Catholic Church in China: 'Two faces' expressing one faith

Published: 2007-04-05

BEIJING (CNS) -- Sometime after Easter, Pope Benedict XVI will issue a letter to Chinese Catholics that many hope will call for reconciliation and unity between those who have registered with the government and those who have not registered. In some places in China, that might cause surprise -- but for different reasons in different areas. Some priests and nuns reported not even knowing there was more than one church community as they grew up. "We're only one church in our village -- everyone goes to one church," said Father Joseph Xia Qingtian, dean of studies at the Liaoning regional seminary in Shenyang. Sister Pauline Yu Chunjing, superior of the Sisters of Our Lady of All Holy Souls in Beijing, said her parish in her hometown of Nangong, in Hebei province, did not have a split. "For me, personally, I didn't know there were the two churches before I entered the religious order," she said in mid-March. She said she likes the words of the late Bishop Anthony Li Du'an of Xi'an, who said China had only one church, but "two faces to express our faith."

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