China's Catholics: Sixty Years of Faith, Resistance, and Reaching for Freedom

China's Catholics: Sixty Years of Faith, Resistance, and Reaching for Freedom | Anthony E. Clark | Ignatius Insight

Karl Marx once said that, "History is nothing but the activity of men in pursuit of their own ends." Chinese authorities appear to have listened well to this famous quote about the utility of history; history is often conveniently reinvented to support an official ideology. October 1^st is National Day in China. It is the day on which Mao Zedong, the "Great Helmsman," stood above the vast crowds at Tiananmen and proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. It commemorates the day that Communism became the official ideological engine of Chinese society, and for Catholic Christians this also marks the beginning of decades of struggle to maintain their faith and identity as members of the world's largest religious community. Indeed, there are roughly the same number of Catholics in the world as there are Chinese.

Just prior to the nation-wide celebration of the "birth of new China," Beijing's Catholic cathedral was ordered to celebrate the sixty-year anniversary of the founding of China's Catholic Patriotic Association, which is most curious as the Patriotic Association was officially founded in 1957, making it only fifty-four years old. No matter, according to the Religious Affairs Bureau, China's Catholics have "enjoyed the benefits of independence from Rome" since shortly after the country's establishment, around sixty years ago.

The reality is that in 1957 China's Religious Affairs Bureau convened a large number of China's Catholic hierarchy and officially established the Catholic Patriotic Association, founded on the principal that China's Church should not "obey a foreign influence". This meant that from that day forward the hierarchy was expected to follow the Chinese Protestant system of "self-governance, self-support, and self-propagation." China's government even tried to pressure a Chinese bishop into claiming the title "pope." When offered this position the shrewd bishop replied, "I'll happily accept the position ... as long as I am elected in Rome and live in the Vatican."

The existence of China's Catholic Patriotic Association, which defines itself in opposition to Rome, has resulted in an awkward sense of ecclesial separation from the administrative authority of the pope. To assert its self-governance, the Patriotic Association has made a habit of selecting priests to be ordained bishops, often without the pope's sanction or approval. In his recent letter to Chinese Catholics, Pope Benedict XVI noted that in China today, it is "persons who are not ordained, and sometimes not even baptized," who "control and make decisions concerning important ecclesial questions, including the appointment of Bishops."

In spite of this present reality, it would be incorrect to assume that China's Catholics and clergy have simply surrendered to state interference in matters of faith—China's Church has never stopped resisting Communist control and pressures, but its resistance is not often seen or heard of beyond the Great Wall.

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Comments

[fr. richard]

Thanks for always reminding us of the Church in China and keeping us up to date on the state of the clergy and faithful there. I fear that we are sometimes so locally focused that we fail to show sufficient or genuine interest or support for the "Catholic" Church outside the USA. I always enjoy reading your articles.