Eastern Catholicism and the Far East

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Crescentinus

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Here’s a question.
Why is it that I do not see Eastern Catholics here in the Far East? o:
 
The far east (China, Japan, Korea) was generally evangelized by the Roman rite as far as Catholics go. I guess China had some Nestorian presence. Japan has a few Orthodox Christians, I think Korea does too (again, from Wikipedia).

For Eastern Catholics there, the numbers are small, but there’s a recording of a DL in Chinese
PS I LOVE the deacon is this video! The double orar/stole (even with chinese on it) he has is also lovely. The chant is awesome too.
 
I presume here you mean the Asian countries such as Japan, China, Korea, et al. There actually was Apostolic activity in those countries, and there is evidence that the Church was established there from the earliest days of the Church. But the Faith has never really taken off there in full force. This may be because the Faith (or rather the presentation of the Faith) is so entrenched in Greek philosophical thought that it was/is quite foreign to other cultural and philosophical systems.

Today, however, there are Eastern Catholics in Asian countries; there are even Orthodox Christians in those countries. They are, perhaps, not as numerous as Latin Catholics, but they’re there.
 
Asides from China (including Taiwan), Japan, Korea and Mongolia, I’m also referring to Southeast Asia.
 
Phillip_Rolfes said:
This may be because the Faith (or rather the presentation of the Faith) is so entrenched in Greek philosophical thought that it was/is quite foreign to other cultural and philosophical systems.
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China, S. Korea, and Japan are so westernized now, the Roman rite fits very well, as compared to Eastern Catholic theology, IMO.
Example
The building itself is very Japanese.

However, according to Wiki , an Exarchate was set up in Harbin, in 1928.
A link about the DL Video I posted
 
Crescentinus said:
Asides from China (including Taiwan), Japan, Korea and Mongolia, I’m also referring to Southeast Asia.
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Like India? I presume not…they have relatively a lot of ECs there.
If you mean Vietnam, Thailand, Indochina are, there really wouldn’t be many ECs there, because the Orthodox presence is so small anyway.
 
Crescentinus said:
Not India, but more like Singapore and the Philippines.
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Because the Philippines was pagan land until Spain brought Roman Catholicism there. Since then, there have been virtually no immigrants that are Eastern Catholics. There has been the occasional Syro-Malabar Qurbono, I think it happens once a year. But that is it.
 
ConstantineTG said:
Because the Philippines was pagan land until Spain brought Roman Catholicism there. Since then, there have been virtually no immigrants that are Eastern Catholics. There has been the occasional Syro-Malabar Qurbono, I think it happens once a year. But that is it.
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What’s Qurbono? o:
 
ByzCathCantor said:
There is at least some visible interest at the grass roots level: Eastern Rite Catholic Filipinos
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Well, I was part of that group for a time. But it is a non-starter, so don’t keep your hopes up. It really is hard to break into the Roman Catholic hierarchy in the country. There is actually a small Syro-Malabar (or Malankara, I always get them confused) in the country and a biritual priest to celebrate the Qurbono for them. But they are only allowed to do so once or twice a year. The rest of the time they go to Roman Catholic parishes and the priest himself says Mass. He is under the local bishop.
 
ConstantineTG said:
Well, I was part of that group for a time. But it is a non-starter, so don’t keep your hopes up. It really is hard to break into the Roman Catholic hierarchy in the country. There is actually a small Syro-Malabar (or Malankara, I always get them confused) in the country and a biritual priest to celebrate the Qurbono for them. But they are only allowed to do so once or twice a year. The rest of the time they go to Roman Catholic parishes and the priest himself says Mass. He is under the local bishop.
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Is that priest here in Manila? o:
 
ConstantineTG said:
Yes, I think he is a priest in UP.
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U.P. Diliman or U.P. Manila?
The University of the Philippines has their main campus in Diliman (a part of Quezon City, which is in part, in Metro Manila) and another campus in Manila.
 
There is a small UGCC community on Singapore. There may also be one in Hong Kong but I am not sure.

There was a White faction (anti-Communist Russians and others) presence in China after the Bolshevik Revolution, most of these refugees living at the time in the Manchurian area (Russian influenced area until the Japanese became dominant around 1905) around Harbin, which would have lasted until the Japanese defeat at the end of WW II. Among these anti-communists would be Russian Catholics, a small portion of Russian minority in China.
After the Japanese defeat, Communist Russia occupied areas of northern China briefly, and began the process of repatriating Soviet citizens, so at this time people were getting out any way they could. The Chinese civil war between the KMT and the Communists resumed, and Manchuria was one of the first areas to fall to the Communists.

By the time the Chinese Civil war ended in 1949, most Whites were gone or were on their way. This was the reason some Russian Catholics and Ukrainian Catholics found themselves in places like Hong Kong and Singapore, and by the way also San Francisco. 🙂 This was the same trek Orthodox were making.

The result is that Eastern Catholicism was entirely wiped out of China. Orthodoxy lasted a little longer (due to the fact that it had some native clergy) and was essentially snuffed out in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in the 1960’s.
 
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