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

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

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 Do

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 Treasure

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 dut

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 w

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.

Why are there so many Catholic churches in Hebei Province? And why so many Protestant Churches in Anhui? When thinking about missions, we don’t always consider geography, yet the five official religions in China are very geographically concentrated. On Thursday, June 16th, 2022, Dr. Fenggang Yang gave a lecture entitled, “Where Are the Churches in China? And Why? Geographical Patterns of Church Development.” In it, he presented the geographical distribution of Catholic and Pr

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 disc

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 gov

(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

Bishop Peter Wu Junwei of Yuncheng, a diocese in Shanxi, died May 10, 2022. The 59-year-old suffered a heart attack induced by work-related stress. Bishop Wu was born into a devout Catholic family in the town of Xiliulin, in the outskirts of Taiyuan (Shanxi Province), in 1963. He was the eldest of six siblings. One brother became a priest while a sister joined a religious congregation. He himself entered the junior seminary in 1982. Eight years later he was ordained a priest

The Society of Jesus (also known as the Jesuits) has long played an important role in the history of religious, intellectual, and cultural exchange between China and the West. The most famous missionary to China, Matteo Ricci, has been called both the “father of the China mission” and the “founder of Sino-Western relations.” Meanwhile, no one in our present time has appeared more often in media reports about the situation of China’s Christian population than Pope Francis, wh

The USCCA’s esteemed partner, ERRChina (Educational Resources & Referrals – China) invites you to attend its next Chinese Worldviews Seminar, an intensive, six-day online event. This series, sponsored by ERRChina’s China Academic Consortium, will explore the background and development of contemporary Chinese worldviews. Friday, May 20 What are China’s moral foundations? Saturday, May 21 How did China become communist? Friday, May 27 What is the Ch

In a move that has stunned the Catholic Church and the world community, today China’s national security police arrested Cardinal Joseph Zen (陳日君紅衣主教), bishop emeritus of Hong Kong. He was charged with "collusion with foreign forces." According to police, Cardinal Zen was suspected of advocating that foreign governments sanction Hong Kong and/or China. Also charged in connection with this case were senior barrister Margaret Ng, activist and pop singer Denise Ho, former lawmake

Young Jesuits and lay partners of the Chinese Province of the Society of Jesus have developed a prayer app in Chinese to promote Ignatian Spirituality to Chinese speakers around the world. From Mondays through Fridays, users are invited to 15 minutes of guided contemplation based on the daily Gospel. Then on Saturdays, there is a guided Examen, a prayer that helps one review one’s day, or in this case one’s week. On Sundays, the app provides a recollection or longer form of

China's transformation since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 has been dramatic. What have been the implications of this transformation for the Church in China? How has this affected relations with the Vatican and the wider Christian community? Fr. Mariani provides an overview of leadership policy in China, then focus on how its current leaders see their "historical mission." How does this backdrop help us to better understand the developments of th

Fr. Drew Christiansen, SJ, Ph.D., director emeritus of the USCCA, died on April 6, 2022 in Washington, D.C. He was 77. Until his passing, Fr. Christiansen served as a distinguished professor of ethics and human development in Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and he was senior fellow at Georgetown's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. Formerly, he was the head of the U.S. bishops' Office of International Justice and Peace and was well known f

The USCCA Book Circle is reading a pre-publication version of the manuscript, “For A Christian Reading of The Core Values of The China Dream: Different Prospects in a Light of the Culture of Unity” by Kin Sheung Chiaretto Yan. The manuscript focuses on themes such as, harmony and the trinitarian relationship, ecological civilization and integral ecology, fraternity and social friendship, poverty alleviation and sharing economy, and the freedom of religion and the golden rule

The Institute for the Study of Christianity and Culture in Beijing, which promotes academic research on Christianity and culture and the promotion of evangelization in China and beyond, is celebrating its 20-year anniversary in 2022. The institute was founded in 2002 by Father Peter Zhao Jianmin, vicar of the Archdiocese of Beijing, who graduated with a degree in canon law from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. Father Zhao was the first Chinese priest to obtain a d