Seminar on Religious Freedom in China Date: March 2, 2003 (Sunday) Organizer: Justice and Peace Commission of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese Topics & Speakers: An Analysis of the Current Situation of the Catholic Church in China .................. Father Gianni Criveller (Researcher at the Holy Spirit Study Centre in Hong Kong) Experience Sharing ........................... Father Franco Mella (Kwai Chung New District Christian Grassroots Group) An Analysis of the Changes in Religious Freedom in China in the Past 20 Years ......................... Anthony Lam Sui-ki (Researcher at the Holy Spirit Study Centre in Hong Kong) The Relations Between the Church in Hong Kong and the Church in China ...................................................................... Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun (Bishop of Hong Kong ) Father Gianni Criveller: No Change in Religious Policy The first point that I wish to make is that the Chinese government has made no progress in its religious policy in the last 20 years. The Constitution of 1982 (Article 36) and Document No. 19 of the same year have codified Deng Xiaoping's religious policy. Since then the policy has remained the same: The Party controls religions and the Church; religions must accommodate to the goals of the Communist Party. In other words, religion is tolerated as long as it serves Party policy, which currently is the modernization of the country. Recently, the viewpoints of two Mainland scholars, Pan Yue and Li Pingye have raised hope that there might be some development in the religious policy. I am less optimistic. I do not find Pan Yue and Li Pingye's suggestions really new or positive. Pan Yue suggests that the Party should go beyond condemning religion as "the opium of people". But this is nothing new. Only a few ultra-leftists would now ideologically support the theory of "religion as opium". As mentioned above, for a long time now religion has been regarded not as opium (something to be eliminated), but rather as a tool to serve and propagate the policies of the Party. Pan Yue's strategy toward religion aims at a more sophisticated, but still at the Party's complete control over religion. At the end of the day, in his own words, Pan Yue aims at "the transformation of our Party from a revolutionary Party to a Party in power, which will be able to apply new forms of (...) running religion". Li Pingye seems to support a new approach to the religious question. However, she concludes her article in a disheartening fashion: "Supporting the patriotic religious organizations, and through them mobilizing and uniting the great mass of religious believers, should be our principal task in religious work". The Pressure on the Young Priests and the Crisis of Vocations Without a radical ideological shift in religious policy, one cannot be optimistic about the future of the Church. Officials of the Religious Affairs Bureau have not changed their attitude towards religion. They still consider religion as pre-and-non-scientific, as anti-modern and, in the case of Christianity, something foreign, if not imperialistic. China's central power has always feared that the Catholic Church, with its universal character and its reference to the authority of the pope, might interfere in China's internal affairs. Appendices 80 The Religious Affairs Bureau exerts tremendous control and pressure on the Catholic faithful, especially on young priests and bishops. The enthusiasm and the zeal of young priests and bishops are severely tested by the lack of real freedom in exercising their pastoral duties. Many new pastoral ideas and initiatives are rejected rather than approved by old fashioned and conservative RAB officials. This unfortunate situation breeds discouragement and lack of confidence in a number of young leaders in the Catholic Church. Consequently, we are witnessing the exodus of numerous priests from their ministry and a crisis of religious vocations. Father Franco Mella: I lived in the Mainland for nine and a half years, from 1991 to 2001. From 1991 to 1994, I lived in Taishan where I taught English. During those three years, I celebrated only one Mass. It was on Christmas of 1991. A small group of Catholics from Hong Kong came to visit me and therefore, I was allowed to celebrate Mass. After that, since relations between the local officials and the nuns were not very good, I could no longer celebrate Mass. In 1994, I went to Jiangmen where I lived at the Church and concelebrated at Mass with the priest almost everyday. It felt very strange. The two places were only 60 kilometers apart but the situation could not have been more different. This made me realize that when we think this or that about the Underground Church, the Open Church, the Religious Affairs Bureau and the Catholic Patriotic Association, we should remember that China has a thousand Churches, a thousand Religious Affairs Bureaus, a thousand Catholic Patriotic Associations. Therefore, we need to look carefully at each individual situation because in different places, there are different people who have different ways of handling things. We are suspicious of the Chinese government, the Religious Affairs Bureau and of the Catholic Patriotic Association. They are also suspicious of us. This, of course, is related to history. Such a situation existed even before the Chinese Communist came into power. In 1949, and especially during the Cold War era in the 1950s and early 1960s, we depicted Communism as a demon and ourselves as angels. But they felt that we were the liars and devils and they were the ones who served the people. This set the scene for confrontation. In fact, our most important reason for our coming to China was to "dialogue". When we were studying theology in the 1970s, we enjoyed discussing how Communists could dialogue with Christians. At the time in Italy, we also joined with leftist groups in activities concerning citizens and labor. We were not only given to action, but we also did theoretical research (research on what liberation theology meant) and we were called socialist Christians at that time. It is true that the Church in China has been very much restricted. Many people have been detained unreasonably. But we cannot forget that many Communists have also been jailed and oppressed. It has been the same for both. Therefore, the first thing we should do is historical research. We both have to look into our own history to see what can be improved, and do the research together with historians, theologians and sociologists. What can we do? I think first and foremost we must live our Gospel values, that is, try our best to implement the Beatitudes. Besides, read the letters of Pope John XXIII written in the 1950s and early 1960s. He mentions the relationship between Christians and Communists. Can we dialogue with each other? I believe we have done too little along these lines. Of course, China and the Holy See have many policies to consider, and it is difficult to start the dialogue. However, could not grassroots Christians come to a consensus and deeper mutual understanding so that neither they nor we are considered demons? Perhaps the Communists believe more in personal power than they do in Communism. Is Communism really atheistic? If we study Karl Marx's atheism, we find that atheism is not the basic thinking of Communism. Communism is meant to help the people. This is different from atheism. Does Communism have anything in common with us? The answer is Yes. The community in the Acts of the Apostles is a "communist" community. Jesus also said things very much in line with Communism. Why can't we come together and expend more efforts for the poor and the oppressed in society, and also for the brothers and sisters in China and Hong Kong who do not enjoy the right to be united as a family? To help make this a reality is putting Appendices 81 our faith into practice. Faith is not only praying in the Church. We go to the Church to pray and to adore Jesus. But after we leave the Church, the homeless person under the footbridge is also Jesus. In the Mainland, I have gone every week with some young priests to serve in an orphanage and a school for the deaf mute. We met some people who, although they did not believe in Jesus, also did the same thing. I believe there must be very many people in China who are with us, especially those who really believe in Communism and the spirit of Lei Feng. The Christian spirit and the spirit of Jesus will continue to live among us. We have to be together with the peasants, the workers and all those who are abandoned by the society. I believe there is room for improvement along these lines. (Editor’s note: For additional information, please read "Father Mella: A Priest in a Dialogue of Faith".) Mr. Anthony Lam Sui-ki: There are many contradictions involved in China's law on freedom of religion. On the one hand, the newspapers almost everyday carry stories of China's forbidding the exercise of some religious activity; on the other hand, statistics tell us that the China Church is growing tremendously and young people are flooding into the seminaries. Everywhere, more and more churches are opening. Foreign priests can now say Sunday Mass. In a parish in Northeastern China, there are even seven foreign assistant parish priests. Such situations are not rare in China. To understand these contradictions, we must take a closer look at the entire social structure and examine the issue from a threefold dimension. The first affects everything in China, and it is the aspect of law and order.