See preceding page for earlier posts today, 7/6/12.
Illicit episcopal ordination in Harbin
strengthens excommunicated bishops
by Jian Mei
Harbin, CHINA, July 6 (AsiaNews) - Despite a Vatican earning and the criticism of local Catholics, Joseph Yue Fusheng was ordained bishop without papal mandate this morning at Harbin Cathedral (Heilongjiang).
Top panel: The Sacred Heart Church in Harbin; 'Bishop' Yue applauded by one of his consecrators; Bottom panel: All those who took part in the ordination; and Fathers Zhang and Zhao, apostolic administrator of Harbin and assistant, respectively, who were detained by Chinese authorities until after the ceremony.
The liturgy was presided by Msgr. Johan Fang Xinyao of Linyi (Shandong), national president of the Patriotic Association. Other concelebrating bishops were: Msgr. Pei Junmin of Liaoning, Msgr. Meng Qinglu of Hohhot (Inner Mongolia), Msgr. Wang Renlei of Xuzhou (Jiangsu) and Msgr. Yang Yongqiang of Zhoucun (Shandong).
All bishops were approved by the Holy See, including Msgr. Wang, who was legitimized in May. It is not known whether their participation was spontaneous or was forced, as was the case in other ordinations.
According to a report in "Catholic Church in China", published in Chinese online by the Patriotic Association, there were more than 40 priests and about 1000 faithful present at the Mass. During the liturgy, instead of the mandate of the Pope, the letter from the bishops' council was read, a body approved by Government but not recognized by the Holy See.
Before the Mass ended, Yue told the congregation that he understood the way ahead would be very difficult but he was willing to shoulder the cross. "Today I am chosen as the bishop of Heilongjiang, I know it is a big responsibility. I know to be a bishop is not an honour but a ministry," he said, asking the congregation to support him."
Bishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing and Bishop Qu Ailin of Hunan sent their congratulatory messages but both were sick and hospitalized, and so could not attend the liturgy.
Now, the leadership of the national Patriotic Association selected in December 2010, comprises five illicit bishops - Ma Yinglin, Lei Shiyin, Guo Jincai, Huang Bingzhang and Yue Fusheng, two legitimate bishops Shen Bin of Haimen, Meng Qinglu of Hohhot, two laymen Liu Yuanlong and Shu Nanwu of Jiangxi, and Sister Wu Lin.
The new bishop Yue Fusheng, 48, was ordained as a priest of Harbin, despite coming from Hebei. He is a vice-president of the PA at the national level. In the 1980s he studied at the seminary in Shenyang. In 1995 he attended the World Youth Day in Manila, where a Chinese delegation arrived for the first time. In the same year, he studied briefly in Hong Kong and South Korea, from March 1997 to July 1998 he studied at the Catholic University of Leuven.
In October 1999 he was nominated to be bishop of the diocese of Heilongjiang, and voted by a committee of the local church until May 2012. According to the PA publication, there are about 80,000 faithful in the diocese.
Yue's ordination has resolved the "disappearance" two days ago of Fr. Joseph Zhao Hongchun, apostolic administrator of Harbin, recognized by the Holy See. When last seen on July 4, he said he had been summoned by Chinese officials for 'talks' which could last a few days. His assistant pastor, Fr. Zhang, was arrested by public security yesterday morning. Both were released by Chinese authroties immediately after the ordination ceremony.
Local sources told AsiaNews that some prominent government officials visited the underground bishop Msgr. Wei Jingyi of Qiqihar, asking him to persuade the Holy See to approve the ordination of Fr. Yue. They also ordered Msgr. Wei not to leave his home at this time.
Some Catholics in Harbin have told AsiaNews that they prayed with great intensity in these days for Yue to repent his decision, for the release of the two underground priests and for the sufferings of the Church of Heilongjiang.
The banner is from the Chinese site of the State Administration for Religious Affairs, but the only page I could access online in English for the CPCA is a Facebook page that currently has 7 'likes' and a blurb taken from Wikipedia, which is however, pretty direct about what the Chinese government and the CPCA intend to have: nothing less than an autonomous Chinese national Catholic Church that is completely independent of the Vatican - something like but perhaps much worse than the Nazis' German national church.
Below is the note from the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples earlier this week warning against today's illicit ordination:
Note of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
To the Apostolic Administration of Harbin (PRC)
The Apostolic administration of Harbin (Heilongjiang Province) is preparing for the ordination of Rev. Joseph Yue Fusheng. In regard to this, please note the following.
1) An episcopal ordination, like the present, without papal mandate, is directly opposed to the Office granted to Peter by the Lord himself and his successors as Head of the College of Bishops, Vicar of Christ and pastor of the Church Universal, and damages the unity of the Church and the whole work of evangelization.
As written by the Holy Father Benedict XVI in his Letter to Bishops, Priests, Consecrated People and Lay Faithful of the Catholic Church in China (May 27, 2007, n. 9), "it is understandable that governmental authorities are attentive to the choice of those who will carry out the important role of leading and shepherding the local Catholic communities, given the social implications which - in China as in the rest of the world - this function has in the civil sphere. "
But we must remember that "on the other hand, the Holy See follows the appointment of Bishops with special care since this touches the very heart of the life of the Church, inasmuch as the appointment of Bishops by the Pope is the guarantee of the unity of the Church and of hierarchical communion. For this reason the Code of Canon Law (cf. c. 1382) lays down grave sanctions both for the Bishop who freely confers episcopal ordination without an apostolic mandate and for the one who receives it: such an ordination in fact inflicts a painful wound upon ecclesial communion and constitutes a grave violation of canonical discipline".
When he issues the apostolic mandate for the ordination of a Bishop, the Pope "exercises his supreme spiritual authority: this authority and this intervention remain within the strictly religious sphere. It is not, therefore, a question of a political authority, unduly asserting itself in the internal affairs of a State and offending against its sovereignty."
Furthermore, the Holy Father adds, "The appointment of Bishops for a particular religious community is understood, also in international documents, as a constitutive element of the full exercise of the right to religious freedom." The appointment of Bishops is a religious matter not political.
2) This episcopal ordination of Harbin will create confusion and divisions among the Catholic community in China. The Catholic community in Harbin does not want an unlawful episcopal ordination.
The survival and development of the Church can only be done in union with the Roman Pontiff to Whom is entrusted the Church herself, and not without His consent, as happens with ordinations that, such as this, have no Papal mandate. If one wants the Church in China to be Catholic, one must not proceed to episcopal ordinations that do not have the prior approval of the Holy Father.
3) Rev. Yue Fusheng was informed that he does not have papal approval: his ordination is unlawful, he will lack the authority to govern the diocesan Catholic community, and the Holy See will not recognize him as the Bishop of Harbin.
For his illegitimate ordination he will be subjected to the effects of the penalty incurred for violation of the norm of canon 1382 of the Code of Canon Law (cf. Declaration of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts of June 6, 2011) .
4) The consecrating Bishops are exposing themselves to serious canonical penalties prescribed by the law of the Church (in particular by canon 1382 of the Code of Canon Law).
5) The government Authorities were informed that the ordination of Rev. Yue Fusheng is without the approval of the Holy Father. It would contradict those signs of dialogue advocated by the Chinese Party and the Holy See.
From the Vatican, July 3, 2012
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 07/07/2012 04:01]