Priest: China's Catholics 'cherish opportunity' to attend to people's material, spiritual needs

CHICAGO (OSV News) -- Charitable works by the Catholic Church in China continue to press ahead even with significant challenges, according to several speakers at a conference hosted by the Berkeley-based US-China Catholic Association Aug. 2-4 in Chicago.

When it comes to social services for the needy in China, the small population (10 million-12 million) of Catholics even though they "live in the cracks" are "trying their best at different levels to get involved. As long as they can do something, they cherish the opportunity," said Jesuit Father Augustine Tsang of the Fu Jen Faculty of Theology of St. Robert Bellarmine in Taipei, Taiwan.

Father Tsang gave a presentation on the state of Catholic ministry in communist China based on a survey of mainland Chinese clergy, religious and laypeople. He explained that at the diocesan level, and even at the parish level, the church has organized efforts to help the needy either with donations or corporal works of mercy. As a strong component of evangelization, these works are also carried out by the laity not necessarily in formally organized ways.

He said, "Catholics spontaneously visit disabled people, lonely people, elderly people who are not members of the church, helping them with house cleaning, haircuts etc. as well as attending to their spiritual needs by bringing Jesus to them."

Several speakers and those on the ground in China said there was a growing demand for social services in the heavily regulated country, especially in mental health and health care. Analysts project "an impending crisis" in China's medical system, according to the Council on Foreign Relations' Think Global Health newsletter.

Apart from developing pressures on the health care system, urbanization is also creating a need for services to the faithful elderly, sick and lonely whose young adult children and young family members have left rural villages for better paying jobs in big cities.

China's Catholics have historically been from rural areas; and church leaders at the conference expressed concern over the flight of the faithful to urban areas. They described house visits from parish priests in order to address some of those needs.

But the works of mercy of Catholics are mostly not officially recognized by the government. Unless the organizations are registered with the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, they are subject to being shut down. And in recent years there have been reports of projects being closed. Diocesan-sponsored hospitals, nursing homes run by religious and other services have been curtailed.

Still, one group that has been working diligently in more than half a dozen dioceses for more than 10 years is a "third order" of the Missionaries of Charity. These more than 15,000 lay members are recognized by Mother Teresa's order, though they are not canonically a third order. Supported with private donations from wealthy Catholics, they help the poorest of the poor in far-flung areas through parishes that are registered.

Public administration professor John Worthley has been going to China to teach for more than 40 years at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing and other schools. He helped connect the founder of the lay group with the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, India, and gave a presentation of how the group came about at the conference.

He later told OSV News the group works well within the difficult environment for Catholics and other religions.

"It's through community; community of the parish, community of the villages, community of the families, where there's no rules," said Worthley. "There's interpersonal relationships. … There's no government control to have to wonder about. Just let the Holy Spirit guide you."

In China, just one major charitable organization, Jinde Charities, which has programs for poverty alleviation, disaster relief, medical aid and multiple other services, is officially registered with the government.