{"id":5479,"date":"2006-10-03T09:35:53","date_gmt":"2006-10-03T09:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2006\/10\/from-across-the-seas-1.html"},"modified":"2006-10-03T09:35:53","modified_gmt":"2006-10-03T09:35:53","slug":"from-across-the-seas-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2006\/10\/from-across-the-seas-1.html","title":{"rendered":"From across the seas"},"content":{"rendered":"

A priest of the Underground Catholic Church reflects on his vocation:<\/a><\/p>\n

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How is faith transmitted in our province? There are many ways, but one of the most important is the family. Despite many challenges, faith is still transmitted within Catholic families. I was born in an industrial city in 1973, during China\u2019s Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). A few days after I was born, I was baptised by a lay believer, in hiding, in my family. This man is my godfather, a man who still now sacrifices himself and his interests for others. When I reflect on the faith I received, I thank the Lord who gave us these elderly people to pass it onto us. <\/p>\n

My faith was influenced by my grandparents and by education within the family. Apart from the Chinese New Year, my family gave a lot of importance to Christmas. We Chinese Catholics live in a Communist, atheistic environment that denies, oppresses and derides religion. Although I received a Communist and atheistic education, my faith grew thanks to the witness of my grandparents and my family. Even during the Cultural Revolution, I remember that all my family would say the Rosary and Vespers together in secret, with the windows and doors closed: for more than 10 years, we spent Christmas night thus, without mass and without priests. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Two priests arrested:<\/a><\/p>\n

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Police in the southern Guangdong province arrested two priests of China\u2019s unofficial church on 25 September as they were returning from a trip to Europe, said the Kung Foundation, a US-based organization lobbying for religious freedom in China. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, AsiaNews<\/em> sources in China said the real reason why Mgr Julius Jia Zhiguo, bishop of Zhengding (Hebei), was released was that the government feared the faithful may organize \u201cpopular protests\u201d for his release on 1 October, which is National Day. The same sources said it was very likely that \u201conce the feast day is over, Mgr Jia will be arrested again\u201d. <\/p>\n

The police apprehended Fr Shao Zhoumin, vicar general of Wenzhou diocese (in the eastern Zhejiang Province), and Fr Jiang Sunian, chancellor of the same diocese, without giving any reasons for their arrest. Both priests were arrested at 7pm, three hours after they landed in Shenzhen, while they were at the home of friends. <\/p>\n

The police took away a large number of books and photos that the priests brought back from Europe. The place of their detention is unknown. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Speaking out against animal sacrifice<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u201cSome Nepalese Buddhist practice this sacrifice,\u201d added Bhante Satyabrata, a Buddhist monk from Lumbini (Buddha\u2019s birthplace). \u201cThis is horrible. Lord Buddha would never have allowed such a monstrous act.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a bitter tone, the monk added that instead of butchering animals \u201cwe should [. . .] butcher our avarice, jealousy, hatred and enmity, [. . .] emulate Christians whose religion, primordially originated in Jewish culture with its tradition of animal sacrifice, never sacrificed animals to please their God.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cChristians,\u201d he said, \u201cbelieve that Jesus was the last lamb to be sacrificed and His blood is enough to cleanse all the sins of mankind. But ironically, we, the followers and progenies of Lord Buddha in Nepal, indulge in such an obnoxious act of animal sacrifice\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ruben Gurung, an Evangelical Christian from the Good Hope Church, said that \u201cit was a good sign that some Hindu and Buddhist reformers were coming forward to call for a ban on the cult of animal sacrifice\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have nothing against their religious ritual. But I don’t approve it because it is the major cause of poverty in rural Nepal,\u201d the Evangelical Christian said. \u201cPoor Nepalese families sell off their valuables to perform such rituals. They dare not shun them because [. . .] they fear some disaster would fall upon them if they don’t perform the sacrifice ritual.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A priest of the Underground Catholic Church reflects on his vocation: How is faith transmitted in our province? There are many ways, but one of the most important is the family. Despite many challenges, faith is still transmitted within Catholic families. 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The Catholicism comes from her side. Amy grew up in a number of places - Indiana - Washington, DC - Lubbock Texas - Arlington, Virginia - DeKalb, Illinois - Lawrence, Kansas - and Knoxville, Tennessee, where the family settled in 1973. She attended Knoxville Catholic High School, then the University of Tennessee where she majored in history. She received an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University, where she wrote a thesis on the changing role of women in 19th century American Protestantism, and the ways Scripture was used to justify those changes. She worked as as a teacher in Catholic high schools and a Parish Director of Religious Education and started writing for the diocesan press - the Florida Catholic - in 1988. Amy has written columns for Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic News Service at times over the past twenty years. Her articles have been published in venues ranging from Our Sunday Visitor to the New York Times to Commonweal. She has written 17 books. 18, if you included the as yet tragically unpublished novel. Amy has five children, ranging in age from 26 to 4 and was married to Michael Dubruiel, who died unexpectedly in February 2009. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/author\/awelborn"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5479\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}