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Beijing, China, Oct 30, 2018 / 11:06 am (CNA).- The first time Wenxuan Yuan visited a Catholic church in Beijing as a child, she was struck by its beauty.

 

In the courtyard of the church there was a blackboard with a verse from the Book of Revelation in Chinese, “Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last, the one who lives. Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever.”

 

“I did not fully understand the significance of these words, but I couldn’t stop thinking about them. I kept visiting the church again and again,” Yuan said.

 

At the age of 14, Yuan made the decision to become a Catholic. “I found a freedom that I had never had before. For the first time, I had nothing to hide in my heart,” she reflected.

 

“God has become my light and therefore I am no longer afraid of light,” Yuan told bishops and young people in Rome at a youth synod event sponsored by the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture.

 

In a historic first, two bishops from China participated in the first few weeks of the 2018 Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith, and vocational discernment.

 

Beyond beauty, Yuan told CNA that what first attracted her to the Catholic faith was that, “It is true. It is not only a better theology. It is the true theology.”

 

And Yuan could not keep this truth to herself. “When I was in college, every weekend I would try to grab one of my friends for Mass and I did that for several years,” Yuan continued.

 

However, many of her college friends in China knew almost nothing about the Catholic faith. “Some even got the wrong idea that after the Reformation the Catholic Church became the Protestant church,” she added.

 

Upon hearing the Gospel for the first time, Yuan’s friends’ “first reaction was like, ‘It is beautiful,’ but second was ‘It is shocking. You are believing in crazy things.’”

 

“But that part of the point of Christianity. It is shocking and we are believing it,” Yuan said with a smile.

 

A Chinese religious sister from Hebei, China, also participated in the synod as an auditor.

 

Sister Teresina Cheng said that it is difficult for young people in China to “maintain a solid faith” because Catholic Christians are such a small percentage of the Chinese population.

 

“In universities, young Catholics are afraid of revealing themselves as such, for fear of being considered ‘strange’ or a minority,” Sister Cheng told AsiaNews.

 

Because of this, Sister Cheng fears that faith in China is “in danger of fading.”

 

“Certainly there are also young people interested in the Christian life, who on their own initiative come to ask to know the Church better, attend the catechumenate and activities in the parishes,” she added.

 

Yuan, a Chinese student full of such initiative, is currently pursuing a PhD in theology at Notre Dame University.

 

Her love of theology was born by reading spiritual writings through which she entered into “the living tradition of the Church.” Yuan found the “heroic battle of charity and self-sacrifice” in St. Therese of Lisieux’s autobiography to be a particular inspiration.

 

“Another thing I learned from St. Therese is the importance of praying for priests. I am blessed to have encountered some very holy priests in my life, who correct my faults and guide me through spiritual desolation, and always keep me in their prayers,” Yuan said at the youth synod event.

 

“Since it is hard to overstate how much a priest can do for a soul, I believe that all faithful should try their best to support their priests,” she continued.

 

“I saw the Church as a home from the very beginning and I am thankful for all of the grace I have received through her,” Yuan said.

 

“My life in the Church has also changed my relationships with people. I learned that all people are created by God in His image and therefore deserve my love,” Yuan said.

 

“I have to admit that sometimes I find it difficult to love some people, like to find Christ in them,” she continued.

 

“However, God puts His own love in me and that love drives me to approach those people, and actually I end up being friends with many of them.” Yuan said. “It is really a transcendent experience to be driven by love that goes beyond your understanding.”

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Tokyo, Japan, Oct 30, 2019 / 01:02 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis’ three-day visit to Japan in November will include a meeting with people affected by the country’s “triple disaster,” when a major earthquake and subsequent tsunami on M… […]

Fujian, China, Nov 21, 2019 / 09:30 am (CNA).- A Catholic bishop in China is reportedly on the run from state authorities after refusing to register with the state-sponsored Church. Bishop Vincenzo Guo Xijin is believed to be in hiding in the diocese of Mindong after leaving the residence of the local state-sponsored bishop.

Bishop Guo is considered a leader in the Chinese underground Catholic Church, which refuses to submit to the state-sponsored Church which is in turn under the authority of the Chinese Communist Party. Priests in China are required to register with the government in order to be able to minister openly. In the process of doing so, they are expected to acknowledge the government’s policy of “sinicization.”

According to Asia News, on November 9, Guo was placed under the supervision of two state security officials and visited daily in an attempt to force him to sign an act of registration with the state.

On November 12, officials attempted to compel Guo to attend a meeting of “independent” clergy of the diocese with a view to bringing them in line with the state-sanctioned Church. Asia News reports that the majority of the diocese’s priests have refused to sign the act of registration with the Communist-backed Church. When Guo refused, he was taken to the Mindong diocesan chancery in Ningde to meet with Bishop Vincent Zhan Silu, who was expected to “convince” him to sign the formal submission to the state-Church.

Guo was the Vatican-recognized bishop of the Diocese of Mindong until the conclusion of the recent Vatican-China deal, agreed in 2018. Following that agreement, which gave communist officials say over the appointment of bishops and the right to enforce “sinicization” on local Catholic practice, the Holy See recognized the communist-approved Bishop Zhan, who had previously been considered an excommunicated schismatic, as the diocesan bishop, and compelled Guo to accept the position of auxiliary bishop in his own diocese.

In June, the Vatican issued “pastoral guidelines of the Holy See concerning the civil registration of clergy in China.” While recognizing the need to continue efforts to normalize relations between the Catholic community and government authorities, the document “respects the choice” of priests who refuse to register with the state.

“For some time, requests have been received by the Holy See from Bishops in mainland China for a concrete indication of the approach to be adopted in relation to the obligation of presenting an application for civil registration,” the document says, noting that “many pastors remain deeply disturbed [at] the modality of such registration.”

The Holy See also noted that the act of registration “requires, almost invariably, the signing of a document in which, notwithstanding the commitment assumed by the Chinese authorities to respect also Catholic doctrine, one must declare acceptance, among other things, of the principle of independence, autonomy and self-administration of the Church in China.”

If, the Vatican said, “the text of the declaration required for the registration does not appear respectful of the Catholic faith,” priests should specify – in writing if possible, or else in front of witnesses – that the declaration is made only to the extent it is “faithful to the principles of Catholic doctrine.”

“At the same time, the Holy See understands and respects the choice of those who, in conscience, decide that they are unable to register under the current conditions.”

Guo has previously been arrested for refusing to participate in public events with Zhan. In February, Guo told the New York Times that “we must obey Rome’s decision,” and that “our principle is that the Chinese Catholic Church must have a connection with the Vatican; the connection cannot be severed.”

But he also indicated that while “the Chinese government doesn’t say explicitly that we need to disconnect” from Rome, “in some circumstances it has such an implication.”

Asia News reports that on November 13, Guo “escaped” from the chancery and returned to his home town of Luojiang where it is belived state authorities are attempting to locate him.

The Diocese of Mingdong is home to 90,000 Catholics, 80,000 of whom are affiliated with the “underground Church,” as are 57 of the diocese’s 69 priests.

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