In an exclusive interview with The Tablet, Hong Kong’s new bishop spoke of how he is focusing on pastoral matters over political concerns. Bishop Yeung says he devoting attention to young people, the elderly, and building social solidarity, rather than emphasizing political disagreement with the government.
He’s been called “the conscience of China.” At age 85, Cardinal Joseph Zen, bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, is hardly living out his retirement in quiet.
Church officials fear that newly revised religious affairs regulations released by the Chinese government, supposedly aimed at protecting national security, will be used to further suppress religious activities.
Maryknoll Sister Janet Carroll, founding executive director of the U.S. Catholic China Bureau, was the recipient of the organization’s 2017 Matteo Ricci Award, an honor bestowed upon people who best exemplify the bureau’s mission to build a bridge of friendship and service between the Catholic Church in the U.S. and China.
Fostering vocations to the priesthood and religious life is the “biggest challenge” for the Catholic Church in China, said Passionist Father Robert E. Carbonneau, executive director of the U.S. Catholic China Bureau.
“Experience of the Chinese Church in the 21st Century” will be the theme of the U.S. Catholic China Bureau’s 27th biennial national conference at St. John’s University, Jamaica, Aug. 11-13.
Bishop Vincent Guo Xijin of Mindong in China’s eastern Fujian province has not returned after being forced to pay a visit to the religious affairs bureau in Fuan April 7, local sources told ucanews.com.
A French Catholic priest working with North Korean refugees in China said conditions have worsened for Christians under Kim Jong Un and urged the Chinese government to shelter fugitives from the communist-ruled country.
Chinese authorities arrested the coadjutor bishop of Wenzhou, China, and local faithful said it was to prevent him from taking possession of the diocese after the death of Bishop Vincent Zhu Weifang.
By the time the pontiff flew out of Philadelphia late Sept. 27, China’s national broadcaster CCTV had made no mention of his trip.
