1. Historiography and Spirituality of Religious Orders and Congregations in the Chinese Context

Historiography and Spirituality of Religious Orders and Congregations in the Chinese Context

Roman Ma l e k

“I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them.” Numbers 11,17

Introductory Remarks

The conference “History of Catholic Religious Orders and Missionary Congregations in Hong Kong” (2007) served the purpose of preparing a volume on the history of religious orders and congregations in Hong Kong in order to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the history of the Catholic Church in Hong Kong. Such an undertaking surely also needs a “meta-view,” a look from above and outside, combining several aspects and dimensions, since the history of the Catholic Church in Hong Kong is connected with the Church history in general, with the history of China, and with the specific history of the Church in China. The following chapter is therefore a reflection on the history of Catholic religious orders and missionary congregations in the broader perspective of the historiography of Christianity in China. Especially, the interdependencies between the primordial charisma of religious orders or congregations, their spirituality and the shaping of the local Church(es) in the Chinese context are discussed–juxtaposing it also to Hong Kong as a local Church.1 The question is what significance and consequences these interdependencies have for the present situation and the future. I will propose some rather general observations and conclude with remarks on the perspectives of the consecrated life. The main lines of argumentation and at the same time the main points of this chapter are the following: first of all it is important to see

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that (1) the history of the Church is mission history and that mission history is always the history of the Church.2 (2) The religious orders and congregations with their charisma decisively shaped the founding and the specific development of the local Church(es) in China and in Hong Kong; it can thus be said that history of Christianity in China is the history of religious orders and congregations. There are many levels of interdependence here, including positive and negative elements, which are internal (Universal Church, Catholic theology) and external (state, politics, nation, society, regional culture, and many others). (3) All these fact(or)s have, of course, not only methodological consequences, but result in the historical and present responsibility of the orders and congregations, which should, however, be oriented towards the future. (4) In the light of history, the present circumstances and the future challenges, the religious orders and congregations are obliged to reflect again and again on their specific charisma and their possible contribution to further developments of the local Church in China and Chinese society in general. In this context we may recall the words of Pope Benedict XVI from his Letter to the Church in China (No. 14) that in the present context of the Church in China two dimensions of the consecrated life should be seen clearly: (1) “the witness of the charisma of total consecration to Christ through the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience,” and (2) “the response to the demand to proclaim the Gospel in the socio-historical circumstances of the country today.” 3 It is also valid for Hong Kong that the history of the Church here is indissolubly connected with the religious orders and congregations. In the introduction to the conference it was stated that from the very beginning of the Catholic mission in Hong Kong the Franciscans (O.F.M.),4 the Dominicans (O.P.),5 the Paris Foreign Missionaries (M.E.P., 1847),6 the P.I.M.E. (1858),7 the Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres (S.P.C.)8 and the Canossian Daughters of Charity (F.D.C.C.) formed part of the team that started the evangelization in Hong Kong. Later on they were

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joined by the Brothers of the Christian Schools (F.S.C.),9 the Jesuits (S.J.),10 the Salesians (S.D.B.),11 the Benedictines (O.S.B.), the Cistercians (O.C.S.O.),12 the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers (M.M.),13 the Scheut Missionaries (C.I.C.M.),14 the Québec P.M.E. Fathers, the Columbans (S.S.C.), and the Divine Word Missionaries (S.V.D.). There are also several congregations and mission societies of women which shaped the history of the Church in Hong Kong: Chinese Sisters of the Immaculate Conception (C.I.C.), Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (Salesian Sisters, F.M.A.), Franciscan Missionaries of Mary (F.M.M.), Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows (O.S.F.), Little Sisters of Jesus, Little Sisters of the Poor (L.S.P.), Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic (M.M.),15 Missionaries of Charity (M.C.), Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Angels (M.N.D.A.), Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception (M.I.C.),16 Daughters of St. Paul (F.S.P.),17 Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (I.C.M.),18 and the Missionary Sisters of St. Columban (S.S.C.).19 Many of these congregations never worked in Hong Kong before 1949 and–expelled from mainland China–had to re-interpret or re-discover their charisma in the new context. For some of them at the beginning Hong Kong was probably only a gateway to or a waiting room for China. Today there are altogether 46 orders and congregations working constantly in Hong Kong. Besides there are New Movements and other forms of religious life, like Opus Dei and Focolare. This is a unique situation in the Catholic Church. If China is a case example of the decisive role of orders and congregations in the mission history, i.e., the history of the local Church, Hong Kong is an example par excellence. We have here a conglomerate or bundle of different charismas in one place, “a whole gamut of missionary societies, male and female,” 20 so it is “a vibrant organism which should be of intrinsic interest to students of history, social science and theology.” 21 What happens, however, if the charismas come together, as in China of the 17th or 19th centuries or as in Hong Kong, in

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particular after 1949? Do we know what was or is the benefit of such a bundle?

Charisma and the Local Church: “I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them” Numbers 11, 17

The orders and congregations are without any doubt the main actors in the history of the Catholic Church in China and in Hong Kong. The Christian presence was determined from the very beginning by the religious orders and congregations, some of them–like for instance the Divine Word Missionaries–had been founded by Arnold Janssen with an explicit “Chinese” purpose (charisma). A charisma (charis–grace; the divine influence on the receiver’s heart, and its reflection in life) is a power of a spiritual nature, believed to be a freely given gift by the grace of God. In the study of Church matters, it also refers to the particular grace granted by God to religious founders and their organizations, which distinguishes them from other organizations within the same Church. The term is used in this sense especially in the ecclesiology of the Roman Catholic Church.22 Asked what the “spirit” (charisma) of the Society of Divine Word finally is, one of the first Steyler missionaries in China, Joseph Freinademetz (1852– 1908, canonized 2003), who started his missionary work 1879 in Hong Kong, answered as follows: The spirit of the Society is that what makes our Society what she is and without which she would not be what she is.23 From the beginnings of the Church the orders seemed to be “made” for missionary activities because of their spirituality (charisma), organization, a uniform management, tradition and experience. The Second Vatican Council stressed this in a special way (Ad Gentes 40; cf. Evangelii Nuntiandi 69):

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Religious institutes of the contemplative and of the active life have so far played, and still do play, the main role in the evangelization of the world. This sacred synod gladly acknowledges their merits and thanks God for all that they have expended for the glory of God and the service of souls while exhorting them to go on untiringly in the work which they have begun, since they know that the virtue of charity, which by reason of their vocation they are bound to practice with greater perfection, obliges and impels them to a truly catholic spirit and work.

Since this volume presents very detailed contributions on the orders and congregations in Hong Kong, it is not necessary to explore the primordial charisma of a single religious order or congregation, because these contributions are already excellent illustrations and prove that–as is said about Moses in the Old Testament (Numbers 11,17)–God has taken some of the power of the Spirit that was on the orders and congregations and put it on the local Church in Hong Kong, like it has been in the whole history of the Church in China. The orders and congregations gave to the Church in China her shape, i.e., among other things special forms of the apostolate, social-charitable structures, prayer life, songs, art, spirituality, and religious life in general. Joseph Freinademetz sums up this interdependence between primordial charisma and the shaping of the local Church (even if he speaks here about the missionary, his statement equally applies to the orders or congregations): The main factor in the Christian mission work is and remains the missionary himself. If he is what he should be, the mission will become what it should become. Like the tree, like fruit. Like faith, like work. Like missionary, like mission.24 Charisma “produces”

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new charismas at different levels. Two historical facts exemplify this interdependency: (1) It was the charismatic Msgr Timoleone Raimondi PIME (1827–1894), the Vicar Apostolic of Hong Kong, who had given the impulse for the foundation of the mission house in Steyl in 1874 to the charismatic Arnold Janssen (1837–1909). In early descriptions of the tasks of the new society Raimondi is quoted over and over again–he had supported and promoted with his personal charisma a new charisma. It was he, who welcomed to Hong Kong likewise in a charismatic way, the first two Steyler missionaries to China, Johann B. Anzer (1851–1903) and Joseph Freinademetz. From here the two reflected and negotiated on the missionary work of the new society in mainland China. It was not yet clear which congregation would like to give part of the territory to the Steyler: Arnold Janssen and especially Anzer spoke with Dominicans, Franciscans, Lazarists and other orders about a mission territory. However, in all these considerations the Steyler charisma, the press apostolate, played a determining role. Anzer wrote to Janssen from Hong Kong on 24 December 1879: Work only towards Shandong, the peninsula. Stress always that a harbour is absolutely necessary for a printing house in China. Your plan to publish a Chinese illustrated magazine, would find a great applause. Shandong is the best place for us. If you can not get it, Formosa or Amoy would also be good.25 Thus Arnold Janssen began negotiations with the Franciscans for the sake of Shandong, so that, in the end, the Apostolic Vicariate Shandong was divided and a “Provicariate” was founded for South-Shandong with J.B. Anzer as the head. Of course another interdependence, namely that with colonialism was also behind this, because the new mission was supposed to free itself from the French protectorate and be placed under the protectorate of Germany.26 The specific later development of the local Church in South- Shandong confirms the interdependence between the original charisma

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of the S.V.D. (but also of other congregations) and the development of the Church at a local level. As examples one could name especially the press and book apostolate as well as the school system which was aimed very strongly at the rural local conditions in Shandong27 or Gansu28 and in many other places.29 On the other hand, this interdependence also caused a kind of new reciprocity. The first Steyler missionaries had “helped” Arnold Janssen on the basis of their experience in China “to shape” the Society of the Divine Word—by answers and remarks to the questions with regard to the constitutions and other rules for the Society and by the practise of religious life in the early stage. Thus the S.V.D. constitutions and various forms of life in the S.V.D. were influenced from China by Anzer, Freinademetz and other missionaries who followed them (like the later bishop Augustin Henninghaus [1862–1939]30), and this, of course, also influenced the development of the Society in Europe and in other parts of the world.31 (2) Almost all orders and congregations have their blessed and saints (some of them canonized in 2000) as well as persons connected with the pioneer work in China who incorporated the charisma of the order or congregation in a very special way. They are embodiments of the charisma of the respective order or congregation and developed to “models” for the local Church(es) in China. Although (mostly) foreigners, they are symbols for the Chinese Church, to mention only some of them: Giovanni da Montecorvino (1247–1328), Odorico de Pordenone (1286–1331) and Father Gabriele M. Allegra (1907–1976) for the Franciscans, Gregory Luo Wenzao (1617–1691) for the Dominicans, Matteo Ricci (1552–1610) and Giulio Aleni (1582–1649) for the Jesuits, many MEP missionaries with Andrew Ly (1692/1693–1774) for Sichuan, Vincent Lebbe (1877–1940) for the Lazarists, secular clergy and local congregations, Lu Zhengxiang for the Benedictines, Joseph Freinademetz for the Divine Word Missionaries, Msgr Luigi Versiglia (1873–1930) and Don Callisto Caravario (1903–1930) for the Salesians. The orders,

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congregations and single missions have, thus, their charismatic figures, which transferred the charisma on the respective local Church where this charisma is present till today. Such an interdependence between the primordial charisma, the spirituality of the missionaries and the spirituality of the local Church(es) in China should be explored more deeply because it will show the variety of methods and results which existed in China with regard to the inculturation of Christianity, as pointed out by Anthony Chang Sang-loi: “It would be useful to search for examples of members of congregations or groups who have worked in China in an attitude of respect and humility. Their lives and experiences could be helpful to throw light on the possible processes of inculturation and incarnation of the Gospel into the life of the people.” 32 The Chinese mission history tells us about the interdependencies between the first orders (Franciscans, Dominicans, Jesuits, Lazarists, MEP) and the development of the institutional Church in China. The Jesuits developed structures in China which permitted or favoured special Christian organizations and forms of life, and the so-called “apostolate through books.” Providential was the “invention” of the Dominicans and the Jesuits to foster the establishment of confraternities (hui 會), the institution of lay leaders (huizhang 會長) and virgins (zhennü 貞女), which exist until today and have played an important role in the history of the Church especially after 1949. Several examples of the interdependencies could be found in the contributions of this volume, like the following:

• About the founder of C.I.C.M., Fr. Théophile Verbist (1823– 1868), it is said that he did not develop a specific religious or missionary spirituality, but allowed the individual members of the congregation to practice their own spirituality. The individual piety of the Scheutists thus reflected French spiritual and traditional influences, as well as native popular piety among the

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diocesan clergy. • The charisma of the founder of the Daughters of St. Paul, Blessed James Alberione (1884–1971), was to use modern ways of reaching out to the Catholics, especially through books and radio programs. Those two media were the only available modern media at that time, but he foresaw that time would bring out more effective and more rapid ways of preaching the Gospel. The charisma of the Daughters of St. Paul lies, therefore, in using all the modern media of social communication, especially the latest electronic inventions such as the Internet, ipods, cellular phones, TV, radio, DVD, and also traditional means such as the press, audio-visuals, mini-media (posters, cards) to communicate the Good News to contemporary people. • PIME is a society of apostolic life without the religious vows. Therefore, its charisma and spirituality are characterized by the following elements: its members are totally committed to the evangelization of non-Christians (ad gentes), for one’s whole life (ad vitam), not of one’s own people and culture (ad extra), but “together” as a family of apostles. • With the pioneers of the 1930s and 1940s gone, a new generation of Salesians was handed the task of facing the dilemma between remaining faithful to their primordial charisma and serving youth in an upward mobile society, demanding a type of education that kept pace with the socio-economic development. That development is clearly reflected in the evolution through which the various Salesian schools went in Hong Kong in post-war years.

There exists interdependence not only between the primordial charisma and the work of an order or congregation, but also very subtle

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interdependencies at different other levels, including for instance: Universal Church (Holy See and Roman Congregations, theology, spirituality), politics (state, in case of China also Padroado and the French or German Protectorate, and for Hong Kong the British colonial past and the return to China in 1997), culture and geography. Each of the congregations could mention here other numerous elements and levels of interdependency. These interdependencies tell us that the ideal and material interests of the orders and congregations are interconnected with their function within the historically given ecclesiastical and socio- political situation. Therefore, we should not forget the dark side of some aspects of these interdependencies, as pointed out by Bob Whyte for the 19th century:

The return of the missionaries bringing a degree of protection to the vulnerable and persecuted Catholic communities was not an unmixed blessing. Quite apart from the reinforcement of the image of Christianity as a foreign faith, Chinese Catholics had developed their own patterns of life. Unfortunately for them, these patterns did not necessarily conform to the rigid notions of authority that marked the nineteenth-century Catholic missionaries. There is no doubt that isolation had produced confusion over doctrinal matters in some areas, and the fears of the missionaries were not without foundation. Yet, the imposition of European forms on what was now an indigenous Church was to inhibit the growth to maturity of the Chinese Catholic Church. One might even say that the present-day divisions and agonies of Chinese Catholics can be traced back to the policies of the missionaries in the middle years of the last century.33 Of course, the orders and congregations, as well as

II.indd 10 9/11/2009 11:34:22 香港中文大學天主教研究叢書研究系列 (4) 「香港天主教修會及傳教會歷史 (英文版)」下冊：研究論文

編輯：夏其龍，譚永亮出版：香港中文大學天主教研究中心香港．新界．沙田．香港中文大學電話：(852)3163 4277 傳真：(852)3163 4451 網址： www.cuhk.edu.hk/crs/catholic/ 電郵： [email protected] 承印：明愛印刷訓練中心二零零九年十一月初版 ISBN： 978-988-17181-6-7

Catholic Studies Publication Research Series (4) History of Catholic Religious Orders and Missionary Congregations in Hong Kong Volume Two: Research Papers

Editor: Louis Ha, Patrick Taveirne Publisher: Centre for Catholic Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong. Tel.: (852) 3163 4277 Fax.: (852) 3163 4451 Website: www.cuhk.edu.hk/crs/catholic/ Email: [email protected] Printer: Caritas Printing Training Centre First Edition: Nov 2009 ISBN: 978-988-17181-6-7

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