Meanwhile, in China… Government wars against the Cross, Wreckovates

In my dining room, there is an image that came to me after I asked Our Lady for a picture of her to put in the spot where it hangs. I had no idea about Our Lady of Peking, her history of miraculous intercession in China, nor did I know that her devotions had been in China for centuries, spanning back before the trips of Matteo Ricci and others. Within a few days, I was offered an image of Our Lady that had been blessed by Cardinal Zen – researching the image, I was astounded. Briefly, during the Boxer rebellion, her image was in the favored Cathedral, Peitang, Peking — read to the bottom for a surprise, the name of this Church will blow your mind. There were Catholics set on protecting their Churches from destruction by either side of the rebellion. Some took refuge in her Church, and for three days they stayed before her and kept vigil with Mary as the soldiers outside were shooting and fighting. Eventually, after three days, the shooting stopped. After some time of silence, there was a knock at the door. The soldiers stormed into the Church, and upon seeing Mary, they stopped and exclaimed, “that’s her!”  They went on to explain that this image of Mary was the same woman they had been fighting for three days. They said she, “and her army” were around and on top of the Church for the entire time.

Today, in a more sanitized attack on Churches, but no less effective, zoning officials from the government have decided that the Cross ruins the skyline. Reports Asia News:

Located in different provinces, the places of worship stood on land slated for commercial development and were torn down on the same day. A third church had its cross removed. In the case of the church in Jinxi (Hunan), the priest tried to stop the demolition but was arrested. The priest of the Church of Our Lady in Jingdezhen (Jiangxi) was tricked into leaving before the bulldozers got to work. The watchman was abducted and released only after the church was levelled.

Beijing (AsiaNews) – In one single day, the authorities in three different Chinese provinces had two Catholic churches torn down and the cross in a third one removed.

Local clergy complain that demolition was carried out without the consent of the community or in violation of local bylaws.

This was done because the places of worship stood on land officials wanted for commercial development. In one case, a priest who tried to block a demolition was handcuffed and led away by police.

[…]
The campaign started after Xia Baolong, Zhejiang party secretary, made an inspection earlier this year in Baiquan and noticed a church whose cross was “too obviously” visible, offensively so.

Seeing a forest of crosses distorting the skyline in other cities, he gave the order to “rectify” the situation. Since then, the Communist Party has been tearing down crosses, statues and churches.

via CHINA Chinese authorities tear down two Catholic churches – Asia News.

There was some awareness by the local Catholics that the government wanted to do this — earlier this year, the officials announced that more churches would be destroyed. The local Catholics have been faced with this news, they decided to act to save their parishes, but the government ultimately threatened them.

A full list of at least 60 churches destroyed is available on Asia news as well. The scenes remind me of the pictures from Damascus, Syria two years ago. It looks like some of them were bombed.

The Rest of the Story

I said above that I’d have a surprise for you. The name of the Church where the miraculous image of Mary was located is Church of Our Saviour. Yes, the same name as the Church of Our Saviour parish in New York that I’ve mentioned here lately and here. It is one thing to have your own diocese, nay, your own pastor destroying your parish church, but things are a little different in China. Being Catholic there is a fight from the outside. Here, in the land of AmChurch, our worst enemy appears to be ourselves.

Pray for China, pray for us. May God have mercy on us! Mary, Empress of China, pray for us!

This article, Meanwhile, in China… Government wars against the Cross, Wreckovates is a post from The Bellarmine Forum.
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