Line between the underground and official church blurs in China; after years of hostility, reconciliation is in the air

National Catholic Reporter, Feb 4, 2005 by Paul J. Mooney

Official Catholics--both laity and clergy--are openly expressing their resentment of the Catholic Patriotic Association. The organization is controlled by different people in different areas--bishops in some places, lay people, usually atheists, in others. In one predominantly Muslim area, the association leaders are Muslims. In January 2000, when the Catholic Patriotic Association attempted to carry out the ordination of five bishops not approved by Rome, the move backfired. Sources say the plan originally called for a larger number of priests to be elevated, but many refused to take part in the ceremony, as did teachers and seminarians at the National Seminary in Beijing.

But all is not smooth. Conservative members of the underground church who have suffered for decades remain fiercely skeptical of the official church, and many have worked against reconciliation. Bishop Han wrote that underground priests long feared that the Catholic Patriotic Association would bring about a schism by-attempting to create an independent Chinese Catholic church. He said he and his fellow priests had long refused to join them in religious services and encouraged other Catholics to do the same.

The extent of this division was illustrated on Good Friday last year when 1,000 Catholics attended services in the official St. Joseph's Cathedral in Tianjin, an hour from Beijing. At the same time, another 200 underground Catholics held their own liturgy at the Marian shrine inside the compound, refusing to have anything to do with the official congregation inside the church. Their leader, Bishop Stephen Li, who was recognized by the state as a priest but not a bishop, was banished to a church in a remote mountain area. An overseas Catholic news service reported that the unofficial group has been praying at the shrine for 10 years and that the government was aware of the situation.

"The community inside the church is run by communists," a bystander told a reporter from the overseas Union of Catholic Asian News, adding that he believed the souls of Catholics who worship inside the church will go to hell. Hundreds of Catholics traveled several hours to the mountain church to celebrate the holiday with Bishop Li.

Recognizing the poor facilities at the underground seminaries, many seminarians loyal to Rome attend a state seminary but then refuse ordination by the official bishop, returning to an underground church for the ceremony. Older underground Catholics who have suffered for remaining loyal to the Vatican are especially irked to see state seminaries get funding from overseas Catholic organizations and state priests granted funding to study in foreign seminaries while their own training is inadequate.

It's no surprise that underground Catholics remain wary of the official church. They continue to face harassment, arrest and even death in Chinese prisons. Unregistered churches are routinely torn down in some areas. In June, the Vatican lashed out against the arrest of several underground bishops, but government authorities denied any knowledge of this.