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  • Writer's pictureProfiles in Catholicism

Catholicism in China

Updated: Jul 31, 2020



A Message from the Editor

Providing insight into Catholicism in China and China, in general, has been a challenge. There has been a worrisome setback for Chinese Catholics with the announcement that Chinese Christians told to replace Christ with Mao or lose government support. U.S. China relations are seriously strained. Our first article in this issue is a warning from the United States State Department on possible detention in China.

We are blessed to have Mary Moran help us gain insights into Catholicism in China with her interviews and for translating Francis Etheredge’s Prayer for China into Chinese.

We also appreciate Father Shay Cullen’s powerful articles on Human Trafficking and the power of drug companies and his prayer for Father Teresito “Chito” Suganob. Be sure to read the review of his book Ricky and Julie – a story of courage and survival in the Philippines, We also hope that you will help support his Preda Foundation which rescues enslaved children and women from sex slavery and children from jails.

We deeply appreciate the beautiful prayer for John Lewis by Jim Wallis and

the powerful video at the United Nations by Christian Peschken on Trade and Development in light of the COVID 19 crisis.


We welcome Sally Wagenmaker as an Editorial Advisor and her assistance in helping us address the challenges of abortion.

We have updated Father Hans Zollner’s interview for his advice to survivors of

clerical sexual abuse since we are preparing a special issue on healing from clergy sexual abuse later this year. While we have selected the survivors that we are interviewing in the United States, we are seeking to interview survivors in other counties. Your name and identity will be concealed upon request. If any of our readers may be interested in participating in a project designed to help survivors and our Universal Church, please contact Gordon Nary at gnary@catholicprofies.org. We are seeing donations to help us develop the critical project.

Profiles in Catholicism are distributed to several thousand people in 68 countries. We rely on our readers for donations to continue and expand our mission. If you support our mission and find our publication of value, please make a tax-deductible donation.

A Quote to Remember


“Today, the Church in China looks to the future with hope. The Church wants Chinese Christians to be truly Christians, and to be good citizens. They should promote the Gospel, but without engaging in proselytism, and they need to achieve the unity of the divided Catholic community. Let us pray together that the Church in China may persevere in its faithfulness to the Gospel and grow in unity. Thank you.”

by Pope Francis


Special Prayer


A Prayer to Reduce Abortions in China


Dear God, our Creator, and Teacher. We know your love for each of us is powerful, true, and eternal - and begins long before birth. We pray today that everyone in China will have the courage to acknowledge that love and to speak the truth about our unborn brothers and sisters and their rights as human being created in your image and likeness. We also pray for the awakening of our fellow travelers to the rights of these children and the needs – physical, spiritual and moral – of their mothers and fathers. Help us to show respect and provide real help to both parents and their children. God did give us free will, but it must be guided by reason and truth. Choice is doing whatever you want with or without the guidance of reason or truth. May the strength of your love show us all a better path for ALL human lives. by Denise Mackura Profiles in Catholicism


A Prayer for China

为中国祷告


Chinese Translation by Dr. Mary Moran

Edited by Dr. Chen D. Yang

Hope in Blossom

绽放中的希望

Dear Father, Creator of heaven and earth:

亲爱的神父,天地的创造者:

You know the beauty of the world, each country and its culture,

你知道世界之美,每个国家及其文化,

Both ancient and modern, both mountainous and flowing plains;

无论是古代和现代,山区和流动的平原;

You know the plans of the hearts of all, the hopes of all,

你知道所有人心中的计划,所有人的希望,

The wisdom we need and the flowering of your many gifts.

我们需要的智慧和你许多礼物的绽放。

You know the blossoms, each season of ripening flowers

你知道花朵盛开,花朵成熟的每个季节

And what blights and brightens all of them,

和所有使花朵枯萎和发亮的原因,

Filling the landscape with colour;

使大地充满色彩;

You know the beauty, the subtly pink petals and the uplifting sights

你知道美丽、粉红的花瓣,令人振奋的景象

And scents that help us, as well as the tread of boots that spoil us.

和有助于我们的香气以及破坏我们的靴子的踩踏。

You know each person, each conceived personally, to all of whom

你知道每个人,每个亲自孕育的人,为所有的人

You give a Guardian Angel to carry each prayer to you personally;

你给一个守护天使,把每一个祈祷亲自送到你的跟前;

You know the variety of people and their common humanity,

你知道人的多样性及其共同的人性,

The leaders, policies and actions both good and destructive –

领导者、政策和行动,既是好的,又具破坏性的也罢 –––

We beg you to listen, attentively, to the cries of those suffering.

我们恳请你倾听那些苦难者的呼声。

Dear Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God:

亲爱的主耶稣基督,永生神的儿子:

Each person is present to you,

每个人都在你的面前,

Just as each family blooms in your Presence,

就像每个家庭在你的存在中绽放一般,

Waves in the breeze, experiences the trials of storms,

在微风中摇曳,经历暴风雨的考验,

Blown and shaken to the ground to be lost from sight

摇晃着吹倒在地,以至于看不见

But not from Your splendid gaze

但不会迷失你灿烂的目光

And gently infused love and forgiveness.

并轻轻地注入了爱与宽恕。

You know the reality of pain, visible and hidden, that smudges

你知道痛苦的现实,可见的和隐藏的,弄脏了

The blossoming of each life and, when it is beyond recovery,

每个生命的绽放,到了无法恢复之时,

You know the moment that each person passes to you and

你知道每个人去世到你跟前的那一刻

What illness and death will do to each person and family –

疾病和死亡会对每个人和每个家庭造成什么影响 –––

And so we beg you to make your consoling presence and that of

因此,我们恳请你和

Your Bride, the Church, present to the many struggling to live,

你的教会新娘出现在许多挣扎求生的人面前,

Bruised and trampled by a ravaging insensitivity to life and those

他们遭受对生命残酷的不敏感性的挫伤和践踏,以及那些

In the throes of illess, recovery and the possibility of death.

在疾病之痛苦、康复和死亡之可能中的人。

Dear Holy Spirit, Spirit of Truth, Love and Communion,

亲爱的圣灵,真理、爱与圣餐之圣灵,

You know each breath of truth, each stirring of love,

你知道,每一次真理的呼吸,每一次爱的真震动,

Each colour of the heart, burgeoning personally,

每一种心灵的颜色,都在各自发展。

In a family, in a community;

在家庭中,在社区中;

You know the many nuances of a living culture and how it begins,

您知道一种生存文化的细微差别以及它是如何开始的,

Time and again, thoughts that lead to you and to our neighbour;

一遍又一遍地,用思想引领向你和我们的邻居;

You know where the touch of tenderness needs to be felt,

您知道何处需要感受到温柔,

Where the unknown help can come from and where it is needed;

未知的帮助来自何处以及什么地方需要它;

You know the hidden hurts and the terrible hurting that hurls itself

你知道隐藏的伤害和自己带来的可怕的伤害

“Heaven-ward”, hoping against hope for the mercy of relief –

“天国”,希望得到宽恕的希望 –--

We beg you, as only you can, to take the fragility of our lives

我们恳求你尽你所能担起我们生命的脆弱

In both your hands, to kiss and heal the wounds between us

在你的双手之中,亲吻和治愈我们之间的伤口

And to bring that unimaginable calm, peace and beauty

并把难以想象的平静、和平与美丽

To the inward ways of the heart that need to overflow between us.

带到我们之间需要溢出的心的内向方式。 by Francis Etheredge Profiles in Catholicism

He lived and died for Jesus of Nazareth, he endured captivity in the siege of Marawi,

He fell into the hands of the Jihadists, suffered pain and imprisonment, and the fear of death, you Jesus gave him strength, courage, faith to overcome.

Father Chito has been called from this life yet he lives on, his spirit of love remains strong in the Philippines because you Jesus were and are his friend and inspiration.

He cared for his Muslim brothers and sisters and taught tolerance and peace, forgave his captors, and prayed that there would be justice and reconciliation. Amen

by Father Shay Cullen Profiles in Catholicism



He lived a life of virtue, faithful to the gospel and gave his life Lord for the people. He was a servant of the servants of God and his good life ended in a tragic death. His spirit, Lord Jesus, is with you to live eternally. May those who murdered Father Oscar be brought to justice and may there be true justice for the many victims of violence and crime. May the guilty repent of their crimes and accept a just penance and be redeemed and forgiven. by Father Shay Cullen Profiles in Catholicism



Oh Lord, you have given us Ruth Bader Ginsburg who sits on the highest court in the land carefully considering and weighing the cases before her, searching for the central issues of justice in each. She is important to the maintenance of peace and justice in our troubled nation. She is ill, seriously, yet determined to keep on serving her country and, by proclaiming justice and equity throughout our land, serving you, Oh Lord who through the Hebrew prophets and through the teachings of the Jew, Jesus has called all of us to serve all of our fellow citizens in truth and justice, as she does so well. We pray fervently, Oh Lord, that she gain and remain in good health to continue her service to You and to all of us Americans. Amen by Dr. Eugene Fisher Profiles in Catholicism


A Prayer for the Victims of Clerical Sexual Abuse


Soul of Christ, sanctify those who have suffered abuse.

Body of Christ, heal them.

Blood of Christ, inebriate them with heavenly joy.

Water from the side of Christ, cleanse and refresh them.

Passion of Christ, strengthen them.

O good Jesus, hear us.

Within Your wounds, embrace their pain.

Never let anyone be separated from Your side.

From hopelessness and despair, protect them.

At the hour of death, call us all to You,

So that we may praise You forever.

by Father Mark White Profiles in Catholicism


Prayer for the Victims in Uganda Oh Lord, we pray for the victims of the violence now taking place in Uganda. Over a thousand innocent people, women, men, and children, have been killed. Hundreds, perhaps thousands more have been physically and seriously harmed, their freedom and property taken away. Children have been forced to labor and work for the rebels. Oh Lord, we grieve at this and pray for them and for their grieving families. We feel their pain and sorrow, and pray that they may be healed and that Uganda may be healed so that this suffering will stop.

Hospitals and schools have been attacked, placing in danger the good people who try to help those in need. In our hearts and souls, Oh Lord, we suffer with them and join with them in prayer for the end of this misery and the return of sanity.

Please hear our prayer, Oh Lord. And strengthen those who continue to work to help and heal this suffering, in the name of Jesus, who suffered on the cross for all of us.| Amen. by Dr. Eugene Fisher Profiles in Catholicism


Worry Not. A Pandemic Prayer


Loving God, your world is a mess. For all its beauty, your creation is now showing its fierce, destructive power. Everywhere on our small globe (and nowhere more than in these United States), people are threatened with death—and dying—from an unforeseen, implacable virus. Young and old, suddenly or slowly after many weeks in a hospital, your beautiful sons and daughters are leaving us.

Countless brave people—medical caregivers like doctors and nurses, essential workers who provide food and keep our cities functioning—are threatened, too. Our efforts to keep this plague from spreading have devastated our economies, driving some toward desperation and despair. Many are stricken daily with searing anxiety. Even the bravest among us wake in the middle of the night in fear. Our political life struggles to be both compassionate and practical. Alas, we the people are fearfully divided.


Yes, Lord, we remember what Jesus of Nazareth taught us: “Do not be anxious about your life, what shall you eat or what shall you drink, nor about your body, what you shall wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?... Which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to your span of life?... Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things…. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be yours as well.”


Jesus told us not to be anxious, “for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day.” And then, in the Our Father, as he taught us how to pray, he concluded by telling us to beg you to deliver us from evil.

But, merciful God, it is not only anxiety about tomorrow, or the longing to be free from sin, that troubles, even terrify our hearts these days. It is the precarious weakness and murderous power of your own natural creation. How can we not tremble before the threat it poses to our shared human life? Don’t you know that all the faithful—even your most devoted servants—are being shaken?


For what, then, shall we pray? And how? Send us, please, your Spirit to teach us.

Grant us the discerning, humble courage that knows your grace is everywhere—and acknowledges our responsibility for the world you have entrusted to us.

Surely, we pray for courage. But not just any courage. Grant us discerning courage, the courage of our scientists laboring into the night to understand the scourge laying waste to us. The courage of civic leaders teaching us patience, often at great cost. The courage of fellow citizens who refuse to surrender to self-regard. The discerning, humble courage that knows your grace is everywhere—and acknowledges our responsibility for the world you have entrusted to us. The courage to live our faith in Jesus of Nazareth, through whom we are one with you in caring for our troubled world. Help us to live this courage in hope.


Gracious God, we pray for hope. But what kind? Not just hope for a world in your hands at the end. But a hope that rises every morning for a day that is yours and ours together. Hope that knows you want light and life for us all—and for all of us to do whatever we can so that your human family finds light and life.


You give us a world to shape in your image, loving God. But it has turned on us. What shall we say and pray? I turn to your Son, who taught us your love unto a mortal end that was an eternal beginning. I turn to the women and men who became his own and lived not for themselves but in service to others. I turn—to trust. Trust that there is scarcely any limit to what our human family can do for each other if we are selfless enough.


And trust that when we have given all we can, we will again and still and forever be given you, your very Self—in your hands not only at the end but always. Amen. by Leo J. O’Donovan, SJ Commonweal



Good and Gracious God,

We are horrified by the testimony of a former Salvadoran army officer that the "high command" gave orders to eliminate Jesuits priests during the country's civil war in 1989. These men were the priests to the people, Lord, and ministering to their needs. As with Pontius Pilate, the Central American country's president knew of the crimes to be committed and did not intervene.


These men with their housekeeper were brutally treated, Lord, by a former colonel in the army of El Salvador, who is on trial in Spain, Inocente Orlando Montano, on the campus of the Catholic University. Lord, we beg you to help the people of El Salvador who bear the brunt of this loss, help them to continue to heal even 30 years later.

At the testimony July 8, Mendoza said his superior, Guillermo Benavides, a former colonel and then-director of the army academy, told troops the night before the crime that an order had come to move against Spanish Jesuit Father Ignacio Ellacuria, rector of Central American University in San Salvador. May Guillermo Benavides, realize how the horror and evil of this act affected the entire community. Assist all in San Salvador to heal. May the plentitude of vocations to the priesthood for the Jesuits in this region continue to flourish and make a difference. by Eileen Quinn Knight, Ph.D. Profiles in Catholicism


Prayer for Archbishop Moses Costa of Bangladesh, Victim of COVID 19


Oh Lord, we are the midst of a terrible plague, a pandemic which threatens us all, especially the elderly. Archbishop Costa, Oh Lord, was 70 years old, but still actively helping to teach your faith and how to practice it for the good of others, to the youth of his diocese.

We pray for the repose of his holy soul, that he may live with you forever in peace and joy.

Lord, we pray also for all those who have caught or are threatened by this plague, which is all of us, particularly our loved ones who like him are among the elderly and who, like the archbishop, are facing untimely deaths. survive and live. Amen by Dr. Eugene Fisher Profiles in Catholicism


by Jim Wallis Profiles in Catholicism


Interviews

General Articles/Commentaries

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Book Reviews/Commentaries

Film Reviews/Commentaries

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Remembering Those Who Have Passed

Feasting with the Saints

  • August 15 - Feast of the Assumption/Marymass Day

Closing Prayer

A Prayer for Those Who Have Made Donations to Profiles in Catholicism

God most kind,

Bless all those who have supported Profiles in Catholicism

with their donations and kind words of support.

Let their generosity bear much fruit.

Let those of us who benefit from this publication

be ever mindful of them and grateful for their gift. Amen

by Father Louis Cameli Profiles In Catholicism

Videos


The Catholic Church in China | A Short Documentary


The Pope Video of March 2020 - Catholics in China


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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Full Response to Rep. Ted Yoho | NowThis


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Georgia congressman John Lewis dead at 80


Machiavel Now! Jeffrey Freedman in conversation PATRICK BOUCHERON. English trans by Nicholas Elliott

“I Have to Write Everything Down”: The Diaries of Selma and Chaim Engel

"Forced like Jesus Christ to Flee”

EWTN UN BLOG - Trade and Development in light of the Covid 19 crisis.

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