U.S.

Conference: China has ‘a faith that’s alive’

By Joyce Duriga | Editor
Sunday, October 13, 2013

Conference: China has ‘a faith that’s alive’

While the focus of the faith in China often centers on human-rights issues, “we feel that the long and sustained faith of the Catholic Church in China is something that is not often discussed,” said Passionist Father Robert Carbonneau, assistant director of the U.S. Catholic China Bureau.
Volunteers hang a banner prior to the start the 25th National Catholic China Conference at Loyola University Chicago on Oct. 4. The annual conference was sponsored by the U.S. Catholic China Bureau, which aims to be a bridge between Catholic communities in the U.S. and Catholic communities in China. The three-day conference centered around the theme of globalization. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
Jesuit Father Michel Marcil (on right) speaks to Father Roger Shuxin Zhang from China as participants gathered conference. Father Marcil is the director of the U.S. Catholic China Bureau. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
Keynote speaker Richard Madsen looks over notes while Jesuit Father Michael Agliardo introduces him as the keynote for the opening of the 25th National Catholic China Conference at Loyola University Chicago on Oct. 4. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
Philip Nahlik glances at a paper prior to the start of event. The conference attracts scholars, students, clergy and relgious who have an interest in the relationship between the Catholic Church in China and the Catholic Church in the United States. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
Richard Madsen, a sociologist from the University of California San Diego, delivers the keynote "The State of the Church in China Today" on Oct. 4. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
Stephen Binz visits with Christie Chui-Shan Chow, Joseph Tse-Hei Lee and Dr. Jean-Paul Wiest during a break at the 25th National Catholic China Conference at Loyola University Chicago on Oct. 4. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)

While the focus of the faith in China often centers on human-rights issues, “we feel that the long and sustained faith of the Catholic Church in China is something that is not often discussed,” said Passionist Father Robert Carbonneau, assistant director of the U.S. Catholic China Bureau.

He said the church in China has grown by at least 10 million members since 1949. “It’s a faith that’s alive,” he said. “There are abuses, but there’s also hope, and any church needs that to survive.”

Carbonneau offered these comments before the start of the 25th National Catholic China Conference held Oct. 4-6 at Loyola University Chicago. More than 130 people from around the United States and China attended the conference, which was sponsored by the U.S. Catholic China Bureau and focused on the theme of globalization.

The bureau’s purpose is to be a bridge between the Catholic Church in the United States and the Catholic Church in China. It engages mostly with clergy, religious, students and scholars but is open to anyone with an interest in the church in China.

“Our purpose really is to bring all these different people interested in the longstanding history of the Catholic Church in China to look toward the future of how they can engage with China,” said Carbonneau.

The bureau also recently published the first parallel translation of the Old Testament in English and Chinese.

Often when Americans think about the Catholic Church in China, they think about the registered and unregistered church.

In the late 1950s, the Chinese government began suppressing the church and established the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, whose members initially were asked to reject ties with the Vatican. Many of the Catholics who joined indicated they chose to cooperate with the government and work within its restrictions, but remained loyal to the Vatican. Catholics who refused to join the patriotic association maintained their loyalty to the Vatican and suffered decades of persecution.

There is also tension between the two over the appointment of bishops. The patriotic church says it has the authority to ordain bishops; the Vatican disagrees.

Issues of the registered and unregistered churches or human rights weren’t the focus of the weekend, but the situation in China was recognized by all attendees and ways to work within the restrictions noted.

In one of the Saturday sessions, the room was packed as representatives from the University of Notre Dame, Fordham University and the University of Dayton spoke about programs their institutions offer in China.

Fordham has offered degree programs in China for 24 years and Notre Dame is growing its presence in China.

The University of Dayton has more than 800 Chinese students on its Ohio campus and also has its own research institute in the Suzhou Industrial Park in the Jiangsu Province in eastern China where its engineers, scientists and students work with global companies. The China institute offers semester programs to both American and Chinese students.

Throughout all their workings in China, Daniel Curran, president of the University of Dayton, said the university hasn’t sacrificed its identity.

“We are openly Catholic,” Curran said.

There were times when the Marianist university was establishing its institute in 2012 when they were asked to change their logo featuring the dome of a church with a cross on top. The university said no, “And that was the right thing to do,” Curran said.

These kinds of partnerships within Catholic organizations of the church in the United States to help Catholics in China is important, said Franciscan Friar Bonaventure Bai.

“I hope the U.S. Catholic community can really provide more opportunities to the Chinese Catholic Church,” Bai said.

This could be in the form of educating Chinese religious and clergy to go back and guide the Catholic community in China.

The Franciscan priest said that the Catholic Church in the U.S. also must provide greater awareness of and attention to the Chinese living and worshipping here while also calling attention to the plight of the church in China.

It’s something all Catholics can do.

“We can’t just wait for the bishops to do it,” he said. “We can build up the sistership (between the Catholics in the United States and Catholics in China).”

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