Chinese Bishops Deported to Attend Patriotic Assembly

Persecution.org ^ | December 7, 2010

[NYer]

ICC Note:

The Chinese Government has taken Catholic clergy to a meeting in Beiging by means of force. The meeting is reportedly meant to set up a church leadership structure the government can control.

12/07/2010 China (AsiaNews) – AsiaNews sources say that dozens of bishops of the official Church have been forcibly deported to the capital to ensure their participation at the Assembly of representatives of Chinese Catholics, which the pope considers incompatible with Catholic faith.

The Assembly opened today in Beijing on a low profileand is being shrouded in secrecy: it is impossible to contact anyone and not even Xinhua is reporting on the event. The meeting should lead to the election of the national president of the Patriotic Association and president of the council of Chinese bishops, two bodies that are unacceptable to the Catholic Church because they aim to build a separate Church, detached from the pope. “It’s just an election of a new round of leadership,” said Liu Bainian, vice president and chairman of the PA Assembly. In fact, the gathering is the “sovereign body” of the official Chinese church in which bishops are a minority among Catholics and government representatives. Ecclesial decisions are made on the basis of rigged elections. Ahead of today’s meeting, Liu Bainian had sent all participants clear indications of what to do and what to vote.

…

The most serious and obvious violence occurred in Hengshui (Hebei), where Mgr. Feng Xinmao was seized by about 100 police officers and government representatives, who fought for hours against the faithful and priests who were shielding their bishop in an attempt to ensure his freedom. One faithful was injured in the shoulder during the assault. In recent days, the bishop had been kept in isolation, away from his home. The faithful succeeded in snatching him from police control, to take him back to his residence. After a siege lasting hours, the bishop was again arrested and last night at 20:30, Mgr. Feng Xinmao was dragged to Beijing to attend the meeting. One of the faithful, weeping, as the bishop was escorted away, said: “Our poor bishop has no freedom.”

Another prelate, Msgr. Li Lianghui Cangzhou (Hebei) has disappeared to escape the meeting in Beijing. The police has threatened the diocese, that if the bishop does not surrender, he will be hunted throughout the country like “a dangerous criminal.”

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[NYer]

More .... from Catholic News Agency

Chinese officials forcing bishops to attend state-church meetings

Beijing, China, Dec 7, 2010 / 03:10 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Two of the Chinese government's “Catholic associations” are meeting from Dec. 7-9, with many bishops loyal to the Vatican reportedly being coerced into attending the gatherings.

With the exception of two articles in Beijing's official Catholic newsletter, almost no information has come out about the assemblies themselves, including in the Chinese media. However, several Chinese Catholic sources have reported bishops being kidnapped or arrested, in order to compel their participation.

The Catholic Patriotic Association and the so-called “Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church in China” are both seeking to fill a leadership position that has been vacant for several years. A government-appointed bishop, Michael Fu Tieshan, headed both agencies –and occupied a leadership position in the Communist country's national legislature– until his death in 2007.

Ahead of the meeting, around 100 police officers and other government officials in Hebei province converged on the residence of Bishop Feng Xinmao, whom a group of nuns and lay faithful had previously managed to rescue from forced isolation. After a dramatic siege that lasted several hours, authorities recaptured the bishop to take him to the meetings in Beijing.

In the same province, police have declared Bishop Li Lianghui Cangzhou to be a fugitive, after he disappeared in order to avoid the state-church meetings. Other sources within the Chinese Church have described local bishops going into hiding to avoid a similar fate.

Many bishops have not managed to escape, and have been detained and taken to the event. Others, facing similar threats, have reluctantly agreed to attend. However, they are reportedly refusing to concelebrate Masses with excommunicated state clergy.

In Hong Kong, the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission protested the meetings with a rally at government offices. They wore purple ribbons to signify the suppression of Chinese Catholics' religious freedom, and the recent renewal of government pressure on bishops who are loyal to Rome.

In November 2010, the Catholic Patriotic Association forced a group of Vatican-approved bishops to participate in an unauthorized episcopal consecration. Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged on Dec. 1 that Chinese Catholics were now “going through a particularly difficult time,” despite past indications of reconciliation between Beijing and the Holy See.

Although the Vatican has given approval to certain bishops who pledge their obedience to the Pope while operating within the state-approved “Catholic associations,” neither the Catholic Patriotic Association nor the self-described “Bishops' Conference” has ever received the recognition of the Holy See.

[trisham]

This is frightening.

[mulan]

I always wonder if there will be even a possibility within this century that China can become a "land of the free" and "home of the brave"! If there is just an armed militia of common Chinese fighting for Chinese freedom, just as the American armed militia during American Revolutionary War!