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Fr. Francis Li ( 李东平神父), much beloved pastor of Chicago’s Saint Mother Theresa of Calcutta Parish, will chair the USCCA’s Conference Committee and also head up efforts as the event’s local host. Fr. Li was born in Shanxi Province and first came to Chicago for theological studies. He returned to China and was ordained a priest 1999. After returning to Chicago for further studies, he was asked by Cardinal Francis George, then-Archbishop of Chicago, to take on local pastoral duties, as well. After serving in three diverse parishes and earning an Advanced Pastoral Leadership Certificate through Kellogg School of Management in 2013, and the Doctor of Ministry Degree from Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, in 2016, he was appointed to St. Therese in Chicago’s Chinatown, now part of St. Mother Theresa of Calcutta Parish. As chair of the Conference Committee, Fr. Li will work with USCCA Board members, and with local groups based in Chicago. Together they will make the USCCA’s 2024 conference a visionary gathering that brings together Christians on both sides of the Pacific in their commitment to the Gospel. The 2024 Conference will be held on August 2-4, 2024; location details forthcoming. As in previous years, the USCCA’s conference will include: · keynote speakers from the U.S. and around the world · representatives of organizations that serve the Church in China · panels with opportunities for learning and discussion · workshops for networking and building capacity · the Ricci Award Banquet · local performers · and the opportunity to celebrate and worship together! It is the people that make the event. We look forward to seeing you there! Last updated: 9 October 2023

Date to be determined. More information to come. Learn more here >

On Tuesday, April 4, 2023, the Most Reverend Joseph SHEN Bin was installed as Bishop of Shanghai. Bishop Shen had been serving as the bishop of the Diocese of Haimen, located in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, not far from Shanghai. He was ordained bishop on April 21, 2010, at which time he both received the mandate of the Holy See and was recognized by the government. His predecessor as Bishop of Haimen, Msgr. Matthew YU Chengcai, had not been recognized by Rome. In 2013, Bishop Shen was later elected vice-president of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, which works closely with the United Front of the Chinese Communist Party. Bishop Shen currently serves as the president of the government-sanctioned Chinese Catholic Bishops’ Conference. While all bishops in China are currently in communion with Rome, this bishops’ conference is not recognized by Rome. That is because it does not include those bishops who have not registered with the government but who are also in full communion with Rome. These unregistered bishops are often referred to as China’s “underground bishops.” Bishop Shen’s appointment letter as Bishop of Shanghai came from the council of bishops that he himself heads. The Vatican states this move was unilateral in that it only involved the Chinese side. On April 5, Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, stated, “The Holy See had been informed a few days ago of the decision of the Chinese authorities” to transfer Bishop Shen from Haimen to Shanghai, and it only “learned from the media of the installation this morning.” In the days leading up to the installation, priests, sisters, and lay Catholics in the Shanghai Diocese were consulted in an effort to gain their support. The Diocese of Shanghai is an important center of the Catholic Church in China. Its roots as a center of faith go back to the Ming Dynasty, when one of its most prominent sons, Xu Guangqi (a protégé of the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci) served in various high positions in the imperial court. t is home to a major seminary and one of China’s most famous pilgrimage sites at Sheshan. In 2000, the Vatican recognized bishop of Shanghai, Ignatius KUNG Pin-Mei, died while in exile in the United States, and the Vatican recognized Bishop Joseph FAN Zhongliang, his coadjutor, to be his successor. Bishop Fan had already had numerous unfriendly encounters with local authorities. They recognized Msgr. Aloysius JIN Luxian as bishop instead. Bishop Jin had been ordained without Vatican approval in 1985 and installed as the state-approved Bishop of Shanghai in 1988. In 2005 the Vatican finally recognized Bishop Jin as the administrator bishop of Shanghai on behalf of Bishop Fan. Over the years, all sides worked for reconciliation, and in 2005 the Chinese Patriotic Association and the Vatican agreed to the consecration of Giuseppe XING Wenzhi as auxiliary bishop to succeed both Bishop Fan and Bishop Jin. In 2010 Bishop Xing excused himself from this role for personal reasons, and Bishop Thaddeus MA Daqin was chosen instead to be consecrated as the new successor to Bishop Fan and Bishop Jin. Unfortunately, as is well known, in 2012 at his own consecration as auxiliary bishop in the Cathedral of St. Ignatius in Shanghai, Bishop Ma publicly repudiated his membership in the Patriotic Association. He was placed under house arrest, and the diocese was placed under administrative lock down. In 2013, Bishop Jin passed away, as did Bishop Fan, who had Alzheimer’s disease, the following year. As a result, until this appointment, the Diocese of Shanghai has been operating under a council of priests. The Diocese remains divided, and many are looking to Rome for guidance. While the provisions of the entente between Rome and Beijing on the appointment of bishops is unclear, in this case, Bishop Shen was not ordained without Vatican approval. His ordination was approved by Rome in 2010. It is his installation in a new diocese that was not approved. Article 377.5 of the Church’s Code of Canon Law states that “no rights and privileges of election, nomination, presentation, or designation of bishops are granted to civil authorities.” In this case, it was not civil authorities that authorized the installation of Bishop Shen, but the irregular Chinese Catholic Bishops’ Conference. Nonetheless, the Vatican has been clear that such appointments violate the spirit of the Beijing-Vatican accord. Bishop Shen will serve as pastor under difficult and painful circumstances. He states that one of his most important missions is to bring reconciliation to a divided church. You can go here to read an interview with Msgr. Shen conducted by Vatican Insider in 2017. In that interview, one theme he stressed is that in China nobody wants a Church separated from the Pope. During this Easter triduum, when we enter into the death and the resurrection of Jesus, let us keep the Church of Shanghai, its sisters, its priests, its bishop, and all its faithful in our prayers.

Yesterday, August 8, was the Feast of Saint Dominic, founder of the Dominican Order. The order has a long and venerable history of missionary work in China. Father Gaspar de la Cruz, the first Dominican missioned to China, arrived in Guangdong Province in 1555. After 1633, Dominicans started mission work in the eastern provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Fujian. To this day, Chinese Catholic communities in these regions, and others, look back with profound gratitude to the Dominicans, who made great sacrifices to bring the faith. As it turns out, the first Chinese priest, Gregorius LUO Wenzao, was a Dominican. In 1685, he went on to be ordained the first native Chinese bishop. By the middle of the twentieth century, the Dominicans had 98 missionaries working in China. They ran 319 schools, 14 hospitals and clinics, 10 orphanages, and a home for the aged. Dear Lord Jesus, continue to watch over the sons and daughters of Saint Dominic. Make their preaching and ministry fruitful! Amen.

During these difficult times, the USCCA has managed to stay ahead of expenses, all while bringing on new staff to further its Campus Engagement Initiative. The 2022 Annual Appeal will be the key to continuing our programming and promoting our mission. In an era when tensions within the U.S. and across the Pacific drive people apart, the USCCA’s promotion of dialogue, welcome, and mutual respect is more relevant than ever. The upcoming Annual Appeal will run through the month of September. Currently, the USCCA is seeking $30,000 in pre-campaign pledges to be matched by contributions that come in during the campaign itself. If you would like to help in this effort, please contact Fr. Michael Director@USCatholicChina.org .

The US-China Catholic Association (USCCA) is a bridge between scholars, religious, Chinese Catholics, and interested laity in the United States. Recently, a former Lay Maryknoll Missionary and now full-time USCCA staff member, Kathleen O'Brien, had the opportunity to meet a current Maryknoll priest, Fr. Bob Carleton. Fr. Carleton has been a dedicated supporter of the Catholic Church in China for many years. He is a longtime USCCA Board member and previously served as Treasurer. At the Maryknoll residence in Los Altos, California, Fr. Carleton and Kathleen had the chance to share their love of the Maryknoll mission and their experiences of their time in China. Kathleen noted that meeting with Fr. Carleton reminded her of her love for the USCCA mission. She states, "The history, stories, and dedication of the Maryknollers and other religious orders in China is the legacy that the USSCA mission endeavors to carry forward day."

In July, the U.S.-China Catholic Association (USCCA) held a three day in-person workshop at the Berkeley offices for partners interested in the USCCA's new initiative of welcome and outreach to Chinese international students in the Bay Area. The workshop offered participants a time to reflect on the Church's mission and to better understand the worldview of this generation of Chinese students on our college campuses. Each day, participants had the opportunity to listen to a wide range of speakers and discuss topics relevant to this new ministry. Topics included discussing the Church document Joy of the Gospel and listening to a Chinese doctoral student at Duke University speak about “The Worldview of a Post-90's Generation in China." Participants included current and present students, the chaplain at UC Berkeley’s Newman Hall, a pastor of a Chinese Catholic community, local Chinese Catholics, and a few of our Protestant partners as well. Thanks to this diverse group of participants and the thought-provoking presentations, lively discussions and a real desire to serve Chinese international students marked each day of the workshop. One participant noted that, "The workshop was way above my expectation. Thank you for your hard work and all the speakers' presentations. I am so thankful for the USCCA's ministry. I am thankful for you bringing the Catholic faith to the young Chinese generation." We hope the same energy from the workshop will carry over into the fall semester, when we finally get to meet the many Chinese international students who come to our shores for an education! Pilot programs will launch at UC Berkeley, the University of San Francisco, Santa Clara University, and San Jose State. Would you like to be involved in the Bay Area pilots and meet students from China? Would you like to discuss expanding the Campus Engagement Imitative to your area? Contact Fr. Michael ( Director@USCatholicChina.org ) or Kathleen O'Brien ( CEI.Coord1@uscatholicchina.org ).

Paul GE Tingzhu was born in 1839 at Xiaotun, a village that today is located in Henan Province. He was a poor farmer. At the same time, he was the leading Catholic layman in his village. In 1900, a loosely organized, quasi-religious, quasi-nationalistic faction known as the “Boxers” in English unleashed a wave of attacks against foreigners and Western culture in China. They viewed Christianity as a Western religion and so saw Chinese Christians as traitors. Chinese Christians were in no way betraying their country. The God to whom they owed allegiance was universal, not Western. However, the Boxers were not open to theological fine points, and instead unleashed their fury and intolerance on their fellow Chinese who had become Christian, as well. On August 9, 1900, Paul was setting out to begin his routine farm work when he was confronted by a band of Boxers. Having been told that the sixty-one-year-old farmer was a Catholic, the Boxers demanded from him a denial of his faith. Paul answered, ‘Absolutely not! No, no! It does not matter if you kill my body; I want to save my soul.’ The Boxers tied him to a tree and brutally tortured him to death. Throughout, GE Tingzhu remained steadfast, reaffirming his faith and trust in God, and continually invoked the holy names of Jesus and Mary. While the Boxers saw GE as betraying their country, that was not his own perspective. Rather, Paul GE Tingzhu was affirming his faith in God, and in Jesus as the one who most truly reveals who God is. Saint Paul GE Tingzhu, pray for us!

Over the weekend of July 23-24, Fr. Michael Agliardo, executive director of the U.S.-China Catholic Association (USCCA), and Br. David, a seminarian from northern China working with the USCCA, traveled to Irvine (in Orange County, California), for a mission appeal. They spoke at eight Masses at St. Thomas More Parish about the witness to the faith of Chinese Catholics and the ways the USCCA could collaborate as brothers and sisters in Christ. The community, their pastor, Fr. Eugene Lee, and their pastoral vicar, Fr. Kiet Ta, were all extremely gracious in hosting the USCCA. The diocesan mission officers, Greg Waldenbach and Ruth Guzman, also arranged for a luncheon that Friday. It was attended by representatives of the two main Chinese Catholic communities in the Diocese of Orange, including Deacon Leonard Sun and Deacon Louis Liu. Bishop Kevin Vann took time to join the gathering. Bishop Vann has a keen appreciation of the challenge and opportunities for evangelization in society today. That Monday, Bishop Vann invited Fr. Michael and Br. David to his office to discuss a book project that he is supporting that draws connections between the Bible and the Dao De Jing. The latter is a key text in both philosophical and religious Daoism (Taoism). Often the Dao De Jing and the Bible are viewed as quite different from one another, but on a deeper level, works of profound wisdom meet in ways that are both common sensical and surprising. In addition, Bishop Vann and Fr. Michael discussed ways that the Diocese of Orange might participate in and support USCCA’s Campus Engagement Initiative . Many newcomers from China reside in Orange and study at U.C. Irvine and other area schools. Bishop Vann understands the importance of outreach and welcome to the Chinese in his diocese.

(Photos: In traditional China, the emperor served as the mediator between heaven and earth, between the cosmic order above and the moral order of society. In the 17th century, Jesuit astronomers brought new methods of astronomy to China, allowing the Chinese to predict celestial events and construct a calendar to govern human affairs with greater accuracy.) This summer, the US-China Catholic Association is very blessed to have Brother David, a seminarian from China, living in residence. Staying in Berkeley, Brother David is assisting Fr. Michael and Kathleen O'Brien, local coordinator for the Campus Engagement Initiative (CEI), as they launch this new program. And he is looking at degree programs at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) that explore the intersection of science and faith. The GTU is a national center for theology in Berkeley. Brother David was born into a traditional Catholic family in northern China and grew up in a devout Catholic community. He was aware of his vocation to be a priest since he was a boy, but given the strong emphasis on family in traditional Chinese culture, he delayed entering the seminary, instead attending seminary and earning a Bachelor of Science. After working several years, he entered the seminary with his family’s support. In this respect, the delay in entering the seminary was fortunate: Brother David had the opportunity to gain a background in science. Had he entered the seminary right after high school, as many Chinese aspirants have in the past, he might not have gained that background. In Brother David’s experience, many people in China have a strong faith in science and a negative attitude to religion. He writes, “The most common view they hold is that religion is a superstition and spiritual opium of humankind. This is actually a prejudice. This prejudice is not the result of objective and neutral analysis by most Chinese people; rather, they are taught in that way since childhood. People who grow up with this kind of education have a strong belief in science. They are accustomed to looking at everything from a scientific perspective. They think that whatever is scientifically proven is true, otherwise, it is pseudoscience and absurd. They do not realize that their attitude to science is like a religion, yet their patterns of thought and behavior have made science a rational god.” He adds, “As many scientific theologians or theological scientists have said, science is about HOW, and religion is about WHY… These are two distinct but interpenetrating fields. Science can promote faith, and faith can guide the development of science, such as even has been the case in astronomy. So, I think that the relationship between science and faith should not be an adversarial one, as most Chinese think, but a partnership and a friendship.” As noted, Brother David is also working on the USCCA’s Campus Engagement Initiative (CEI). This is a new program launched in collaboration with area universities and select Catholic high schools. The goal is to promote welcome of and deepen engagement with Chinese international students. These young people are important ambassadors between cultures and communities. The CEI will provide Chinese international students the opportunity to meet other Chinese persons here in this country, to encounter the best of American culture, and to learn about the constructive role that faith plays in society and in the lives of individuals. (You can read more about the CEI on the USCCA website .) Brother David’s role in these early stages of the CEI is to collect and review resources on philosophy and faith that will be relevant and interesting for Chinese international students. These resources include books, music, and videos in Chinese and in English. The USCCA will curate and provide background so that Chinese international students can explore these questions on their own, or in conversation circles on campus. Brother David is also assisting the USCCA in building a new website to host these materials and to develop the social media to promote them. And he is helping organize a leadership training session for the CEI team and volunteers. Would you like to reach out to Brother David? Would you like to support his work and the CEI? Write us in Chinese or in English at Staff@USCatholicChina.org .

We invite you to mark your calendars for the US-China Catholic Association’s 29th international conference. The Conference will take place August 4-6, 2023, at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. As in previous years, the USCCA’s conference will include: · keynote speakers from around the U.S. and around the world · representatives of organizations that serve the Church in China and build fraternal relations · panels with opportunities for learning and discussion · workshops for networking and building capacity · the Ricci Award Banquet · local performers · and the opportunity to celebrate and worship together! Please mark your calendar and stay tuned for our August announcement for further details. Send inquiries or interest regarding involvement to Fr. Michael Agliardo, Executive Director of the USCCA: Director@USCatholicChina.org

The Macau Ricci Institute and the Centre for Catholic Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) are co-organizing an international symposium themed, “The Doors that Propaganda Fide has opened since 1622.” The event is virtual and will take place August 24-26, 2022. Propaganda Fide was established on January 6, 1622 by Pope Gregory XV, and the year 2022 is the commemoration of its 400th anniversary. Its founding established the ways for the Holy See to directly govern the dioceses in the Far East. Prior to its founding, monarchies, such as Spain and Portugal ran the missions of the Church under their jurisdiction. The significance of its work extends over the fields of evangelization, communication, science, and cultural exchange. In 1967, Propaganda Fide was renamed the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. In 2022, Pope Francis introduced the reform of the Roman Curia which has at its heart the conversion of the Church to being missionary. The newly restructured Dicastery for Evangelization will embrace the mission ad gentes (to nations), as well as the new evangelization of peoples who have already encountered the Gospel. The symposium will study the effects of this pivotal establishment in Church and world history, as well as lessons to sustain the Church’s missionary journey. Learn more and register >