Jimmy Lai takes the stand in yearslong Hong Kong national security trial

Yinchuan, China, Aug 10, 2018 / 04:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Officials in an autonomous region of northwest mainland China intended to demolish a mosque on Friday, but were met by hundreds of protesters. The move comes amid a nation-wide effort to clamp down on free religious expression.

Due to the protests, the local government has agreed not to demolish the mosque, but does insist on remodelling it in a more Chinese, and less Arabic, style, according to Nectar Gan of the South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong daily.

Officials had said Aug. 3 that the mosque would be demolished, on the grounds that it has not been granted the proper planning and construction permits. Protesters gathered in the mosque Aug. 9-10 to prevent its destruction.

Construction of the mosque had taken two years, and was not stopped by government officials.

The Weizhou Grand Mosque is located in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, more than 100 miles south of Yinchuan. Ningxia is a region set up for the Hui people, a Muslim ethnoreligious group.

The US Commission on International Religion wrote in its 2018 report that last year China “advanced its so-called ‘sinicization’ of religion, a far-reaching strategy to control, govern, and manipulate all aspects of faith into a socialist mold infused with ‘Chinese characteristics.’”

Christians, Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists, and Falun Gong practitioners have all been affected.

Earlier this year, widespread rumors suggested that the Vatican and the Chinese government were on the verge of regularizing the status of the Church in China and ending the split between the state-sponsored Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, whose leaders include illicitly-consecrated bishops, and the underground Church.

In Ningxia, sinicization has meant the removal from buildings of Islamic icons and Arabic signs, the South China Morning Post reported, as well as the removal of domes from mosques.

After scrapping the plan to demolish Weizhou mosque, officials first called for its domes to be replaced with pagodas, then for the removal of eight of its nine domes. Both have been rejected by the Hui.

Many mosques in Ningxia had been built in a Chinese style, but were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution of Mao Zedong. They have increasingly been replaced by more Arabic-looking buildings.

In neighboring Gansu province, local officials in Linxia banned children in January from attending religious events during winter break. Many Hui also live in Gansu.

In July, AFP reported that Communist Party officials in Linxia had banned children under 16 from religious activity or study. They have also restricted the number of students over 16 allowed to study at mosques and the certification process for new imams. Mosques have been instructed to display the Chinese flag and not to transmit calls to prayer.

“They want to secularise Muslims, to cut off Islam at the roots,” an imam told AFP. “These days, children are not allowed to believe in religion: only in Communism and the party.”

The AP reported in May about the existence of re-education camps for Muslims in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The region, which borders Gansu’s west, is home to the Uyghurs, another Muslim ethnoreligious group.

According to the AP, authorities in Xinjiang “have ensnared tens, possibly hundreds of thousands of Muslim Chinese – and even foreign citizens – in mass internment camps.”

A UN human rights committee heard Aug. 10 that these camps hold more than 1 million Uyghurs.

In August 2014 officials in Karamay, a city of Xinjiang, banned “youths with long beards” and anyone wearing headscarves, veils, burqas, or clothes with the crescent moon and star symbol from using public transit. That May, universities across the region banned fasting during Ramadan.

Chinese president Xi Jinping announced in October 2017 that he wants to tighten Beijing’s strict government controls on religion. At the National Congress of the Communist Party, he said religions not sufficiently conformed to communist ideals pose a threat to the country’s government, and therefore must become more “Chinese-oriented.”

In March 2018 the Chinese Communist Party became directly responsible for government oversight of religion.

Catholics and other Christians have had their church buildings demolished in numerous Chinese provinces in recent years, including Shandong, Henan, Zhejiang, and Shaanxi.

On March, Bishop Vincent Guo Xijin, who ministers to the underground Church, loyal to Rome and not the state, was detained for refusing to concelebrate a Chrism Mass with an illicitly consecrated, state-backed bishop. He was then released but forbidden from celebrating his own Chrism Mass.

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Canberra, Australia, Mar 18, 2019 / 05:01 pm (CNA).- The Catholic Church in Australia is calling for an increase to the minimum wage in the country, saying that it will help lift families out of poverty.

Megan Kavanagh, a member of the Australian Cath… […]

Colombo, Sri Lanka, May 7, 2019 / 04:00 am (CNA).- As Fr. Eranga De-Silva finished celebrating Easter Sunday Mass at his parish in Sri Lanka, he noticed policemen guarding the three entrances to the church.

He was celebrating the 8 a.m. Mass, and had just given the final blessing at Our Lady of Lourdes, the parish where De-Silva is a parochial vicar, when his pastor approached the altar, and whispered to him that he had “sad news.”

De-Silva’s pastor, who had just come from celebrating Mass at a different parish, then took to the pulpit, interrupting the final hymn.

The pastor announced the news to the congregation: bombs had been detonated at two different Catholic Churches, St. Sebastian’s in Negombo and St. Anthony’s in Colombo. Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Raddolugama, where De-Silva was finishing Mass, is just nine miles to the south of Negombo.

“People had no clue and were instructed to move quickly to their residences safely,” De-Silva told CNA. “Then the police asked (us) to close all the gates of the church. All were wondering what was happening and what (they) were to do.”

Around noon, De-Silva decided to head to Colombo to offer his assistance as a priest, despite the risk to his safety. He heard several more blasts by the time he reached the city, he told CNA.

The next day, he headed to Negombo, where priests were needed for help with prayer services and burials. “I saw hundreds of priests gathering, despite the prevailing risk, to help the flock,” he said.

Fr. Sachitra Perera was another priest who rushed toward danger after he heard of the attacks. He was heading to visit his parents on Easter when another priest told him of the bombs.

“My parish priest Fr. Manjula Fernando called me and said that there had been a blast so let’s rush to Katuwapitiya (St. Sebastian’s in Negombo),” he told CNA. It was about 8:45 on Easter morning.

When the priests arrived, they couldn’t believe what they saw, Perera said.

“Bodies were everywhere. People were dumbfounded, scared. Police had rushed to the place…I couldn’t believe my eyes,” he said. “(I) felt so sad and for a while I felt numb and speechless.” Perera said he helped clear paths for ambulances and emergency workers to reach the victims. He said he knew one family personally who lost their father, mother, and youngest son in the attacks. The two older children were away in Japan.

The family were faithful, daily Mass goers, Perera said. “And this son who died is very innocent, always with a bright smile. Even though he (was in 10th grade), he is so loving and innocent.”

De-Silva said that while he didn’t know any of the people who were injured or killed, he had heard of a family in which the father and his youngest daughter, Fathima Azla, were Muslim, while the mother and eldest sibling were Catholic.

“Although Fathima Azla was not baptized, she used to come for the Sunday Mass. Prior to this Easter, she had seen Jesus and some angels in dreams, and once very recently she had told the family members that she saw Jesus sprinkling some water on her,” De-Silva recalled. “Her mother has told her may be Jesus wants her to be baptized…and she had drawn some pictures of Jesus. However, Fathima Azla was one of the innocent victims of the terror attack.”

An evangelical church, three hotels, and a private residence were also struck by suicide bombers during the Easter attacks.

Both priests said the attacks have rocked a country that was just getting used to peaceful times, after war and terrorism reigned in the country from 1983 to 2009.

Sri Lanka is a majority-Buddhist country; the small minority of Christians in the country (fewer that 8%) are mostly Catholics. Roughly 10% of the population are Muslims.

It used to be that people saw churches as a place of refuge, Perera said.

“This is a major blow,” he said. “When something happens, people run to the church. In 2004 when the tsunami struck, they ran to church for safety. But now…”

“As a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country Sri Lankans could be identified as a relatively rich country. It is well known for hospitality,” De-Silva said.
“But, after these attacks, there is an unnecessary tension. After that day full of surprises, people today are full of (suspicion). The friendly way of approaching has faded away for the past two weeks. I hope this will end soon,” he added.  

Perera said that he wanted to credit Catholics in the country for their peaceful and faithful response to the attacks amidst so much tragedy.

“I must appreciate our faithful,” he said. “Sometimes as pastors we think people are not practicing what they believe, but this is a good example to show how strong we are because no one reacted to the Muslim community with violence.”

“I visited few houses of the affected people, they still have deep faith but they are in trauma. They have not lost their faith,” he noted.

Still, “the fear and uncertainty will slowly fade away but the scars will remain,” he added.

On May 5, for the second weekend in a row, Sri Lankan Catholics stayed in their homes and watched Mass on T.V. instead of going to church, due to ongoing security threats.

Although public schools in the country reopened after the attacks as of May 6, Catholic schools will remain closed until at least May 13. The risk, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith decided, is still too great.

De-Silva said he is not sure when churches will reopen for public Masses, but he and Perera both said they support Cardinal Ranjith’s decisions. Ranjith is the Archbishop of Colombo, and has been thrust into the spotlight as the leader of the Catholic Church in the country since the attacks.

Only on Monday, May 6, did the police chief of Sri Lanka announce that all suspects linked to the bombings were either arrested or dead, according to Reuters, which could effect whether or not Catholic churches open for Mass next weekend.

“It is said, ‘once bitten, twice shy.’ So I totally agree with my shepherd Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith who officially announced about not having Sunday Masses in our parishes in the Archdiocese,” De-Silva said. “His Eminence postponed the starting date of Catholuc Schools till May 13. Again, in my opinion, a very brave and a great idea.”

“The way he led his flock and the way he instructed us was amazing,” De-Silva added about the leadership of Cardinal Ranjith. “Buddhists appreciate his approach and all are amazed with the grace shared by his thoughts. May God continue to guide us through him.”

De-Silva, while a priest of Sri Lanka, has United States ties. He and several other priests from Sri Lanka spent several years studying in U.S. seminaries, through a partnership with the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, where they were affectionately called the “Sri-Lincolns.”

De-Silva said he was grateful for Bishop Emeritus Fabian Bruskewitz, who started the program, and was touched to hear from Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, who called each of the “Sri-Lincoln” priests to check on them after the attacks.

“Thanks for all who called and checked how we were doing,” he said. “I know that there are many still praying so hard. Please continue!”

Besides prayer, De-Silva asked that Catholics not forget what happened in the Easter attacks.

“Please do not forget what happened. We, as humans have the tendency to forget things easily. But (we’ll) not forget, especially for the sake of our future. Most of all – pray!”

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