Pressure Mounts on Fuzhou’s Catholic Conscientious Objectors [China]

Bitter Winter ^ | 1/3/20 | Ye Ling

[marshmallow]

The government closed down over 100 meeting venues in the Archdiocese of Fuzhou, which are run by priests who continue to resist joining the Patriotic Church.

Aiming to indoctrinate and transform Catholic conscientious objectors, the United Front Work Department (UFWD) and the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau in Fuzhou, the capital of the southeastern province of Fujian, organized a 3-day training conference for the Fuzhou Archdiocese clergy at the end of August 2019. The fact that only five priests attended irritated the authorities.

In retaliation, the government seized over 100 Catholic meeting venues in the archdiocese. In the Fuzhou-administered county-level city of Fuqing, the hometown of Father Lin Yuntuan, the former apostolic administrator and Vatican appointee in Fuzhou, all Catholic places of worship were shut down.

A priest from Fuqing told Bitter Winter that the government believes that Father Lin, a charismatic and influential figure in the archdiocese, leads the Catholic conscientious objectors who refuse to join the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA). The CCP sees him as an obstacle in the process of “unifying and transforming” the Catholic clergy. That is why they want to exert pressure on Father Lin by closing down all places of worship in Fuqing, hoping that he will start cooperating with the government.

According to our sources, all venues that belonged to what used to be known as the Underground Catholic Church in Fuzhou’s Jin’an and Gulou districts have been shut down. In October, the government posted a demolition notice at the well-known Haiyan Church (hǎiyàn jiàotáng) in Jin’an district, stating that it was an “unlawful meeting venue.” Four surveillance cameras were installed in the church.

[ebb tide]

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