Posted on 11/28/2019 6:06:11 PM PST by marshmallow
Places of worship refusing to be controlled by the state are being shut down, while government-run churches are used to worship the Chinese Communist Party.
A Catholic Church in Ji’an, a prefecture-level city in the southeastern province of Jiangxi, was built this year at the cost of more than one million RMB (over $ 140,000), which had been raised by believers. It was named “The True and Original Source of the Universe", a reference to the name inscribed in 1711 on a plaque the Kangxi Emperor (Xuanje, 1654–1722) donated to a Catholic church in Beijing. Not long after it opened its doors, the church became the target of the local government’s persecution.
In late September, local officials ordered the congregation to paint over the sign with the name of the church, replace it with “Follow the Party, Obey the Party, and Be Grateful to the Party,” and display the national flag at the entrance.
What has hurt the congregations the most was the removal of a painting of the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child, later discarded into a dark corner of the church. Instead, a portrait of president Xi Jinping was hung in the center of one of the walls, surrounded by propaganda slogans on both sides.
A few days later, officials confiscated the keys to the church and locked all its doors and windows. The congregation lost their place of worship.
The same month, a Catholic meeting venue that is not part of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association in Jiangxi’s Poyang county was ordered to cease religious activities. Local officials threatened to revoke retirement pensions of elderly congregation members if another meeting were to be held. The church’s cross, a painting of the Virgin Mary, and religious couplets were removed, and portraits of Xi Jinping and Mao Zedong were....
(Excerpt) Read more at bitterwinter.org ...
Christian churches in China are underground churches, where they secretly meet in homes. Catholic Churches with all of their ornaments and such are not built for going underground.
Didn’t Thomas Friedman express admiration for the rules under which China operates?
“Have some sympathy, and some taste.”
Xi is off the rails.
Purring Christians in camps is not an option.
“Catholic Churches with all of their ornaments and such are not built for going underground.”
Mister Bergoglio has given the Chicoms the signal.
The Catholic Church which had come out of the shadows somewhat is now being decimated and driven back underground. Francis seems to have abetted that result, even promoted it. The “official” church is not Catholic, or even Christian.
Maybe they could put his face on a Pachamama statue. That should make all the powers that be happy.
ping
Pope Francis the Soros
Xi, the new Mao.
It’s been an option for decades.
Christians provide the capital that keeps China going.
Muslims don’t.
CCP doesn’t care if you’re a Christian or Muslim, if you don’t obey the edicts you will suffer the penalty, including internment camps. My friend used to smuggle bibles in from Hong Kong, now he says his contacts there will not do it anymore, it has become too dangerous. Too many friends suddenly go missing, and are never “found”.
Thanks for that info.
HK is very important to China. They put up with a lot of trouble from HK to get the Western capital that flows through there.
In late September, local officials ordered the congregation to paint over the sign with the name of the church, replace it with “Follow the Party, Obey the Party, and Be Grateful to the Party,”
...
Nancy Pelosi has the same sign on her desk.
About half of the Catholic Church in China is “underground” and meeting in homes, basements, barns, etc.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 (AV)Even Hitler didn't try to supplant the image of Jesus in the churches with his image.1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
(But then, according to the Second Commandment--Exodus 20:4--no one is to make an image of the God-man, eh? So some obedient church assembly halls only have a representation of the empty Cross, not one still occupied.)
In 2016 I was on a work assignment in China. Before I went, I asked my priest how I was supposed to go to church. He consulted the archbishop.
He told me that the government backed church was not church and that if I tried to attend an underground Church that I would put the parishioners in danger. He told me to try to get an American video of Mass on the internet.
It was relatively easy to find on the heavily censored Chinese internet. And I knew I was being monitored. I guess the Chinese authorities don’t care if you keep it to yourself.
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