ARTICLES

Voices from the Underground

Chinese Catholics in San Diego

By Robert Kumpel

Many Chinese Catholics who have escaped religious persecution live in San Diego. They meet every other week for Mass in their native language at St. William of York parish in Carmel Valley. Father Michel Marcil, S.J., one of the priests who serves this community, commutes from Los Angeles once a month to offer Mass and hear confessions.

Marcil, 58, a Montreal native, learned Mandarin Chinese during his 12 years in Taiwan. A professor at the University of San Francisco, he has worked in Macao and helps Chinese students visiting America. "Here in southern California, there are many Chinese-speaking Catholic communities. Although there are some parishes, they are not necessarily close to where the people live, and many older people do not understand English. Here they know that there is a Mass in Chinese twice a month, followed by community dinner-pot luck."

The bi-weekly Chinese liturgy and dinner is an effort of Peter Chang, coordinator of the San Diego Chinese Catholic Community. Chang, 50, says 80 to 90 families are involved and estimates Mass attendance averages 45 to 50 congregants.

On April 2, I joined this group of Chinese Catholics for Mass. The liturgy began with two congregants receiving the anointing of the sick. The congregation, well-groomed and reverent, was led by a mixed choir of six accompanied by piano.

At the pot-luck dinner afterwards in the parish hall, I discussed the situation in China with Father Marcil, Peter Chang, Chester Yang, 50 (a Taiwanese native), Jenny Zhang, 44, Edgar Shen, 54 (both immigrants from China). A young man in his 20's who asked to remain anonymous joined us as well; he still has a Chinese passport and fears he may have to return. Chang and Father Marcil acted as interpreters for him.

"Are Catholics are openly persecuted in China?"

Anonymous: "Yes. We meet underground. I came from the underground church. The government there may know or may not know. I don't want to be linked to them."

"What is the difference between the undeground church and the official government church?"

Chang: "Around 1950, the Chinese government started arresting bishops and priests on a large scale. They were sentenced to very severe terms in jail -- up to 10, 20 and 30 years. Then about 1980, with the economy getting better, the doors opened up and those people started being released. Of course, some of the important ones passed away in jail or were not released, but it opened up the door for the Church. For example, they'd open a church and return the land to the church, because under the Chinese constitution there is religious freedom. But treatment of individual churches depends on the local government."

"What about the national policy?"

Chang: "The national policy is religious freedom. But the concept under the Communist party is no faith. So they have a very unique religious bureau: the head of the bureau does not believe in God. It is not set up to promote faith, but to control and manage religions. They set up a "patriotic" church, in which major religious appointments are made by the government."

"Why is the government so threatened by the Catholic Church?"

Father Marcil: "They recognize five religions. There is a patriotic association for Taoists, Buddhists, Moslems, Catholics and for Christians -- including Orthodox, so it's not denominational. Religions that weren't in China before 1949 cannot have a presence in China today. If you're a member of the clergy, you need a permit, like a driver's license or a hunting permit. Also, religious venues need to be licensed.

"Gathering at an unlicensed venue, and being lead by someone who does not have a permit is what we call 'underground.' In practice, it can be above-ground. In some small villages, there can be an unlicensed church, and the government knows there's an unlicensed clergyman there, but provided he doesn't rock the boat too much, the church is left alone. Those who do ask for the permit and apply for the license imply that they accept the conditions that come with the permit or license, which the majority of the faithful -- Catholic or Protestant -- don't accept. That's why you impose it on yourself to be an outlaw."

"So there are small villages in which there actually are unlicensed churches, and unlicensed priests who don't cause trouble, that are left alone?"

Father Marcil nods: "But then you have no protection, because at the whim of local officials or changing policies -- like the current crackdown on the Falun Gong -- any group, be it social/cultural or quasi-religious, like the Falun Gong, can be forced to register. The Falun Gong asked to be recognized as a religion and the answer was 'no'. Falun Gong and other similar groups have linked the martial arts with exercise and values taken from Taoism or Buddhism. Even though each of these elements is nothing new in the history of China, because the groups themselves are new, they cannot be recognized. They are considered superstitious. In China there is a tradition that dynasties will be overthrown by that kind of organization"

Yang: "I think there are three reasons the government feels threatened. First, Church doctrine is against the doctrine of Communism. Second, foreign domination. An organization whose head is outside of China is seen as interfering. It might influence the people -- the government is highly sensitive about that. The third reason is historical. The government thinks of the last few dynasties, and the Boxer rebellion -- in each case a religious group or cult became a powerful political force against the government."

(To the anonymous young man) "What was your life like in China as a Catholic?"

Anonymous: "We had to go to a special place for Mass. We'd usually go to a peasant's farmhouse. We'd take the bus, and it would take about an hour. We ran a risk. If the government found out, they would close it up and persecute the leader. In December last year, three underground churches were torn down."

"The leader would be persecuted, but what about the rest of you?"

Anonymous: "Most of the time, they only persecute the leaders. They want to prosecute and isolate the leaders, and let the believers go to the official church. My wife's uncle is an underground priest. He's 70 years old and was ordained by Cardinal Kung in 1950. The communists prosecuted him because he was ordained by an "anti-revolutionary" cardinal. He was in prison from 1955 to 1970. He still organized an underground church after he was released. In 1980, he was arrested again and released in 1989."

"What is a prison sentence like for someone arrested for religious reasons?"

Anonymous: "They arrest without a warrant. There is no trial. They are sent to a labor camp for re-education through labor."

"Are they tortured?"

Anonymous: "Definitely."

"What kind of torture would they face?"

Anonymous: "At four a.m., they get up to do farmwork. They return at eight in the evening. He [my uncle] was dehydrated and suffered heat stroke. He was abandoned in a pool of shallow water."

(To Jenny Zhang:) "Tell us about your life in China."

Zhang: "I lived in China for 30 years, and here for eleven years."

"Were you part of the underground church?"

Zhang: "No. I joined the Church when I came here."

"Were you involved in religion at all in China?"

Zhang: "Only my family. They are not in danger. My aunt goes to church every day. She is 70, and goes to church every morning. She's in the official patriotic church.

"What was the hardest thing about living in China?"

Zhang: "Everybody watching you. Everybody knows about your personal life. We always had meetings. You have to report everything, so they know what happens. I got used to it -- if everybody's watching me, fine. I'm not doing anything bad. There are a lot of Catholics in my family on my father's side. I have aunts who are nuns. Before and during the Cultural Revolution, they were put in prison several times and stayed there for a long time. I'm sure they were tortured."

"Did they wear habits?"

Father Marcil, translating: "Yes, before the Cultural Revolution. After the Cultural Revolution, no. Since they were nuns from before the revolution, they were looked at as corrupted by foreign influences and, therefore, 'lost causes.'"

"Describe the Cultural Revolution."

Zhang: Middle school students didn't go to school. They just got crazy trying to beat up other people. If people said that you said something wrong, the student, who knew nothing, would call you a 'bad person'. They would humiliate you. They'd search your home for evidence that you had some connection with Americans and take your possessions. They did that to my family. My mom was a middle school teacher and some students came and searched from the roof to the bottom and took everything. They even took her shoes -- when she was young, she wore high-heeled shoes. During the Cultural Revolution, if you had high-heeled shoes you were really bad."

Father Marcil: "They were suspicious of any authority -- teachers, parents, government officials. They tried to find 'impure' articles or materials. It lasted roughly ten years, until the trial of the 'Gang of Four' and Deng Xiaopeng's 'reform' and 'open door' policies. Although the student rampages had stopped earlier, they needed the army to do it. The students -- who were called 'The Youth' -- were like a Nazi youth group. I think they learned from Hitler and applied it to China, only much more, much deeper."

"What do Americans need to know about the Catholic Church in China?"

Yang: "They need to realize that an 'official Catholic' is a government-made Catholic. There are twin Catholic systems in China. There's the above-ground patriotic church and the underground church, which is loyal to the pope. There are a lot of problems with that. When we say 'Catholic' here, it means one thing. In China, one kind of Catholic is patriotic, and when you speak to them, it is not necessarily confidential...."

"Does the patriotic church have a Marxist ideology?"

Father Marcil: "It's more a government-imposed thing than something that came from the Chinese Catholics themselves. The government has the attitude, 'Now that we're in power, we've got to control foreign religions. Catholics can exist in China, but only under our conditions.' They tried to make everybody go along with that, but many didn't, so that's why so many bishops and priests and sisters and even more lay people are in jail."

"What rules must patriotic Catholics follow?"

Father Marcil: "First, they can have no relations with foreigners. Under Communism, all foreign missionaries were expelled, and all financial help from Catholics around the world had to stop. Church activities in education, health or social services were nationalized -- because in a Socialist society there is no private sector -- and the religious content removed. Religion is out of schools, out of the hospitals, and certainly not in any social service agencies, because it might influence the people to follow religion more than they follow the government.

"Then the government decided, 'We don't need that many places of worship.' They calculated what would be a fair number of temples for the Buddhists, a fair number of mosques for the Moslems, a fair number of churches for Christians. The remaining places were nationalized and sold off. I know of churches converted into schools, military bases, factories, warehouses, apartments to further the Socialist cause -- if they were not simply destroyed.

"During the Cultural Revolution, all religious personnel, those who were not already in jail -- especially those in the patriotic organizations, were rounded up. The underground church suffered a little less during the Cultural Revolution because they were not the main target. The main target was the official religion. So you had Christians who were patriotic but died for their faith in the years of the Cultural Revolution. It's not always an easy black and white picture.

"Many members of the patriotic church will say, 'Don't ask me questions about Communism or religious policy or about the pope! Just let me attend my Mass, will you?' They go to church and they have their Mass, because it is valid, it is Catholic, and for many people it is temporary situation not of their own liking."

"So Mass in the patriotic church is valid?"

Father Marcil: "The Catholic Church has never said their ordinations are not valid. But they are not licit, because they are not done the way it is done in the Catholic Church in the 20th century."

"When did the patriotic church re-emerge?"

Father Marcil: "When Deng Xiaopeng came to power and said, 'The Cultural Revolution was a mistake. Now that we are rid of the extremists [the Gang of Four] we are back to the true policy of the government.' There is more religious tolerance than religious freedom. What we have today is essentially the same policy that was set in 1982."

Shen: "None of the leaders in China believe in God. They don't have the same kind of thought as people in America or Western cultures. When you say anything about God or Christianity, they never understand. They only understand power and control. If anything is out of their control, they will be afraid of it and try to beat it. I suspect that a lot of the time they don't trust themselves, either. They don't trust that they are doing the right thing, so they don't trust that people will believe them or vote for them."

Yang: "Americans should know that religious persecution in China is still very active and very real, for Catholics and non-Catholics. Taiwan also has a lot of Catholics. It's becoming a bargaining chip because the Communists are rumored to be talking with the Vatican about normalizing relations. One of the issues is that they [the Vatican] would have to adopt the one-China policy. So Taiwan would become a victim."

Anonymous: "More and more official people in the government have become Catholic. They've joined the underground church. If they were found out, they would lose their jobs, and if they are Communist party members, they will be forced to abandon their membership. More and more people are taking this risk in order to join the church, because of their faith, even though they are high-ranking officials."

Two weeks later, I attended Mass with the Chinese community again. The celebrant was a visiting priest from China, a member of the Patriotic Catholic Church. We spoke at length, but he declined to be interviewed, fearing it would endanger him and his parishioners in China, where he hopes to return soon.

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