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Church in China pushed towards taking a further step

ROME (SE): A subscription only magazine published in Rome with the approval of Vatican authorities, La Civilita Cattolica, has taken the Lunar New Year Greeting of Pope Francis to the Chinese people in 2016 one step further.
 
In his greeting, Pope Francis praised the beauty and wisdom of Chinese culture, saying, “… I wish to express my hope that they never lose their historical awareness of being a great people, with a great history of wisdom, and that they have much to offer to the world.”
 
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New online Chinese Christianity Collection

BEIJING (SE): The Kingdom Business College in Beijing teamed up with Globethics.net in Geneva, Switzerland, to launch the Online Chinese Christianity Collection on May 15.
 
A press release from its Beijing office says that it is the largest Online Collection on Chinese Christianity anywhere in the world.
 
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The Cross is Red

ROME (SE): A culture, especially one as old as China’s is not quickly replaced and certainly not by a flimsy ideology, Richard Madsen, from the University of San Diego in the United States of America, explained at the introduction of a symposium in Rome under the title, The Cross is Red.
 
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Power cut for refusing surveillance cameras

HONG KONG (SE): Two parishes in the coastal province of Zhejiang in China discovered that the electricity to the Church compound had been cut off after they had refused to install security cameras.
 
Suddenly, it appears the two buildings have become fire hazards, as immediately after their refusal they were issued with a notice from the fire department saying that the buildings are dangerous when full of people.
 
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Uneducable priests

HONG KONG (SE): Three priests from the unofficial Church community in Mindong in eastern China were detained on May 6, the same day that the leader of their diocese, Bishop Vincent Guo Xijin, was released after one month in detention.
 
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A decade on from pope’s letter to Chinese Catholics

May 27 this year marks the 10th anniversary of the letter Pope Benedict XVI penned to the Catholic people of China. Although commentators hold a wide variety of views on the impact of the letter, what is undeniable is that it has given the Church in China a clear direction and led it into a new era.
 







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Crackdown on unofficial Church strongholds intensifies

HONG KONG (UCAN): Local officials in northeastern Heilongjiang province of China have moved to close down an unofficial Catholic community that had organised a Mass on April 20, a weekday.

A 10-second video clip circulated online showed several police arguing with people who were trying to stop them from detaining a lay community leader and Father Shen Yanjun, who began working at the Qingshan Church in Wudalianchi City seven months ago.
The video clip was later removed.
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Localising Church music in China

HONG KONG (UCAN): China has experienced an increase in locally composed liturgical songs, which is evidenced by a new website listing various hymns that are sung across China today.

Last year, one priest released his own album of songs that he composed himself.

Sanyuan, in northwestern Shaanxi province, and Xianxian in northern Hebei, both held sacred music festivals in late 2016 attracting many choirs from the areas.
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Two cardinals two opinions

HONG KONG (SE): The two cardinals in Hong Kong hold divergent opinions on the current discussions taking place between the Vatican and Beijing, with the bishop of Hong Kong, John Cardinal Tong Hon, showing great optimism in his outline of a possible scenario for Church-state relations and his predecessor, Joseph Cardinal Zen Ze-kiun, far more wary.
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