Is there a Roman Catholic mass available to visiting foreigners in Beijing, China?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Leeta
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
L

Leeta

Guest
My husband is going to Beijing, China and will be there on a Sunday. Where can he fulfill his Sunday obligation? All the churches we have found on the censored Google are apparently Patriotic (schismatic) churches. Or does anyone have ideas about where to found out about a Catholic Mass or would it just endanger the Chinese Catholics if a foreigner showed up?
 
Leeta said:
My husband is going to Beijing, China and will be there on a Sunday. Where can he fulfill his Sunday obligation? All the churches we have found on the censored Google are apparently Patriotic (schismatic) churches. Or does anyone have ideas about where to found out about a Catholic Mass or would it just endanger the Chinese Catholics if a foreigner showed up?
Click to expand...
This is one of the rare cases in which you want to avoid the official Catholic Churches that are unsanctioned by the government. There would indeed be at least a chance that you could be placing the lives of parishoners in danger. I’m not sure about attending the Patriotic Churches; it could be a circumstance where although they’re not in full communion with Rome, it would fulfill your Sunday obligation, like going to an Orthodox Church in Russia when there is absolutely no other alternative. I would say your safest bet is to go to your local parish priest and get a dispensation for the Sunday Mass. This certainly would be a circumstance in which you would be justified in doing so.
 
Rolltide said:
This is one of the rare cases in which you want to avoid the official Catholic Churches that are unsanctioned by the government. There would indeed be at least a chance that you could be placing the lives of parishoners in danger. I’m not sure about attending the Patriotic Churches; it could be a circumstance where although they’re not in full communion with Rome, it would fulfill your Sunday obligation, like going to an Orthodox Church in Russia when there is absolutely no other alternative. I would say your safest bet is to go to your local parish priest and get a dispensation for the Sunday Mass. This certainly would be a circumstance in which you would be justified in doing so.
Click to expand...
Good points. My son was in China for two months this past summer. He attended the Patriotic Church, and received Communion. You just cannot search for the “underground” churches. You will get yourself and those who help you in trouble.

I have a Catholic friend lives in China for business for several years. She attends a Patriotic Church and receives the Communion. What else do you do? No Mass, no Communion for years?
 
InLight247 said:
Good points. My son was in China for two months this past summer. He attended the Patriotic Church, and received Communion. You just cannot search for the “underground” churches. You will get yourself and those who help you in trouble.

I have a Catholic friend lives in China for business for several years. She attends a Patriotic Church and receives the Communion. What else do you do? No Mass, no Communion for years?
Click to expand...
I would personally go to a Patriotic Church and fulfill my obligation there, however I would would never recieve Holy Communion from a church that is in schism.
 
According to the latest report from Zenit, 85% of the priests and bishops of the Patriotic Church are now in full communion with Rome (Deo Gratias!), so chances are the parish he attends will be in good standing, but regardless, they still have valid sacraments and can be used in a situation where no licit church can be found.
 
It’s important to understand that you should not seek out the underground churches to protect them.

Because of that, you are dispensed from your obligation to hear Mass in China.
 
I think I replied to this or a similar thread the other day, but it appears that either the powers that be deleted it, or else the server has had additional trouble.

Anyway, I know that in Beijing a little more than a decade ago, the Embassies of Ireland and the Philippines both offered mass to expats. There’s been a fair amount of growth in the number of foreigners living and doing business in China, so there may have been changes since then: perhaps they offer additional masses, or perhaps they restrict attendance at these masses to their own nationals. It wouldn’t surprise me if a similar situation exists at some of the consulates elsewhere in the country.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top