Because I am one-fourth Chinese, it grieves me that China, continues to persecute our Chinese Catholic brothers and sisters, who are loyal to Rome.
As you know, two Catholic churches exist in China. Like I mentioned above, one is the Church that is loyal to the Holy Father and is known as the "underground church". The other is the state run church known as the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association. Their bishops and priests are loyal to the Chinese government.
On Good Friday, I had a chance to catch up on my reading of Catholic magazines and newspapers. I read two articles regarding the underground church. One is A Tale of Two Bishops and it appeared in the February 2002 issue of Crisis Magazine
It tells the story of Ignatius Pin-Mei Cardinal Kung and his fellow priest Father Fan, now bishop. Both priests were imprisoned and tortured for their faith. However, both priest chose a separate and distinct path.
The other article was also in Crisis Magazine and it appeared in their December 2005 issue. It is entitled Outlaw: One Priest in the Underground Chinese Church. The story is about a Catholic man who was imprisoned for the crime of belonging to the Legion of Mary.
I hope you take the time to read both of the articles.
It was sad to read in the first article that religious communities such as Maryknoll and the Jesuits contribute large amounts of money to the state run church. The underground church is virtually forgotten. It's main source of help comes from the organization run by the late Cardinal Kung's nephew Joseph Kung...The Cardinal Kung Foundation. Our family made the hard decision to end our monetary support of Maryknoll based on that information a few years ago. It was hard because we have good friends in that religious community both priests, brothers and sisters. However, we couldn't in good conscience continue to help them help the enemies of the Church.
If you want to help, please remember to pray for the loyal and persecuted Church in China. Also, consider donating to the Cardinal Kung Foundation
I enjoyed this post. I too posted on the underground "catacomb church" in China. part of my heritage is also Chinese who came to Hawai'i. I was deeply moved by these photographs I posted of the underground Church taken in the 1990s.:
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Do you still have family in Hawaii. Would make very interesting reading about the Chine Catholics here.
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