• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • ABOUT CHINA
    • NEWS
    • TESTIMONIES
    • OP-EDS
    • FEATURED
    • GLOSSARY
    • CHINA PERSECUTION MAP
  • FROM THE WORLD
    • NEWS
    • OP-EDS
    • FEATURED
    • TESTIMONIES
  • INTERVIEWS
  • DOCUMENTS AND TRANSLATIONS
    • DOCUMENTS
    • THE TAI JI MEN CASE
    • TRANSLATIONS
  • EVENTS
  • ABOUT
  • EDITORIAL BOARD
  • TOPICS

Bitter Winter

A magazine on religious liberty and human rights

three friends of winter
Home / China / News China

Party Uses Bribes to Break up Underground Church

03/23/2019Li Wensheng |

United Front Work Department dangles money, corrupt business deals as bait to lure underground Catholics into joining the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association.

Chinese money

Bitter Winter has reported that underground priests have been arrested due to their refusal to join the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association. New reports suggest that the authorities are also trying to bribe underground priests and believers into joining the official Church.

Since the Vatican-China Deal of 2018 was signed, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has interpreted the agreement to require priests and bishops of the Underground Catholic Church to join the state-controlled CPCA. As UCA News reports, Bishop Vincent Zhan Silu of Mindong, who is a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) as well as vice-chairman of the Patriotic Catholic Association, said on March 3 that underground Catholics who refuse to join the official church were motivated by personal interests. He said he was surprised to hear that, according to the Vatican, the former underground Catholics should not be compelled to join the Patriotic Church. This is, however, the position of the Holy See.

A believer who requested anonymity revealed to Bitter Winter that bishop Joseph Han Zhihai, of the Lanzhou diocese in northwestern China’s Gansu Province, was ordered by the United Front Work Department (UFWD) to use financial incentives to “encourage” a priest to join the Patriotic Catholic Association.

The priest is the pastor of Sihaocun Catholic Church in Sihao village, in Gansu’s Zhangye city. The church was demolished by the CCP during the Cultural Revolution and was rebuilt in 1983 with funding from believers. At present, the church has 12 elders, one priest, and 600 believers.

According to this source, in March 2018, Bishop Han and UFWD lobbyists met with Chen Long, one of the elders of Sihaocun Church. The UFWD promised to give Mr. Chen a monthly salary of 1,500 RMB (about $220) for joining the Patriotic Association, plus a reward for every believer whom he brought with him. Mr. Chen accepted the deal. Since he had considerable prestige at Sihaocun, and is the director of the Sihao village committee, some believers were also lured into joining the official Church.

According to AsiaNews, Mgr Han was initially recognized as a bishop by the Holy See but not by the government. But on November 10, 2017, he was officially installed by the government as Bishop of Lanzhou (Gansu) in a ceremony in the city’s Sacred Heart Cathedral.

After the bishop was successfully co-opted, the UFWD started scheming to entice the parish priest, Yang Duo.

According to the believer, Bishop Han tempted Father Yang, saying, “The UFWD promised to give you an annual salary of 30,000 RMB (around $4,500) as a reward. They want you to arrange for church members to join the CPCA quickly. If the government has any good get-rich projects, they will support you in doing business, so the problem of the welfare and income of church members can be solved.”

Afterward, Bishop Han made multiple phone calls to Father Yang to put pressure on him, saying, “If you don’t promise to join the CPCA, the UFWD will shut down the church and even demolish it. You and those stubborn church members will all be arrested and imprisoned.”

After parishioners learned about the pressure applied to their pastor, most of them said they were committed to following the priest and upholding pure doctrine. They would not join the CPCA and would fight against the government and the bishop to protect the priest.

But a few believers expressed concern about the authorities’ coercive tactics, citing an old Chinese idiom that “the arm is no match for the thigh,” meaning that the weak cannot compete with the strong.

Father Yang is unwilling to join the CPCA, but does not dare to offend the bishop. He has found himself in a dilemma.

Reported by Li Wensheng

Tagged With: Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, Government-controlled religions

bw-profile
Li Wensheng

Uses a pseudonym for security reasons.

Related articles

  • At Least 60 Catholic Venues Shut Down in Fuzhou Archdiocese

    At Least 60 Catholic Venues Shut Down in Fuzhou Archdiocese

  • Catholic Holy Site Shattered, Churches Closed or Demolished

    Catholic Holy Site Shattered, Churches Closed or Demolished

  • A County in Henan Launches 5-Star Rating for Churches

    A County in Henan Launches 5-Star Rating for Churches

  • Jimmy Lai Arrested, a Blow to Catholic Dissidents in Mainland China

    Jimmy Lai Arrested, a Blow to Catholic Dissidents in Mainland China

Keep Reading

  • Fuzhou Catholics Pressured with Force to Join Patriotic Association
    Fuzhou Catholics Pressured with Force to Join Patriotic Association

    Amid raids and crackdowns, clergy and congregations of what used to be Underground Catholic Church are continuing to resist being governed by the state.

  • CCP Distorts Vatican’s Pastoral Guidelines
    CCP Distorts Vatican’s Pastoral Guidelines

    Although the Holy See has demanded that the CCP “respect” those who refuse to join the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, they keep being harassed and punished.

  • Video: Three-Self Church Destroyed to the Ground in Minutes
    Video: Three-Self Church Destroyed to the Ground in Minutes

    Another government-approved Protestant church in Henan fell victim to the authorities’ religious persecution: it was reduced to ruins in just over ten minutes.

  • Officials Punished for Ineffective Suppression of Religion
    Officials Punished for Ineffective Suppression of Religion

    Grassroots-level bureaucrats are supervised to ensure their diligence in executing the central government’s policies on religion. Any misstep results in a penalty.

Primary Sidebar

Support Bitter Winter

Learn More

Follow us

Newsletter

Most Read

  • Pro-Chinese Propaganda by The World Muslim Communities Council: Uyghurs Strike Back by Gulfiye Y
  • Zhanargul Zhumatai: “Help Me, I Just Want to Leave China” by Ruth Ingram
  • L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and the Visual Arts. 1. The Aesthetic Mind by Massimo Introvigne
  • Stricter Rules on Private Tutoring Protect Ideology Rather than Parents by Wang Zhipeng
  • Japan Religious Donations Law. 4. The Return of Brainwashing by Massimo Introvigne
  • Hong Kong: Christian Scholar Peng Manyuan Released but Not Rehabilitated by Gladys Kwok
  • The Weaponization of the CCP’s “Zero COVID” Against Tibet by Marco Respinti
  • L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and the Visual Arts. 3. Art as Communication by Massimo Introvigne
  • L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and the Visual Arts. 4. Art and Illustration by Massimo Introvigne
  • L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and the Visual Arts. 5. Professionals vs. Amateurs by Massimo Introvigne

CHINA PERSECUTION MAP -SEARCH NEWS BY REGION

clickable geographical map of china, with regions

Footer

Instant Exclusive News
Instant Exclusive News

EDITORIAL BOARD

Editor-in-Chief

MASSIMO INTROVIGNE

Director-in-Charge

MARCO RESPINTI

ADDRESS

CESNUR

Via Confienza 19,

10121 Turin, Italy,

Phone: 39-011-541950

E-MAIL

We welcome submission of unpublished contributions, news, and photographs. Each submission implies the authorization for us to edit and publish texts and photographs. We reserve the right to decide which submissions are suitable for publication. Please, write to INFO@BITTERWINTER.ORG Thank you.

Newsletter

Follow us

LINKS

orlir-logo hrwf-logo cesnur-logo

Copyright © 2023 · Bitter Winter · PRIVACY POLICY· COOKIE POLICY