Boston to China To Australia

In the past I have mentioned on this blog that one of my cousins is a priest of the Neocatechumenal Way who had served in China, Macao, and Hong Kong for many years before returning to Massachusetts.

This week, he was chosen to write about his trip to World Youth Day with 50 young people to on Cardinal Sean O'Malley's blog. They took a roundabout path to Australia via China! Fr. Tony's anecdotes about the Chinese Church are fascinating as are the photos.

While in there, the pilgrims met with several bishops, including the ever cheerful Cardinal Zen, and learned their vocation stories; visited historic churches and pilgrimage sites; as well as engaged in street evangelization.

You can read about it here.

A Long Series of Frustrations

Since one of my cousins is a priest in Hong Kong, I have great interest in the Church in China and in Hong Kong.

Catholic News Service is reporting that Cardinal Zen of Hong Kong says that Chinese rule is affecting life in Hong Kong.

For people in Hong Kong, the first 10 years of Chinese rule has been "a long series of frustrations," said Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun."

On the surface, everything is like before," Cardinal Zen told Catholic News Service in Washington May 30. However, he added, Chinese government authorities "are not keeping their promises."

For instance, he said, although universal suffrage is contained in the Basic Law, the miniconstitution that governs Hong Kong until 2047, Chinese officials ruled out direct elections of the Hong Kong chief executive in 2007 and the special administrative region's legislature in 2008.

Read the complete article here.

Forced Abortions

Asia News is reporting that 61 Chinese women were forced to abort their children. Some were even 9 months pregnant. This is absolutely disgusting and heartbreaking.

From Asia News:

The Chinese governments cruel abortion campaign continues: on April 17th last in the southern province of Guangxi, police forced 41 women to abort their children, dragging them into the local hospital to carry out the termination. The following day the same fate awaited a further 20 women.

China Aid Association (Caa), a United States based non governmental organisation which fights for religious freedom and human rights in China reported the cases.

Eyewitnesses reported to CAA that provincial police transported the women to Youjiang District People’s Hospital; they were injected forcefully with an abortive drug. The agents were led by Family Planning officials. In less than 24 hours 61 foetuses were dead.

At Bed number 37, He Caigan was 9 months pregnant. Officials injected her baby's head and after 20 minutes of pain and suffering, her baby stopped moving and died.

About 6am on April 18, Pastor James Liang's wife Wei Linrong gave birth to a boy, but he was dead because of the injection. She received three doses of injection-one is to induce the birth and the other two to kill the baby in the womb.

After China Aid reported the forced abortion, police were seen surrounding the section of the hospital where these abortions take place. In fact for some time now the Chinese population has been protesting against Beijing, which allows rich and famous couplet to ignore the family law on one child, which is instead applied with force on the less well off.

The politics of family planning, the bastion of the communist government, affects 90 million Chinese families. This provokes social problems such as the imbalance of sexes and the aging population.

Since 1978 only one child has been permitted to urban residents, two to rural couples. The average family has dropped from the 5.83 children per household of the 1970’s to 2.1 in the ‘90’s and the current 1.8. The government aims to contain the population within 1.37 billion by 2010. These policies have led to a massive campaign of forced abortions and infanticide of female babies, in order to have a male heir to maintain the family name.

China Attempts to Reach Religious Accord

No, not with Catholics, with Muslims.

While faithful Catholics are persecuted, false bishops are installed, and priests are restricted from preaching the truth, Chinese State TV is banning advertizing featuring pigs. Why? Because Muslims might be offended by the image of the porkers.

Think it's a joke? Read this from Asia News:

In a week’s time, the Chinese world will celebrate the New Year under the zodiac sign of the Pig. But for the Year of the Pig, the Chinese government has banned all adverts showing this animal. Beijing is hoping to gain kudos from Islamic states for its sensitivity and respect for their religious convictions even if it continues repressing the Muslim minority, especially in Xinjiang.

In letter to advertising agencies, the main state television CCTV warned that “since China is a multi-cultural country, out of respect for the religious convictions of Muslims, images of pigs must be avoided in 2007.” TV sources said: “This was indicated to us from top government quarters... to protect harmony between different religions and ethnic groups”.

Read the complete article here.

Bishop Joseph Meng Ziwen Dies At 103

I think I have mentioned on this blog that one of my cousins is a priest in Hong Kong. He has also served in Macao and in China. Therefore, I have a great concern and awareness of the underground Church in China.

From ANSA:

He was a “humble but extraordinary pastor who was dedicated to his community and had out of the ordinary energy and vitality,” said Fr Giancarlo Politi, a missionary with the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions and a China expert, as he remembered Mgr Joseph Meng Ziwen, bishop of Nanning (Guangxi), who passed away last Sunday at the age of 103 as a result of a liver tumour. He was the oldest prelate in the whole of China.

Father Politi told AsiaNews that the bishop “was someone who up to three years ago still said mass every Sunday in three different parishes without sparing himself.” His coadjutor, Mgr John Baptist Tan Yanchuan, will celebrate the funeral tomorrow.

Born into a non-Catholic family on March 19, 1903, in Hengling, Bishop Meng was baptised as a youth. When he was 18 years old he spent eight years at a minor seminary. After studying six years of theology and philosophy at the major seminary in Penang, Malaysia, he was ordained into the priesthood in Nanning in 1935.

After the Communist revolution he was accused of collaborating with the Kuomintang and sent to a laogai (reform through labour) camp in the early fifties and released in 1957.

Upon his release that year, he resumed work at a church in Nanning, where, thanks to his medical training, he set up and ran a clinic, but was re-arrested the following year charged with helping the enemies of the Revolution. He was eventually released in 1970.

In the 1980s, Bishop Meng was able to reclaim some Church property and rebuild churches. He recruited young Catholics as nuns and seminarians to help in evangelisation work. “Bringing Christ to the world” remained his lifelong goal.

He was ordained bishop by the Holy See in 1984, but the Communist regime refused to accept his appointment. To avoid problems for his community he always signed diocesan papers as a simple priest. For his parishioners, he was affectionately known as lao shenfu, the old priest.

Father Politi remembers that the prelate “always led humble life. Although he could not call himself bishop he was always relatively free to move around Guangxi to visit small Christian communities and lived quietly. Here, there never were any of the open clashes with the Church as elsewhere in China”. The recent arrests on December 27 of nine priests in Baoding, in the central province if Hebei, are an example of this open conflict.

Bishop Meng’s death follows the passing of four official bishops, all in the last month. Whether official or not, prelates are getting older and the tense situation between the Patriotic Association (which seeks to control appointments) and the Vatican have made new nominations a thorny issue for the whole Church in China.

Father Politi is quite pessimistic about the future. “I can’t see any chance of solving the issue in the near future. The Communist Party only wants to maintain its power and thus must maintain the status quo”.

Yet, even though Sino-Vatican relations are difficult, “the life of the Church in the country is growing despite everything,” he said.

Oops, They Did it Again!

Kyodo News is reporting that another illicit Chinese ordination has occured.

China's state-sanctioned Catholic organization said Thursday a priest in the eastern province of Jiangsu has been ordained as bishop coadjutor, marking China's third bishop ordination this year without Vatican approval.

Father Wang Renlei's 2.5-hour ordination ceremony was attended by about 1,000 parishioners, including more than 20 priests from the local Xuzhou diocese and other provinces, vice chairman of the government-backed Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association Liu Bainian told Kyodo News.

Vicar general Wang, 36, was voted to be the bishop coadjutor to assist Bishop Qian Yurong, 94, in an uncontested election in October.

"Qian, who remains as the diocese bishop, has no immediate plan to retire," Liu said.

China ordained Ma Yinglin of Yunnan Province in April and Liu Xinhong of Anhui Province in May without Vatican approval, prompting a statement from the Vatican that hinted at automatic excommunication of the two bishops.

Liu Bainian said that as China does not have diplomatic ties with the Vatican, there is no appropriate channel for China to communicate with it about bishop ordination.

Diplomatic ties between China and the Vatican were severed shortly after the Communist Party took power in 1949.

Talks have been held on and off on restoring ties but two major hurdles remain in the way, namely China's demands that the Vatican cut ties with Taiwan and that the Church stay out of China's internal affairs, which it interprets to include ordination of bishops.

The latest ordination has dealt a "fatal blow" to dialogue between the Holy See and China, a Vatican source was quoted as saying by AsiaNews, a Rome-based website.

The website, frequently reporting on Catholic Church-related matters in Asian countries, reported Wednesday that two Vatican-approved bishops in China's northern province of Hebei were forced to take part in Wang's ordination.

It cited sources as saying that an unspecified number of other bishops expected to take part in the ceremony were kept in isolation and subjected to physical and psychological pressures.

"It is impossible, church matters are managed by the diocese and there is no government interference," Liu said in dismissing the report. "None of the priests and bishops who attended the ceremony had been forced against their will."

Catholics in China are divided into two groups, one worshipping at churches controlled by the Catholic Patriotic Association -- an organization set up by the authorities to keep a grip on the religion -- while others loyal to the Vatican go to underground churches.

Cardinal Zen Speaks About the Situation of the Church in China

Cardinal Joseph Zen said that in China there is a Church that is faithful to the Pope, one that is patient despite the enduring sufferings inflicted and control exerted by the Chinese government. For the bishop of Hong Kong, both wings of the Church are united by the oppression they endure. In his opinion both ‘underground’ and official Church are persecuted.
Cardinal Zen recently attended a conference on the ‘Church in China’ organised by the British branch of the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) in Westminster Cathedral.
During the event a book titled Persecuted and forgotten? A report on Christians oppressed for their faith 2005-2006 was released to the public. The report focuses on cases in which the Church suffers persecution and is inspired by the 2006 Report on religious freedom in the world published by the ACN’s Italian section, with which AsiaNews collaborates.
According to Cardinal Zen, the official Church is almost entirely reconciled with the Pope despite Beijing’s abuses. With about 85 per cent of the official Church’s bishops now approved by Rome, Catholics’ loyalty to Rome had prevailed over every attempt to divide it.
“The bishops (of the official Church) will not accept ordination without the approval of the Holy See. The government can do nothing about that,” he said.
Back on April 30 and May 3, two bishops were unlawfully ordained in Kunming and Wuhu. The Vatican condemned the action as a gross violation of religious freedom, accusing Beijing of lying to the bishops in order to get them to agree.
Still, Bishop Zen said, even these recent unlawful ordinations have not weakened the desire for dialogue and unity with the Pope.
The bishops in question, who were tricked by the Patriotic Association, sought in fact the Pope’s forgiveness right away.
In the end, both the underground and official Church are united by the oppression they suffer, a situation that in some ways has worsened recently.
“In China, there is persecution—not only of the so-called underground Church but also of the official Church,” he said. “Yes, we see that there are many churches open for worship, that the seminaries are full. But what we cannot see is the control exerted by the government,” he explained.
The prelate called on the authorities to relax their tight grip on the Church. “If the government understood the role of the Church,” he stressed, “they would realise they have nothing to fear. They need to know religion can contribute to the education, economic development and progress in China”.
In thanking the ACN for its support to the Church in China, he said: “You are encouraging the Chinese people to be faithful. But they help us to be faithful too.”

Source: Asia News

Bishop Guo Wenzhi denied Bishop's Funeral

Msgr. Guo Wenzhi, Bishop Emeritus of the unofficial Diocese of Qiqihar, who died June 29th in his residence after a long illness, is unlikely to have a funeral as befits a bishop. Sources of AsiaNews in China said the government was against the solemn funeral service that the priests and faithful of the diocese wanted to hold for the bishop, one of the most loved and respected of China’s Catholic Church.

Immediately after his death, local authority representatives said the deceased – who they recognised as a priest but not as a bishop – could only have a simple funeral and not a grand celebration.

Despite the government’s attitude, the Church of Qiqihar, led by Mgr Wei Jingyi, has called on all priests, official and not, to offer masses in suffrage for the soul of the deceased bishop.

New Cardinals to Take Possession of Churches

At 11.00 a.m. on Sunday May 28, Cardinal Albert Vanhoye S.J., will take possession of the diaconate of St. Mary of Mercy and St. Adrian at Villa Albani, Via Basento 100, Rome.

At 11.30 a.m. on Sunday May 28, Cardinal Agostino Vallini, prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, will take possession of the diaconate of St. Peter Damian ai Monti di San Paolo, Via Guido Biagi 16, Rome.

At 7.00 p.m. on Wednesday May 31, Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun S.D.B., bishop of Hong Kong, China, will take possession of the title of St. Mary Mother of the Redeemer at Tor Bella Monaca, Via Duilio Cambellotti 18, Rome.

Official Reaction to the Illicit Ordinations in China

The director of the Holy See Press Office, Dr. Joaquin Navarro-Valls, released the following declaration.

"I can inform you of the position of the Holy See regarding the episcopal ordination of the priests Joseph Ma Yinglin e Joseph Liu Xinhong, which took place, respectively, last Sunday, April 30, in Kunming (province of Yunnan) and Wednesday, May 3, in Wuhu (province of Anhui).

The Holy Father has learned of the news with profound displeasure, since an act so relevant for the life of the Church, such as an episcopal ordination, has been carried out in both cases without respecting the requirements of communion with the Pope.

It is a grave wound to the unity of the Church, for which severe canonical sanctions, as it is known, are foreseen (cfr. canon 1382 from the Code of Canon Law).

According to the information received, bishops and priests have been subjected to - on the part of external entities to the Church - strong pressures and to threats, so that they would take part in the episcopal ordinations which, being without pontifical mandate, are illegitimate and, besides, contrary to their conscience. Various prelates have given a refusal to similar pressures, while others were not able to do anything but submit with great interior suffering. Episodes of this kind produce lacerations not only in the Catholic community but also in the internal conscience itself.

We are therefore facing a grave violation of religious liberty, notwithstanding that it is sought to present the two episcopal ordinations as a proper act to provide the pastors for vacant dioceses.

The Holy See follows with attention the troubled path of the Catholic Church in China and even aware of some particularities of such a path, believed and hoped that similar, deplorable episodes by now would belong to the past.

She considers that now it is her precise duty to give voice to the suffering of the entire Catholic Church, in particular to that of the Catholic community in China and especially to that of those bishops and priests who were seen obligated, against conscience, to take part or to participate in the episcopal ordination, of which, neither the candidates or the consecrating bishops want to carry out without having received the pontifical mandate.

If the news is true that other episcopal ordinations are to take place in the same manner, the Holy See would like to underline the need for respect for the liberty of the Church and for the autonomy of its institutions from whatever external interference, and sincerely wishes that such unacceptable acts of violence and inadmissible constrictions are not repeated.

The Holy See has, on various occasions, stressed her willingness for honest and constructive dialogue with the competent Chinese authorities for the purpose of finding a solution that would satisfy the needs of both parties.

Initiatives such as the above mentioned do not favor such dialogue but instead create new obstacles against it."

The Divide Widens

The second Chinese bishop in four days has been ordained in an illicit ordination.
Father Joseph Liu Xinhong, 41, was ordained bishop of Anhui May 3 at Wuhu's St. Joseph Church, the cathedral of the Wuhu Diocese before the government-approved church administration in China changed diocesan boundaries.
On April 30, Father Joseph Ma Yinglin, 41, was ordained bishop of Kunming, also without papal approval.

Both priests had been informed that the ordinations had not recieved papal approval.