Life in the Underground Catholic Church

The Catholic Church in China is very complex, and it is difficult to explain clearly the above-ground and underground churches using a simple dichotomy. However, I still have to use such terms to describe the overall situation of the underground churches. In this short article, I will first briefly describe the historical origins of the above-ground and underground churches, and then discuss the three major challenges faced by the underground churches. I hope that this small article can serve as a guide for those who are unfamiliar with the Catholic Church in China.

The Historical Origin of the Above-Ground and Underground Churches

The leaders of the People’s Republic of China established the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA) in the 1950s. Due to outright persecution and fear, some bishops and priests joined the Patriotic Association, ostensibly severing ties with Rome. However, another group of bishops and priests insisted that they were loyal only to Rome, which prompted stronger government action. Because of the government’s persecution, they fear, hate, and avoid the government and are unwilling to have any dealings with it.

Thus, at the beginning, the definition of the above-ground church and the underground church was simply this: the church that obeyed Rome and rejected the leadership of the government was the underground church, and the church that obeyed the government and rejected the leadership of Rome was the above-ground church. However, decades later, the situation has changed: some Patriotic Association clergy were in private contact with Rome and obtained Rome’s recognition. In recent years, Pope Francis has recognized all officially ordained bishops in China, making them legally recognized bishops by the Church.

Under these circumstances, the boundaries between above-ground and underground are less clear. The Patriotic churches in some places are very loyal to Rome. For example, one elderly bishop in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province in northeast China, also serves as the chairman of the Patriotic Association. According to people familiar with the matter, he took this position to prevent the government from controlling the church. Some local churches, although they have not joined the Patriotic Association, are privately close to the government and have good relations. To some extent, they are more inclined to obey the government. In short, it is currently not possible to analyze the Catholic Church in China simply in terms of above-ground and underground churches, because some above-ground churches are very loyal to Rome, while some underground churches are very close to the government. However, for the convenience of description and to make it easier for others to understand, I have to use terms such as “above ground” and “underground” to discuss the three major challenges of the underground church.

Three Major Challenges to the Underground Church

1. The first challenge is high pressure from the government.

From the beginning, the underground church attracted more persecution because of its loyalty to Rome and its resistance to the government. However, the underground church has not succumbed to persecution. Instead, most of the churches in China are still so-called underground churches. The largest “underground” churches are in places such as: Zhengding, Baoding, Lanzhou, Fuzhou, Mindong, Xiwanzi, Xuanhua, Anguo and other places.

However, under strong pressure by the government in recent years, most underground priests have been forced to join the Patriotic Association and have been recognized by the Patriotic Association. The process for a priest to join the Patriotic Association is as follows: first he must go to a state-designated seminary to study for four months. This arrangement is mainly for political brainwashing. Then, he must celebrate Mass with a bishop trusted by the government as a sign of communion. Only after this can he obtain a nationally recognized priest’s certificate. If some underground clergy are unwilling to go through such a process, the government will take some coercive measures to force them to submit.

So far, only two zhengquan (正权, “of correct authority”) underground bishops have not joined the Patriotic Association: Bishop Jia Zhiguo of Zhengding and Bishop Shao Zhumin¹ of Wenzhou. Bishop Jia is already over 80 years old, but he is still confined to his home and is not allowed to go out without permission from the government. Bishop Shao is relatively free and can still exercise his episcopal powers. However, during major festivals, he is “invited” by the government to travel, preventing him from celebrating Mass. To sum up, we can see that the first challenge faced by the underground church is external pressure.

Faced with such challenges, my suggestion is that one should decide whether to join the Patriotic Association or not based on his personal situation. Pope Benedict XVI understood the pressure and persecution faced by Chinese priests and therefore did not punish those priests who joined the Patriotic Association, but only invited them to be true to their consciences. The implication is that there is no unified standard for the church to join or not to join the Patriotic Association, and it is decided by the conscience of the respective priests. Pope Francis further recognized those official bishops who had not been recognized by the church before, and also let everyone see that joining the Patriotic Association is not an abandonment of faith, but a compromise to protect and maintain faith.

2. The second challenge is the “betrayal” from the church.

After underground Bishop Guo Xijin of Mindong Diocese [Fujian province] voluntarily retired (in 2019 or 2020) [to comply with the Holy See’s request to allow a government-approved bishop to take over as bishop of the diocese], most of the underground believers were disgusted and even resented the priests who had joined the Patriotic Association. The faithful refused to receive sacraments from priests who joined the Patriotic Association, and only attended Mass from those priests who persisted and did not join the Patriotic Association. Therefore, the government continued to put pressure on the few underground priests who have not joined the Patriotic Association.  At the same time, the priests who join the Patriotic Association will also put pressure on the priests who have not joined, saying that if everyone joins the Patriotic Association, the faithful will no longer be divided and entangled.

However, the more important problem is that underground Catholics believe that the pope betrayed and abandoned them to please the government or for political considerations. In these years, they have been persecuted by the government in order to remain loyal to the Pope and loyal to the church. However, the Pope actively cooperates with the government to recognize those underground bishops who have been illegally ordained. What’s the point of their suffering and loyalty? What is the bottom line for the Pope and the Church? What did their persistence get for them in return? This emotional and moral betrayal has left believers confused, helpless, and angry, causing many believers to no longer attend church. For example, a village in Fuzhou originally had 10,000 church members, but now only 2,000 members still attend church. There are also some underground church clergy who, many years after Pope Francis came to power, still read the name of Pope Benedict XVI during Mass. Through these specific examples, what I want to express is the overall struggle of the underground church: Do we still need to be loyal to the Catholic Church, which is always ready to sacrifice the underground church?

Regarding the second challenge, I suggest that the apostolic representative or bishop stationed in Hong Kong needs to have regular communication with underground bishops and clergy to learn more about their demands and emotions, so that the decision-makers of the church can take more into account the emotions and interests of the underground church while remaining open to the Chinese government, then the true unity of the Chinese church will be smoother and the relationship between state and church will be more stable.

3. The cultivation of underground seminaries is relatively closed and backward.

Due to government raids, the underground seminaries often changed locations. Even if the church finds a place to serve as a seminary, under normal circumstances, seminarians are not allowed to come and go freely. Under the psychological pressure of fear and isolation over a long time, the seminarians are quite introverted, closed, and restrained, and do not dare to communicate with others. Moreover, in this environment, obedience and discretion among seminarians become particularly important. However, once these seminarians become priests, they are more likely to become dictatorial and demand that their subordinates or parishioners obey orders. At the same time, due to the constant changes of locations, the underground seminary’s academic resources and cultivation system are rather poor.

In addition, the clergy trained in underground seminaries are more resistant to the government and the Patriotic Church, and do not want them to have more contact or interaction. All in all, the teachers, resources, and the psychological and spiritual conditions of the seminarians in the underground seminaries are not as rich and stable as those in the above-ground seminaries. In this case, the seminarians are relatively conservative, closed, and obedient.

Regarding the third challenge, my suggestion is that those in underground churches who want to be priests can be sent abroad for training. If cultivated in an open and peaceful environment, the individual’s psychology will be more stable, he will be focused on knowledge, and he will be open in his dealings with others.

(Note: The underground church is quite resistant to sending its seminarians to official seminaries for training, fearing that their ideas will be assimilated by the government.)

Finally, let me briefly summarize the context of this article: I show first that it is difficult to simply divide the Catholic Church in China into above-ground and underground churches, because some above-ground churches are very loyal to Rome, but some underground churches secretly cooperate with Rome. The government is very close. However, for the sake of discussion, I have to use these words. Then I analyze three challenges of the underground church and put forward some personal suggestions in response to these challenges. Of course, the views put forward here are far from describing the entire current situation and many challenges of the underground church. However, I try to maintain an objective and impartial attitude to put forward my own limited views and observations. I hope that through such sharing, it will not only help people better understand the Chinese church, but also help those who are willing to lend a helping hand to the underground church in a better and more effective way. Of course, it would be great if it could provide some ideas for church decision-makers.

Editor’s note: This article was originally written in Chinese and translated by the ChinaSource team.

1. Editor’s note: Both Bishops, Jia Zhiguo and Shao Zhumin, have been detained by authorities multiple times. More information about them is available in the Political Prisoner Database of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China: Jia Zhiguo, record number 2004-05304, accessed July 5, 2024: https://www.ppdcecc.gov/ppd?id=result&number=2004-05304. Shao Zhumin, record number 2005-00232, accessed July 5, 2024, https://www.ppdcecc.gov/ppd?id=result&number=2005-00232. See also, e.g., “Bishop Shao of Wenzhou Arrested Again,” AsiaNews, March 1, 2024, accessed July 5, 2024, https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Bishop-Shao-of-Wenzhou-arrested-again-59866.html#google_vignette; “Msgr. Jia Zhiguo: The Church Must be Open to Everyone, Even Those Under the Age of 18,” AsiaNews, October 7, 2020, accessed July 5, 2024, https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Msgr.-Jia-Zhiguo:-The-Church-must-be-open-to-everyone,-even-those-under-the-age-of-18-50549.html.