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China: Catholics Attend Mass Despite Warnings, Priests Taken To Guesthouses Print E-mail
Written by UCA News   
Thursday, 21 August 2008
Despite tight surveillance during the Beijing Olympics, more than 1,000 Catholics joined "underground" Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo of Zhengding, Hebei province, to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary.

In a separate development, several priests in the diocese were "invited" by public security officers to stay for a few days at government-run guesthouses before the Olympics officially opened on Aug. 8.

Church sources have told UCA News that prior to the feast on Aug. 15, public security officers warned Catholics in the diocese not to celebrate the feast in the cathedral in Wuqiu village, Jin county, but to attend Mass in their own village churches. The Marian feast is a major Catholic celebration in China.

Zhengding is a stronghold of the underground Catholic community. It is near Shijiazhuang, Hebei province's capital, 250 kilometers southwest of Beijing.

Nevertheless, hundreds of Catholics flocked to the cathedral on Aug. 15 as they have customarily done in the past to celebrate the feast there with Bishop Jia and his priests, Church sources said.

To avoid conflict, public security officers guarding the cathedral allowed the large crowd to enter. The officers did not follow them into the church but maintained order in the courtyard.

The sources said "the liturgy went smoothly," and the church was "packed" with people, with some having to stay outside due to lack of room.

Bishop Jia, 73, presided at the Mass alone. His uncle, a resident priest at the cathedral, was sick and confined to bed, the sources said. The same sources surmised that the other priests of Zhengding were either forbidden or dared not go to the cathedral due to tight security there.

Suffering poor health, Bishop Jia is under 24-hour government surveillance. Since April, public security officers have stationed themselves before the cathedral in a small house built solely to monitor the bishop.

The surveillance is expected to continue until late September, after the 2008 Paralympics, to be held in Beijing Sept. 6-17.

According to sources, feast day Masses in the other parishes of the diocese were celebrated as normal.

In another development, at least 15 of the 70 or so priests in the diocese were taken by public security officers to stay at government-run guesthouses before the start of the Olympics. In one instance, several priests were compelled to stay Aug. 6-9 at a guesthouse.

A source close to one of those priests told UCA News that officers came to that priest's church on Aug. 6 and said they want him to "take a rest for a couple of days," but they did not explain the reason. Arriving at the guesthouse, he discovered that four other priests of Zhengding, working in the same county, were already there.

The priests "could say Mass together, read the Bible, watch live broadcasts of the Olympics opening and competitions, as well as talk among themselves and move around inside the guesthouse, the source said. They could even play table tennis and do gymnastics using equipment provided. However, a public security officer stayed inside each room at night to keep guard as the priest slept.

The source quoted a priest saying that "if the government's demands do not contradict Church principles, the priests are willing to cooperate, because they do not want their pastoral work to be hindered in the future."

Ironically, the involuntary stay gave the priests who are always busy with parish work a chance "to rest and do some physical exercise," the source said.

The source also quoted the priest as saying it is good for China to host the Olympic Games, but the government should not be so nervous about security and act as if the country was under threat.

The five priests returned to their churches on the afternoon of Aug. 9 and have not encountered government interference in their work since then.

The Vatican's Annuario Pontificio yearbook lists Zhengding as a diocese but China's government-sanctioned "open" Church calls it Shijiazhuang diocese.
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 20 August 2008 )