Harbin [China]’s illicit ordination delayed: Victory for “Faithful’s prayers and fasting”
by Bernardo Cervellera
The Episcopal ordination was to have taken place tomorrow, the Feast of St. Peter and Paul, as a “slap in the face to the Holy Father.” Underground and official community united in prayers against the move. Voices warn the ordination only “postponed until next month.” The United Front, which controls the Patriotic Associations, loses a supporter of Stalinist control over religions, Zhu Weiqun.
6/28/12
Rome (AsiaNews) – For months the faithful of Harbin (Heilongjiang) have been praying and fasting lest the Episcopal ordination without papal mandate go ahead, now they are quietly satisfied: the ordination, scheduled for tomorrow, will not happen.
Local sources have told AsiaNews that “there will be no ordination tomorrow.”
For some time, rumors abounded in the Northern city that soon – June 29 – that Patriotic Association (PA) candidate Fr. Joseph Yue Fusheng, 48, would be ordained a bishop. The priests had been contacted by the Office of Religious Affairs and warned not to interfere and the Cathedral of Harbin had been undergoing restoration work for the occasion. Fr. Yue has been pushing for his ordination for years. In December 2010 (see: 09/12/2010 Assembly elects new leadership, causing major harm to the Church) he was chosen as one of three vice-presidents of the National PA, with Paul, Lei Shiyin (Leshan diocese) and Joseph Huang Bingzhang (Shantou), both became bishops without papal approval (see: 29/06/2011 Leshan: seven legitimate bishops take part in Episcopal ordination that had no papal mandate and 14/07/2011 Eight bishops in communion with the pope forced to take part in illegitimate ordination in Shantou).
The faithful of the underground and official community have been holding moments of prayer and fasting so that such a “slap in the face to the Holy Father” would not occur. Even the priests of the diocese have declared their opposition to this ordination.
Msgr. Savio Hon Taifai, Vatican secretary of Propaganda Fide, in an interview with AsiaNews had warned the same Fr. Yue not perform such actions that are contrary to communion with the Pope (15/06/2012 Msgr. Savio Hon: episcopal ordinations with no papal mandate reveal Party’s lack of ideals and internal fighting).
A local priest tells AsiaNews that in any case “our people will continue to pray and fast for the ordination to be permanently cancelled.” According to rumors, in fact, it was only “postponed until next month.”
The priest however stresses that this delay is the fruit of the unity of the Church of Harbin.
In the interview cited above, Msgr. Hon said that the illicit ordinations in the face of so many claims of liberal leadership, is a sign of the struggle that is taking place in the party between liberals and Stalinists, namely, the “princes”, the sons of the great Party leaders, who do not want to lose their grip on power. In fact, in recent days the news emerged that one of these Stalinists, Zhu Weiqun, was forced to resign from the post of deputy director of the United Front on age grounds and has been replaced by Zhang Yijiong. The United Front controls the patriotic associations of the various religions.
Months ago, Zhu Weiqun had defended the need to strengthen Party control over religion (see [below]: 20/12/2011 “Get thee behind me Satan”: No religion for the Chinese Communist Party members)
“Get behind me Satan”: No religion for the Chinese Communist Party members
by Bernardo Cervellera
Zhu Weiqun, vice president of the United Front rails against religious conversions in the Chinese Communist Party. At least one third of executives believe in some “religious superstition” because disillusioned by corruption and lack of ideals of communist ideology. The revival of Maoist tone is a sign of an internal power struggle ahead of the imminent change of leadership of Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao.
12/20/11
www.asianews.it/news-en/Get-behind-me-Satan:-No-religion-for-the-Chinese-Communist-Party-members-23491.html
Rome (AsiaNews) – There is no room for religion among the members of the Chinese Communist Party. The veiled threat belongs to Zhu Weiqun, vice president of the United Front, who in the journal “Seeking Truth”, linked to the Party, wrote that “if we let party members believe in religion … this will inevitably lead to internal divisions within the organization and ideology of the Party. ”
Zhu Weiqun (see photo), who has made a career from his commitment on Tibet issue and boycotting all dialogue with the Dalai Lama seems to be the representative of the rebirth of Maoism. In fact only at the time of Mao and the Cultural Revolution were such statements read: “All religions, without exception, are part of idealism. And in philosophy, there is a fundamental conflict between materialism and idealism, that can not coexist either at the individual level, or a political party level. ”
According to Zhu Weiqun, allowing party members to have a religion, undermines Marxism and the guiding ideology of the country, weakening the party in the fight against separatist movements (read: Tibetan Buddhists and Uyghur Muslims), while confusing the party role in the control of religions.
Zhu’s reverse exorcism is born of a real concern: now many members of the party, disillusioned by the fall in ideals, corruption, and materialism, are discovering or rediscovering the religious dimension. It is not unusual for party members to visit their Buddhist master in some monastery on weekends, or have relationships with a Catholic bishop, or start praying in some Protestant community.
Some years ago, a survey showed that at least one third of the members of the party believed in some “religious superstition” (see 28/02/2006 Communist Party in crisis: 20 million members go to church or temple).
At the time, AsiaNews managed to publish a summary of an internal-party discussion on the value of religion. Some interventions emphasized the importance of faith to help the struggling moral of the party itself (see 07/03/2006 Members challenge Communist Party on religion).
The almost’”diabolical” aspect of Zhu Weiqun’s note is that he attacks the religions, instead of blaming the party itself, which has become an oligarchy and life insurance, where it is easy to find work , wealth, legal protection, by dint of bribery and ambiguous friendships.
For someone like him writing in “Search for the truth,” it would be important to seek the truth on their own internal ideological crisis of communism in China, which now exists not only in words and which has created a real “workers hell “, as evidenced by 180 thousand “mass incidents” (social unrest), because of the injustices against the very people it wanted to liberate.
In fact it is very likely that the very same Zhu, by token of this statement is trying to undermine the party. In December 2001 the then President Jiang Zemin has confessed that “religions will exist under socialism for a long time [yet].” In the same period, Pan Yue, deputy State director for Structural Reforms, fervently asked the party to abandon the Marxist view of religion as “opium of the people.” Since then the party, while controlling religions, has had to witness their exponential growth.
The Maoist tone of Zhu today shows that there is a struggle within the party, not based on the place that religions must have, but about who should command in the future, given the impending resignation of Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao. Religion and the struggle against religion is only a starting point, a quibble, to shout the loudest and get more attention. But then, we must conclude that it is not religion that spoils the party, but it is the same party that has orchestrated its own ruination.