Participants speak during the July 28-30 meeting on Catholic seminary textbook compilation team with leaders of state-run church in Pingliang city in eastern China. (Photo: Chinese Catholic Bishops’ Conference website)
Aug 9 2023
Leaders of China’s state-run church say seminary formation, including textbooks used in seminaries, should be aligned with the government’s sinicization policy.
Their concerns were expressed at the latest meeting of the Working Group on the progress of the compilation of “unified teaching materials” in Catholic seminaries in Pingliang city in Gansu province in eastern China.
The meeting was arranged by the Seminary Department of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA) and Chinese Catholic Bishops’ Conference (BCCCC), says a report on the bishops’ conference website dated Aug. 7.
The participants of the July 28-30 meeting included Bishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing, chairman of the CCPA, Bishop Joseph Guo Jincai of Chengde, vice-chairman of the BCCCC, Bishop Li Hui, deputy secretary-general of the BCCCC and head of the Seminary Department.
Members of the four teams assigned for the compilation of seminary textbooks attended the meeting.
Bishop Guo presided over the meeting and urged all to adhere to the spirit of state policy of the sinicization of religion in seminary formation.
Guo was ordained without the Vatican‘s approval in 2010 by the state-sanctioned church and incurred the Church’s excommunication.
Pope Francis recognized him and approved him as the bishop of the Diocese of Chengde in 2018 after the Sino-Vatican Agreement was signed, media reports say.
In 2021, Guo ordained three priests in a diocese not recognized by the Vatican, a move that allegedly violated the China-Vatican deal.
During the meeting, Guo said that “each seminary should adhere to the direction of the Sinicization of Catholicism in my country.”
He urged to improve the curriculum system and strengthen the teaching of “special topics” besides asking to promote the newly compiled unified teaching materials.
“To cultivate well-rounded talents who are proficient in classic teachings and traditional Chinese culture, the members of the academic team must be serious and accurate in compiling textbooks and content,” Guo said.
Bishop Li backed the new unified teaching materials and thanked state-run bodies — the United Front Work Department of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Gansu Province and the Provincial Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee — for helping “the smooth holding of the meeting.”
Li said over the past four decades, the church has received “the care and support of governments at all levels” that enabled seminaries to train a large number of the clergy across the country.
Catholic faith in China has “a solid foundation” thanks to the hard work of the older generation of priests and the efforts of the new generation of seminary educators.
The church needs to move to “a new era of development” with “pastoral evangelization.”
Li pointed out that members of the seminary textbook compilation team have made important contributions despite facing “many difficulties.”
The four groups of the compilation team reported to the church leaders on the progress of their work.
The move to ‘sinicize’ seminary curriculum is seen as the latest attempt by pro-Beijing church in China to tow the CCP’s politically motivated policies and regulations that rights groups term “repressive.”
The Lausanne Movement defines the sinicization of religion as “the indigenization of religious faith, practice and ritual in Chinese culture and society.”
However, the sinicization promoted by the CCP aims to impose strict rules based on the core values of socialism, autonomy, and supporting the leadership of the CCP, its critics say. – UCA News
