Chinese Officials Crack Down on Religious Funerals, Weddings

[JimG]

The crackdowns are part of the government’s campaign to “sinicize” religion, bringing it into unity with Communist Chinese culture. The report comes just five days after Chris Smith (R-NJ), co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, told a congressional hearing that the state of religious freedom in China has “never been worse than it is right now.”

Chinese Officials Crack Down on Religious Funerals, Weddings

On April 12 of this year, Chinese government officials broke up an 11-person Christian funeral in the province of Henan that was honoring a deceased member of the congregation.

www.ncregister.com

 

[KMG]

Cardinal Zen was 100% right.

 

[Emeraldlady]

Cardinal Zen was 100% right.

It’s just no longer feasible for the Church to continue hidden from the Chinese people for more than 50 years. Persecution is a mark of the Church and despite Cardinal Zens objections to compromise, Pope Francis is only building on the program begun by Pope Benedict in 2007, opting for compromise for the sake of the local Catholic communities.

 

[JimG]

The underground Church was not hidden from the Chinese people, it was hidden from the government, which wanted government control of the Catholic Church. It seems that now, the government has gained control of the Catholic Church. No priest can be recommended for the episcopate without government approval. And now, the government is increasingly cracking down on “unapproved” churches and congregations, both Catholic and non-Catholic.

 

[graciew]

Not really cracking down in “ unapproved churches”. It sounds more of forbidden practices.The practice is to to be kept private, and according to the article…there was activity in the courtyard, or what in their eyes… crossed the line as public.
I am not defending it, just trying to read as objectively as possible.
Whatever makes their socialism feel threatened they react, and religion is deep against the principles of Communism.
I also read this is going on in the Province of Henan. There are quite a lot of temples there, which you can visit, as the carvings of Buda in Longmen , Temple of the White Horse, Shaolin also if I am not mistaken.There must be some sort of issue with stricter ( or some sort of issue…) with their local CParty authorities…
They are sort of attentive to any demonstration, all religions included. Avoid any sort of “ scandal” in their eyes, which takes sometimes just a little step .
It is Socialism in China, Communism. It is like that…
Again, I am not defending it by any means, just trying to read as objectively as possible …and avoid unnecessary panic. It is already complicated to deal with a Communist regime for us from other parts of the world already.

 

[Emeraldlady]

One of the articles that quoted the Vatican mentioned the unnatural status of being an ‘underground’ Church. It has of course happened at times and even Pope JPII experienced the Church ‘underground’ during the 2nd WW. It has become a permanent characteristic of the Chinese Church and that makes many of the good Bishops uncomfortable. It was questions from those Bishops to the Vatican that resulted in Pope Benedict issuing his letter to them in 2007 allowing for some compromises for the sake of the local diocese.

Given this difficult situation, not a few members of the Catholic community are asking whether recognition from the civil authorities – necessary in order to function publicly – somehow compromises communion with the universal Church. I am fully aware that this problem causes painful disquiet in the hearts of Pastors and faithful. In this regard I maintain, in the first place, that the requisite and courageous safeguarding of the deposit of faith and of sacramental and hierarchical communion is not of itself opposed to dialogue with the authorities concerning those aspects of the life of the ecclesial community that fall within the civil sphere. There would not be any particular difficulties with acceptance of the recognition granted by civil authorities on condition that this does not entail the denial of unrenounceable principles of faith and of ecclesiastical communion. In not a few particular instances, however, indeed almost always, in the process of recognition the intervention of certain bodies obliges the people involved to adopt attitudes, make gestures and undertake commitments that are contrary to the dictates of their conscience as Catholics. I understand, therefore, how in such varied conditions and circumstances it is difficult to determine the correct choice to be made. For this reason the Holy See, after restating the principles, leaves the decision to the individual Bishop who, having consulted his presbyterate, is better able to know the local situation, to weigh the concrete possibilities of choice and to evaluate the possible consequences within the diocesan community. It could be that the final decision does not obtain the consensus of all the priests and faithful. I express the hope, however, that it will be accepted, albeit with suffering, and that the unity of the diocesan community with its own Pastor will be maintained.

http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedi.../documents/hf_ben-xvi_let_20070527_china.html