HONG KONG (UCAN): Father Ding Yang a parish priest in Tongnan, Chongqing, southwestern China, rushed to help people in need after a major flood swamped houses and damaged villagers’ livelihoods on July 12.
 
The country’s most populous municipality sits at the confluence of the Yangtze River and Jialing River, while the Minjiang River, Qujiang River and Wujiang River also run through it.
 

Beijing (AsiaNews): Protestant Christians in China “are not a force in disagreement, an error to be managed or rectified, the chosen objective of veiled or direct attacks. Thinking this way is wrong, it’s a fundamental mistake,” said an appeal signed by 34 unofficial congregations.
 
Domestic Protestant Churches have been hit by yet another round of restrictions on their religious freedom.
 

HONG KONG (UCAN): At a May 17 meeting of the Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in China (BCCCC) and the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA), a five-year plan was agreed upon requiring Catholic dioceses to state in writing by the end of August how they will reduce foreign influences and adopt a more Chinese ideological and theological identity.
 

SHAN XI (UCAN): Chinese religious affairs officials have recommended that a priest be disqualified for leading a pilgrimage.
 
Observers said it was believed to be the first such case under new religious regulations that came into effect nationwide on February 1.
 
The Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs maintained that the priest acted in contradiction of religious Sinicization that aims to supplant outside influences with Chinese cultural and social norms.
 

HONG KONG (UCAN): A delegation from the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Missionhurst or CICM) wrapped up its June 2 to 8 pilgrimage to China last week. The visit aimed to cement ties with Chinese bishops and dioceses in honour of the 150th death anniversary of the congregation’s Belgian founder, Theofiel Verbist.