Via Luke Coppen's Morning Catholic must-reads the other day, I came across an inspiring account of A Vibrant, Living Church in China by Elizabeth Hansen. Pope Benedict's 2007 Letter to Chinese Catholics demonstrates the immensely difficult conditions in which the Church in China operates and it is edifying to see the sincere desire of the underground Catholics to avoid discord.
In the course of her article, Hansen tells of the commemoration last Friday of the 120 martyrs canonised by Pope John Paul. She highlights the example of 18 year old Chi Zhuzi who was preparing for Baptism and refused to renounce the faith when he was captured and tortured during the Boxer Rising in 1900. Even when his right arm was cut off, he refused to deny Christ, telling his tormentors:
“Every piece of my flesh, every drop of my blood will tell you that I am Christian.”He was eventually flayed alive.
At the Vatican website, you can see a summary for St Augustine Zhao Rong and his companions who died for the faith between 1648 and 1930.
Hansen's article is carried by Headline Bistro, an initiative of the Knights of Columbus in the USA. You can read about the launch and "Like" the Facebook page
1 comment:
The Catholic Church in China is the flagship of the missionary faith today. Every day there are more martyrs and we must not forget those who have been in prison for the past 30 or 40 years. Amazingly, there are still surviving, whole villages of Catholics who are at the mercy of the communist government.
The issue of the Patriotic Church and the Underground Church (the state church and the Catholic church, respectively), is a complicated one.
The underground church (loyal to Rome) celebrates the Mass in the Ordinary Form whilst its state counterpart, the Patriotic Church still (or did up until 6 years ago) celebrates the Extraordinary Form of Mass. But, its Bishops and clergy are, in the main, married.
A bit of a pig's breakfast!
The whole country is desperate for a faith. So many Chinese people have said to me: "We need religion to make us good".
China presents us with a challenge for the future, it could be a great leap forward - towards Christ as opposed to materialism!
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