Cross and inscription “Catholic Church” removed from the facade of the church. The ban on organizing summer camps for young people for catechism. Meanwhile, the vaccine scandal erupts, a sign of a lack of moral values in Chinese society. Vaccinating young people in spirit, helping them discover their faith, would help Chinese society. The considerations of a blogging priest.
August 17, 2018
BEIJING: Chinese authorities have been removing visible Christian signs, crosses and carvings for several months due to a “synicization” campaign. This is in addition to the prohibition of gatherings even in summer, with young people under the age of 18, who are also prohibited from attending mass. At the same time, the scandal of ineffective vaccines for newborns spread throughout the country. This scandal is caused by widespread corruption, by the lack of control exercised by the authorities; by protectionism for Chinese companies. The priest-blogger Shan Ren Shen Fu (“the hermit priest”), shares with our readers his reflection on these events. In particular, he points out that if more faith and values were spread in Chinese society, there would be less corruption and more effective vaccines. Moreover, his regret is that in China they take care to vaccinate children in the body, but it is forbidden to vaccinate them in the spirit, excluding them from catechism. In this way, the lack of honesty and good conscience in society is perpetuated.
One of my brother priests told me on WeChat: “Brother, our bishop called me and told me to remove the cross and the inscription ‘Catholic Church‘.” During the past two years, this confrere has worked with great difficulty. There was no church in the area, and the diocese bought a two-storey store and turned it into a place of prayer for the local faithful, since then the priest immediately organized people to clean and decorate the place. It was small, the transformation was successful and for Christmas the place was opened and used. The confrere did his best in every aspect: from the design of the altar to the purchase of the pews, he traveled thousands of miles to make everything new.
As the saying goes: “To do something, you have to let it be known!” Like in business: who can’t hang a sign in front of their shop? As a sign, on the roof of the building, the priest put the cross and the inscription “Catholic Church“. However, the bishop had just attended the meeting organized by the local government, and the confrere received a phone call asking him to remove the sign that represents the faith.
When he contacted me, the sign of faith had already been removed. It had been done by people sent by the bishop or the local government – I didn’t ask him – but it was obvious that my brother was very sad. I believe that he did not reproach the bishop for not supporting justice. What saddens him most is why the justice of faith does not find the freedom to coexist in society so difficult.
There is a priest in the diocese who has received an order from the organization: the summer catechism course must be suspended. The priest complained: my superior is the bishop, and it is only after having received the written order from the bishop to suspend the course that I can suspend it. However, in the end, the authority is always arbitrary: some parishes do not listen, but the majority are under pressure and have stopped organizing summer catechism courses.
Then the Changcheng Biotech vaccine scandal in Changchun exploded. Already two years ago, regarding the Shandong “ineffective vaccine” affair, I wrote at the end of an article: “In the great debate on “ineffective vaccines”, the most urgent thing to to think about is whether this country has lost the truth, and what is the truth that lives in people’s hearts? We should find it and recover it… Unfortunately, He (God) has not been found, nor followed, indeed it has been decided that we can do without Him and exclude Him”.
The freedom of [professing]religious faith is a right that the Constitution gives to every person. When a child does not have independent power of choice, his natural parents or legal guardians have the right to let their children receive the religion of their ancestors. If this reality does not exist, state law is clearly violated. Therefore, no organization has the power to prevent or limit a person’s freedom of inquiry and choice to pursue a religious faith.
Moreover, religious faith is the basis for forming people with a righteous conscience. Just as a child is vaccinated to prevent disease, conscience can prevent people from making a mistake in the future. I dare not say that there is no evil among all believers, but one can believe that even a bad believer feels bound in his heart to the law of God.
After the appearance of the Changcheng Changshun vaccine case, how many young parents lamented and complained to find Changchun Changsheng’s name on the children’s vaccine list! For this case of harm to the body and mind of children, the monitoring of responsible government departments proved futile, creating new problems in the sector.
For the body of the child there is a problem with the vaccines, but for the spirit the vaccine of faith is rejected. Thus, Chinese children suffer double harm, which is rare in the world! What family has no children? It’s really hard to understand!
As long as the authorities can continue to lie blindly, human life will never be safe. After the Changchun vaccine issue, some places immediately announced that their city had not purchased the drugs lately to reassure the public. However, some locals immediately uploaded photos of the Changchun vaccine that was on the epidemic prevention site: this is really a direct slap in the face, because the hospital that used the vaccine is in that city.
A vaccine is dangerous if it produces no effect. What about the danger of faith? If Chinese children are “castrated” from an early age and prevented from receiving the faith in God that naturally exists in the human spirit, then in a world without God, generation after generation, the tragedies that violate the depths of conscience human will inevitably continue.
The small place of prayer created by my confrere has brought happiness to many local devotees. But now this place without the symbol of the cross and without being able to organize catechesis, in addition to the imposition of an adulterated vaccine, is suffering serious damage. The priest’s pain for the removal of the cross is not comparable to the worry of parents for the vaccination of their children, nor to the fear of possible death or disability (of course, this does not negate the pain of the Church for the oppression suffered). Full of confusion and regret, I wonder: in China, who can finally “pluck flowers violently (meaning achieve good results with violent means)?” …–News from Asia
