manage some of them.

Laywoman Gao Fufa told UCA News that in the past many underground clergy told her community not go to any open church, and that any sacraments they receive there are invalid. “But now the pope’s letter is clear. If we do not listen to the pope, aren’t we becoming schismatic?” she wondered.

Another layperson, Zhao Fu, told UCA News: “The late Bishop Philippus Petrus Zhao Zhendong said we can enter any church. But since we had opposed the open Church for many years, we did not listen to him in order to ‘save face.'” The layman continued: “Now the pope has appealed for unity. I cannot disobey him.”

Father Xia concluded, “The papal letter has induced unity, demonstrating the spirit of love and forgiveness of Mother Church.” He added that a harmonious society is formed by many united communities, including the Church.

On the feast of the Assumption, a major Church feast in China, some Catholics usually stay in the church compound after Mass to offer special prayers at the Marian grotto. Other major Church feasts are Easter, Pentecost and Christmas. Some parishes hold variety shows performed by laypeople or children who have attended summer catechism classes.

END

I was enrolled in San Carlos Seminary in Manila years ago, which at the time had a number of student seminarians from the Catholic Patriotic Association. More recently, I have come to know a number of Chinese Catholics, some of whom suffered for many years in prison because of their refusal to renounce their loyalty to the Holy Father. However, nothing in my comments indicates that I had any firsthand knowledge of the situation on the ground in China. I am not sure why you would wonder if my argument had anything to do with my personal experience.

I do not pretend to imagine that situation in China is simple. What I do believe is irrefutable, however, is that there is a persecuted Church in China. I also believe that someone needs to be a voice for underground Catholics, since they cannot speak openly for themselves, unlike the Catholic Patriotic Association which can easily get itself showcased by The Atlantic Monthly. The Cardinal Kung Foundation is to be commended for its persistence in its defense of the voiceless.

The Holy Father’s letter is certainly conciliatory, as it had to be, though even with its conciliatory tone, Beijing made sure that the letter was taken off of Chinese websites very quickly. If Adam Minter’s assessment of the Pope’s letter is correct, then one ought to wonder why. In his response to Mr. Kung in the September edition of The Atlantic Monthly, he writes:

On June 30, Pope Benedict XVI issued his long-awaited letter to China’s Catholics. Among other topics the letter includes a discussion of bishops, including those–like Shanghai’s Bishop Jin Luxian–who were ordained without the pontifical mandate but later were “received into communion with the Successor of Peter.” These bishops, the pope explains, were vetted and granted “full and legitimate exercise of episcopal jurisdiction.” Significantly, the letter’s explanatory notes add that these same bishops “were especially concerned with the good of the faithful with an eye to the future.”

However, Minter omits an important part of the paragraph of the letter from which he quotes:

Unfortunately, in most cases, priests and the faithful have not been adequately informed that their Bishop has been legitimized, and this has given rise to a number of grave problems of conscience. What is more, some legitimized Bishops have failed to provide any clear signs to prove that they have been legitimized. For this reason it is indispensable, for the spiritual good of the diocesan communities concerned, that legitimation, once it has occurred, is brought into the public domain at the earliest opportunity, and that the legitimized Bishops provide unequivocal and increasing signs of full communion with the Successor of Peter (8).

While the Pope Benedict’s tone is conciliatory and his pastoral awareness is sensitive to the complexities of the situation, what he is saying is at least obvious to the Chinese government.

During one of his interviews with Bishop Jin, Minter asked him about the underground Church. Jin responded in a way that both denigrates the fidelity of the underground Catholics and gives no real indication of “unequivocal and increasing signs of full communion with the Successor of Peter.”

[The members of the underground Church] say they are loyal to the pope,” he said. “But I am as loyal as them. Why become bishop? I led the [Chinese] Catholics to pray for the pope and even printed the prayer! I reformed the liturgy. Before me, it was all in Latin. But the underground Church did nothing. If I stayed with them, I would do nothing, too.”

I wait in prayerful solidarity for Bishop Jin’s restoration to full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

Most of what I have read from advocates of the “open church” have completely ignored the principles set forth by the Holy Father in the first part of his letter and his diplomatically stated but unequivocal call for full communion with Rome. It is as though they concur with the Chinese government, and look upon the question of loyalty as purely a matter of discipline and culture, and not as a matter of the doctrine of the faith. The Holy Father clearly sees it otherwise.

It is for this reason, Athanasius, that I do not consider my personal experience altogether relevant to the discussion. I do not judge anyone, and I do not presume that I would have the courage of the underground Catholics in China, though I pray I would. However, I find it intolerable to leave the persecuted Church without a voice.

Have you ever been to China, and/or do you know any open church priests/bishop/nuns/laity?

Thank you in advance for your response.