Friday, August 22, 2008

The courage of Chinese Catholics

. . .enabled them to defy the authorities and attend Holy Mass with their imprisoned Bishop.
More than a thousand underground Catholics defied police controls to meet in a church in Wuqiu (Hebei) to celebrate mass on the feast day of the Assumption of Mary with their bishop, Julius Jia Zhiguo, who has been under house arrest and police surveillance around the clock. Sources told AsiaNews however that the bishop is isolated and that priests and seminarians cannot see him in person. Monsignor Jia is bishop of the underground diocese of Zhengding (Hebei), which has more than 110,000 Catholics with 80 priests and more than 90 nuns. For the Olympics public security officers warned Catholics in the diocese not to celebrate the feast in Wuqiu cathedral. Prelates and priests were placed instead under house arrest.
THIS is why I was against holding the Olympics in China, it inflicted additional suffering on an already persecuted Church. We would do well to imitate the Catholics there who are willing to die for their faith. We don't even want to be embarrassed for ours.
Read the entire story at Catholic Online.

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