A priest of the Underground Catholic Church reflects on his vocation:
How is faith transmitted in our province? There are many ways, but one of the most important is the family. Despite many challenges, faith is still transmitted within Catholic families. I was born in an industrial city in 1973, during China’s Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). A few days after I was born, I was baptised by a lay believer, in hiding, in my family. This man is my godfather, a man who still now sacrifices himself and his interests for others. When I reflect on the faith I received, I thank the Lord who gave us these elderly people to pass it onto us.
My faith was influenced by my grandparents and by education within the family. Apart from the Chinese New Year, my family gave a lot of importance to Christmas. We Chinese Catholics live in a Communist, atheistic environment that denies, oppresses and derides religion. Although I received a Communist and atheistic education, my faith grew thanks to the witness of my grandparents and my family. Even during the Cultural Revolution, I remember that all my family would say the Rosary and Vespers together in secret, with the windows and doors closed: for more than 10 years, we spent Christmas night thus, without mass and without priests.
Police in the southern Guangdong province arrested two priests of China’s unofficial church on 25 September as they were returning from a trip to Europe, said the Kung Foundation, a US-based organization lobbying for religious freedom in China.
Meanwhile, AsiaNews sources in China said the real reason why Mgr Julius Jia Zhiguo, bishop of Zhengding (Hebei), was released was that the government feared the faithful may organize “popular protests” for his release on 1 October, which is National Day. The same sources said it was very likely that “once the feast day is over, Mgr Jia will be arrested again”.
The police apprehended Fr Shao Zhoumin, vicar general of Wenzhou diocese (in the eastern Zhejiang Province), and Fr Jiang Sunian, chancellor of the same diocese, without giving any reasons for their arrest. Both priests were arrested at 7pm, three hours after they landed in Shenzhen, while they were at the home of friends.
The police took away a large number of books and photos that the priests brought back from Europe. The place of their detention is unknown.
Speaking out against animal sacrifice
“Some Nepalese Buddhist practice this sacrifice,” added Bhante Satyabrata, a Buddhist monk from Lumbini (Buddha’s birthplace). “This is horrible. Lord Buddha would never have allowed such a monstrous act.”
In a bitter tone, the monk added that instead of butchering animals “we should [. . .] butcher our avarice, jealousy, hatred and enmity, [. . .] emulate Christians whose religion, primordially originated in Jewish culture with its tradition of animal sacrifice, never sacrificed animals to please their God.”
“Christians,” he said, “believe that Jesus was the last lamb to be sacrificed and His blood is enough to cleanse all the sins of mankind. But ironically, we, the followers and progenies of Lord Buddha in Nepal, indulge in such an obnoxious act of animal sacrifice”.
Ruben Gurung, an Evangelical Christian from the Good Hope Church, said that “it was a good sign that some Hindu and Buddhist reformers were coming forward to call for a ban on the cult of animal sacrifice”.
“I have nothing against their religious ritual. But I don’t approve it because it is the major cause of poverty in rural Nepal,” the Evangelical Christian said. “Poor Nepalese families sell off their valuables to perform such rituals. They dare not shun them because [. . .] they fear some disaster would fall upon them if they don’t perform the sacrifice ritual.”
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