__________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

China

More Christians jailed
Police demand control of churches

Chinese police have detained 30 members of an underground Protestant church, according to the New York-based Human Rights in China.

Among the 30 arrested on September 14 in Henan province was Liu Hongtao, who was reported by another human-rights group to have died from injuries sustained at the hands of police. A Jiaozuo city police official, reached by telephone by the Associated Press, confirmed that about 30 members of the China Gospel Sect were detained in September, but he refused to say what has happened to them since that time. Asked if a 19-year-old had died in custody from mistreatment, he shouted “nonsense” and refused to answer more questions or give his name.

None of those detained have been released, Human Rights in China said, quoting Zhang Dawei, whom it described as the overseas spokesman for China’s underground church movement.

The Communist Chinese government requires Christians to worship only in state-controlled associations including the Three Self Protestant Patriotic Movement and the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which eschews any connections to the Vatican or the Pope. Many Catholics and Protestants worship in illegal, underground churches.

Hong Kong defies Beijing
Martyrs celebrated despite public campaign

Chinese Catholics in Hong Kong celebrated a solemn Mass to honor the 120 Chinese martyrs canonized by Pope John Paul II in Rome on October 1, rejecting Beijing’s campaign against the new saints.

The celebration was presided over by Cardinal John Baptist Wu Cheng-Chung, together with Coadjutor Bishop Joseph Zen, Auxiliary Bishop John Tong, and Abbot Clement Kong of the Our Lady of Joy Trappist Monastery at Lantau. More than 1,200 people attended, mostly local Catholics.

Beijing had banned all public ceremonies in China for the new martyr-saints and also advised the diocese of Hong Kong to keep celebrations for the canonization “low key.” The government even led a publicity campaign in September and October against the new saints—calling the martyred Chinese Christians “enemies of the people” and the martyred foreign missionaries “instruments of Western imperialism” and men of “dissolute morals.”

The liturgy included a solemn procession to replace the martyrs’ relics in the Chapel of the Passion in the cathedral apse. Among the congregation were many young people who stayed on after the Mass to pray silently in front of the relics of the new saints. Also attending the Mass were the owner of the Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, Jimmy Lai Chee-ying who recently became a Catholic, and Martin Lee Chu-ming, leader of the Democratic Party in Hong Kong. Not present were Catholic members of the Special Administration Regional government such as Anson Chan, Secretary General, and Donald Tsang, Finance Secretary.

Martin Lee said Beijing had attempted to interfere with religious freedom in Hong Kong, but that the diocese handled the situation very well. Before the canonization, Coadjutor Bishop Joseph Zen stated that the Church in Hong Kong has every right to celebrate the canonization. He noted that the anti-canonization campaign was a sign that the Chinese government and the Patriotic Association are afraid as they see the official Catholic Church in mainland China draw steadily away from their control and nearer to Rome. The only answer from the Patriotic Association was an ideological indoctrination campaign throughout the mainland and “no” to several planned pilgrimages to China by Hong Kong Catholics.