The Christian faith has survived in China through the heroic perseverance of believers. Now Chinese Catholics face a new challenge as China?s development takes off. A Mill Hill Missionary was told: Pray for our Chinese Church. Fr John Tong chose his words carefully as he drew an interim picture of the present state of the Catholic Church in China and its future. He had come to address the 170 delegates from many countries gathered at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology for the fifth plenary assembly of the Catholic Biblical Federation. The surprising news is that the Church in China is growing. The Catholic communities are very much alive in spite of all the oppression they have gone through.

But then there are many difficulties. One is the ancient tradition of state regulation of religion. Until early this century, Chinese emperors watched closely over the varieties of religion. Basically there were three categories: orthodox and legal, such as Confucianism; unorthodox but still legal, such as Buddhism, Taoism and Islam; and heretical and illegal, such as cults, secret societies and Christianity. The government approved the first category, tolerated the second and took steps to suppress the third.

The Communists accepted the traditional form, Fr Tong explained, but changed the content. Marxism fell into the first category and became the orthodox, legal ?religion? of the government; those religious groups that have received government recognition are tolerated; but those who fail to get government recognition fall in the final category and are dealt with harshly.

The vitality as well as the formidable obstacles and challenges facing the Chinese Catholic Church as spelt out by Fr John Tong were brought home to me during a nine-day visit to three major cities in mainland China: Xi?an, Shanghai and Nanjing. Through the intermediary of the local Church of Hong Kong, an international group of some 20 delegates to the Bible conference from Latin America, Canada, Europe and even Sudan were given the opportunity to make informal contact with representatives of the local Church in all three cities.

The first stop was Xi?an in central China, a city of some five million inhabitants and long-time capital of a succession of ancient dynasties. This is where some 20 years ago the world-famous terracotta army of emperor Qin Shi Huang was uncovered. Xi?an has a history of 5,000 years! our official Chinese tourist guide explained with understandable pride. He had come to meet us at the exit of Xi?an?s tiny airport. Call me William, he said ? a name given to him by a previous group of visitors ? presumably to avoid having us massacre his melodious Chinese surname.

To facilitate our contact with the local Catholic Church, we were accompanied by a Spanish Dominican priest based in Hong Kong. Fluent in Mandarin, he was an expert on the past history and present situation of the Catholic Church in China.

The tragic split between the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and its underground counterpart is highlighted by many commentators. We make the situation worse by speaking of the situation in terms of black and white, our Dominican guide commented. We need to spread the word that there is only one Catholic Church in China, even though it is deeply divided and wounded.

It was in 1957 that the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association was established, eight years after the victory of Mao Zedong?s Communist forces and the proclamation of the People?s Republic of China. Ostensibly this new structure was meant to end foreign ? papal ? interference in the Catholic Church in China and to replace it with the leadership of the Communist Party. In part it was also a reaction to the direct or indirect ties of missionaries with their home governments.

The ordination of the first two Chinese bishops under the new dispensation - most episcopal sees were vacant at the time ? was in 1958. Since then more than 100 bishops have been consecrated without the approval of Rome. For many it was a choice between remaining underground with a very limited scope for sacramental and pastoral ministry, and a more regular ministry in a visible institutional Church under government control. Reports say that some of these bishops have sought and obtained legitimisation of their status from Rome.

One such bishop was Bishop Li of Xi?an. He was clearly moved when we arrived and asked the priest members of our group to concelebrate with him ? outside the normal hours of Mass for that Sunday. A small group of worshippers assembled to pray and listen to his short homily. By what seemed a happy coincidence, the first reading of the day was taken from Is. 55:10-11 and the Gospel recounted the parable of the mustard seed.

After Mass we met a group of mostly young religious sisters living next door. Looking around their cramped living quarters, I was impressed and moved by their austere life-style and obvious commitment. Our Hong Kong guide told us that vocations to the religious life were on the increase, with some 300 sisters in the diocese of Xi?an. All congregations are diocesan: here too the Chinese government does not brook any interference from international congregations. Prolonged and total isolation, especially during the traumatic years of the Cultural Revolution, has left religious life in China in dire need of renewal and updating: pre-Vatican II conditions prevail in most areas. Gradually, we were told, sisters are getting more involved in catechetics and pastoral outreach, and some are allowed to travel abroad to complete their formation. But government restrictions remain a severe handicap.

In the afternoon we travelled some distance outside Xi?an, this time to visit the local seminary set up in a recently transformed former factory building, and still in the process of being renovated. Rector Y? was clearly surprised and not a little pleased with the unexpected arrival of this group of visitors. But his briefing hardly strayed from the strictly factual. The reason for his circumspection was not difficult to guess: here as elsewhere an official government minder followed his every step and took note of whatever he said. We only caught a glimpse of the seminarians - 80 in all -as we were shown around the buildings. Accommodation and teaching materials seemed very basic. Finance was obviously in short supply, but Fr Y?, who had himself spent 26 years in prison, sounded guardedly optimistic about the future.

On the way back to Xi?an our Hong Kong guide filled us in on some of the blanks in our incomplete picture. The survival of the Christian faith in China is a story of heroic fidelity and quiet perseverance in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

In many places the faith was nurtured and handed on within the relatively safe context of the family. Grandparents often played an important part. Simple devotions, in particular the rosary, played a pivotal role in this clandestine tradition. The Chinese Church has a lot of catching up to do: the teachings of Vatican II and subsequent developments in the universal Church are largely unknown to all but a few Chinese Christians. Chinese and foreign experts from Hong Kong, Taiwan and elsewhere can now be invited in to provide the much needed theological updating and secure the formation of the next generation of church leadership. Permission, it seems, often depends on the goodwill of local officials.

Not surprisingly, considering the rift in the Chinese Catholic Church, two different categories of seminaries have come into existence in the course of the past decade and a half: clandestine and open centres of formation. Operating without government approval, the clandestine seminaries are more prominent in northern China. Structures are kept to a minimum and there is no set curriculum. Typically, seminarians are scattered among families in Catholic villages and they gather from time to time to pray and study. The length of training varies from two to six years. It is believed that these seminaries have trained nearly 700 priests to date.

October 1982 saw the opening of the first open seminary at Shanghai?s Sheshan location. At present there are some 30 such seminaries with over 1,000 students. Sheshan was to be the next stop on our exploratory tour of China?s Catholic communities.

To our surprise and delight, we happened upon an important seminar for some 100 young Chinese priests from across the country who had assembled at the seminary for a three-week renewal course animated by a team from Hong Kong under the direction of the rector of the seminary there. The rector told us he was also involved in facilitating the transition from a Latin to a Chinese-language liturgy.

During a short break we were able to chat with some members of the team, and I asked what would be the main focus of this basic updating. Scripture occupies a central place, I was told, together with moral theology, in particular the fifth commandment. The government-imposed one- child-per-family policy creates terrible problems, in particular abortion. We discuss ways of how to deal with that pastorally.

Our Hong Kong guide told us later that he had often met with astonishment, if not outright condemnation, when he told his Chinese counterparts that he was the only son in the family. And you have become a priest?, many would ask with stupefaction. That seemed an incomprehensible failure in the duty to continue the family line. Carlos then added with a wry smile: I now tell them that I have a younger brother. That avoids a lot of misunderstanding and improves relations.

A member of our group, Bishop Wilhelm Egger from Italy, spoke to all the participants in the seminar about the interest of the universal Church in the life and development of the Catholic Church in China. The expressions on the faces of the listeners were eloquent witness to the impact of the brief encounter they were having with the universal Church in miniature.

Bishop Qin Lu Xian SJ, a lively octogenarian and articulate polyglot, briefly answered our questions and expressed his appreciation of our visit. He spent 27 years of his life in prison. Though not officially recognised by Rome, he is in good standing with the local authorities and thus able to get many things done.

At present there were 129 seminarians from six dioceses at Sheshan seminary, he said. He further explained that about 20 had been sent abroad (to the United States, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Europe) to complete their studies. At the moment there was an encouraging upsurge in vocations to the priesthood and the religious life.

But a major concern was the appointment of bishops. Almost all of them were now 75 or older. The basic impasse between the Chinese government and the Vatican still needed to be resolved. He concluded with a plea: Please pray for our Chinese Church.

A walk along the magnificent Shanghai Bund was the final ingredient of that day?s programme. The busy traffic to and from the harbour, the breathtaking skyline opposite - a completely new city centre with state-of-the-art modern high-rises and the usual eye-catching telecommunications tower built over the past 10-15 years.

Bishop Wilhelm Egger was ready for a stroll further down the embankment. Equally impressed, but also critical, he remarked: You can see that people worship the same God the world over: money. The still timid and as yet severely restricted renaissance of Christianity in China might humanly speaking seem powerless in the face of formidable odds. If China makes a headlong dash from Marxist materialism to free-market consumerism, there will be a crisis of attitudes and values which may present the greatest challenge of all.

Back to homepage