Pope Writes to China, pt I

Pope Benedict XVI writes the the faithful Catholics of China:

I realize that the normalization of relations with the People's Republic of China requires time and presupposes the good will of both parties.

Yes, and China's advance preparation to denounce the Pope's message telegraphs the true nature of the Patriotic Association of Chinese Catholics. The Communist Party is a jealous god, and will have no other gods before it. From CWNews:

Chinese officials have summoned Catholic bishops to a meeting in Huariou, north of Beijing, to coordinate their response to a forthcoming message from Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) to the Catholics of China, the AsiaNews service reports.

Ever the optimist, the Pope presses on:

at the same time, though, compliance with those authorities is not acceptable when they interfere unduly in matters regarding the faith and discipline of the Church. The civil authorities are well aware that the Church in her teaching invites the faithful to be good citizens, respectful and active contributors to the common good in their country, but it is likewise clear that she asks the State to guarantee to those same Catholic citizens the full exercise of their faith, with respect for authentic religious freedom.

Like I said before, Maoism is inherantly anti-christian in it's avowed repression of any religious expression not worshipping the State. More later, after I read the whole document.

h/t CWNews

of Mice and Martyrs

By now, many have chewed over the gunpoint conversion to Islam, made by hostages in Gaza. It's hard to really criticize apostasy under duress unless you've been there, and like many sage commenters out there, I'll just pray that when the time comes, I'll have the courage to proclaim Jesus as Christ and Lord. As for the timid believers out there, Peter had denied Christ three times from the same fear, and Jesus forgave him. Good luck y'all.

The Maoist Chinese gov't has released a catholic bishop they've had in prison for a decade. Now some may say" Well, Jimbob, now that the Maoists have released a bishop, are you going to continue your trade embargo with China?" Well, I'm not one to fall for feints and other gestures, as the Maoists have exhibited an insincere and contradictory policy of public releases and secret arrests and re-arrests. Where are these guys?:


Bishop Su Zhimin of the Baoding diocese, where Bishop An served, was arrested in 1997 and his current condition and location are unknown.

Bishop Han Dingsiang of Yong Nian, also in the Hebei province, was arrested in 1999 and his current condition and location are unknown.

Bshop Jian Zhiguo of Zhengding, Hebei, was arrested in June of this year; he has been arrested 9 other times in the past three years. His current status is unknown.

Bishop Shi Enxiang of Yixian, Hebei, was arrested in 2001; his current condition and location are unknown.

Bishop Yao Liang, an auxiliary of the Xiwanzi diocese in Hebei, was arrested in July of this year, and is being held in Zhangjiakou.

Bishop Zhao Zhendong of Xuanhua as arrested in December 2004; his current condition and location are unknown.

And these are just the bishops! Where are all the priests that the Chinese gov't has sent for "re-education"/ coerced apostasy? The courage of Chinese Catholics must be great, and they truly love our Lord despite the cost. Maybe the recently released Fox News crew may do well to study these Chinese Martyrs as an example.

And lastly, the courage of Lina Joy, a christian convert in Malaysia, a Muslim country. The qualities of the Religion of Peace really shines through in situations like this:

But she is now in hiding after death threats from Islamic extremists, who accuse her of being an apostate.

Now, to be fair, those were just the extremist adherants of the Religion of Peace. How about the more moderate:

In rulings in her case, civil courts said Malays could not renounce Islam because the Constitution defined Malays to be Muslims.

They also ruled that a request to change her identity card from Muslim to Christian had to be decided by the Shariah courts. There she would be considered an apostate, and if she did not repent she surely would be sentenced to several years in an Islamic center for rehabilitation.

I imagine that the muslim concept of rehabilitation is very different than what christians would come up with. Long story short, another prisoner for Christ. Pray for her, and others like her throughout the world, and pray for the strength to be as courageous when the time comes for us.

Marxist love

And They'll know we are marxists by our love, by our love
Yes, They'll know we are marxists by our love.
-Parody of 'One in the Spirit', P. Shotles 1966

From CWNews

Authorities in China's Hebei province have arrested more than 90 members of the "underground" Catholic Church, including Bishop Yao Liang, the Cardinal Kung Foundation reports.

Bishop Yao, the head of the Xiwanzi diocese, who had previously been taken into custody last March, was arrested on July 30. A priest of the same diocese, Father Li Huisheng, was arrested on August 1.

When some Catholic faithful protested the arrests, and asked for information about the whereabouts of the jailed clerics, policy mobilized a force of 500 to jail 90 members of the underground Church on August 2. The arrests followed a previous crackdown by Protestant "house churches" in the area, in which thousands of military police participated on July 29.

Those of you who've been reading my blog a while know my sympathies for the chinese faithful, oppressed by both the government and the manufacturing companies that make this oppression possible. My boycott of chinese-made goods just doesn't seem enough, and there are few who are willing to make the same sacrifices. Maybe it's time to start going for the companies that manufacture goods over there, and persuade them that while China may be cheapest, they're materially assisting the Maoist government in persecuting their people. If enough large companies start pulling out, or threatening to, the government may stop this kind of oppression. Any other suggestions?
Past posts:
Render unto Mao
Can we buy their freedom?

If I had to go..

it would be like this:

Mr. Joseph Pararajasingam, Sri Lankan Tamil legislator and ardent human rights activist, was gunned down in Sri Lanka during Christmas mass after he received Holy Communion from the Bishop of Batticaloa.

Story From Tamil.net
Via Catholic World News.


The martyrs are piling up.

"When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained;
and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"

And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also."

Nolite Timere,

jimbob