The
Social Function of the Catholic Faith and Education
A Review on the Contribution
of the Catholic Church in Shanghai to Social Morality and the Harmonious
Society
by Prof. Doct. Zhang,
Quingxiong (Fudan University, Shanghai)
in collaboration with the Professors
Xie Hua, Cai Yi-lun,
Zhou Yong, Xia Hui, Zhang Zhan
School of Philosophy
(Fudan University)
Abstract
In order to have a full view of how the Catholic
Church plays her role in our society today and learn some experiences, we
visited the many offices, churches, the Sheshan Seminary of the Catholic
Diocese of Shanghai and interviewed some people to collect basic information on
faith and education of the Church in Shanghai; We also invited some laypeople
to share their experience; With the permission of the relevant authority of the
diocese, we got some materials to take them as the information on which we do
theoretical analysis. The offices and churches we visited are: Sheshan Seminary
of Shanghai Diocese, Guangqi Catholic Studies Centre, St. Ignatius’ Cathedral,
St. Peter’s Church in Luwan district, Our Lady of Victory Church in Zhabei
District,
Combined with theory and
cases, this review report tries to find how the Catholic Church guides the
faith on moral issues; how Catholic faith transfers the individual’s life; the
faithful’s behaviour in daily life, especially their roles in decreasing
conflicts and keeping the harmonious public relations; the concerns of Catholic
communities and their contributions to establish a harmonious society.
1. Harmonious society: both a religious and a political idea
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be
called children of God. (Mt 5:9)
Genesis 1-2 depicts a beautiful picture in which God and man, man
and man, man and nature are in harmony. In Catholic faith, this original state
was destroyed by human’s selfishness and pride, from which a variety of natural
and ethic evils are originated. God, however, with the mystery of Cross
conquers evils, renews this world and makes reconciliation through the
suffering and resurrection of Jesus Christ, His only Son. Although this
reconciliation has not been reached universally in this world, it is God’s
eternal promise to His people, their hope as well as Church’s cause. Isaiah
waited with confidence a new
On this practical level, the direction of religions and secular world is unanimous. As President Hu Jingtao pointed out, social harmony rests in “democracy, law, equality, justice, honest, fraternity, full of energy, peace, an ordered and harmonious relation between man and nature”[1]. Besides, to realize social harmony and construct a nice society are a dream pursued by human being in all stages of history.
In the Regulations
on Religious Affairs, promulgated in March 2005, the government put keeping
harmony of religions and society on the same level. It not only aims to
regulate religious activities, also promote the contribution of every religion
to the harmonious society. As a religion with a great population and one of the
five registered religions in
Therefore, to have a full view of how the Catholic
Church plays her role in our society today and learn some experiences, we visited
the many offices, churches, the Sheshan Seminary of the Catholic Diocese of
Shanghai and interviewed some people to collect basic information on faith and
education of the Church in Shanghai; We also invited some laypeople to share
their experience; With the permission of the relevant authority of the diocese,
we got some materials to take them as the information on which we do
theoretical analysis. The offices and churches we visited are: Sheshan Seminary
of Shanghai Diocese, Guangqi Catholic Studies Centre, St. Ignatius’ Cathedral,
St. Peter’s Church in Luwan district, Our Lady of Victory Church in Zhabei
District,
Combined with theory and
cases, this review report tries to find how the Catholic Church guides the
faith on moral issues; how Catholic faith transfers the individual’s life; the
faithful’s behaviour in daily life, especially their roles in decreasing
conflicts and keeping the harmonious public relations; the concerns of Catholic
communities and their contributions to establish a harmonious society.
2. The structure of the Catholic Church and her teachings
2.1 Seminary and the formation of priests
The Catholic Church holds the belief that she received the
commandment from Christ, was established by the apostles, ought to teach her
faithful and has a universal communion within the Holy Spirit. No matter in
which
Seated at the foot of
The aim of the seminary is to form priests with the common characteristic: “loving the country and Church, as well as commitment to dedicating themselves to evangelization with a wholesome character and sufficient theological background”.[3] According to the Canon Law: the philosophical and theological studies “are to encompass at least six full years in such a way that the time dedicated to philosophical disciplines equals two full years and to theological studies four full years.”(CIC 250) The philosophical studies include ancient Greek philosophy, medieval philosophy, from modern to contemporary western philosophy and Chinese philosophy etc. All these disciplines are set for seminarians to “hold grounded and harmonious knowledge of human beings, cosmos and God”, and prepare themselves “to be able to communicate with others.” [4]After finishing philosophical studies, seminarians are sent to their own dioceses to serve for local churches for one year, which is one part of “practice”. During this period, seminarians have opportunity to combine their pastoral experiences with the knowledge they have learned, confirming and purifying their vocations. Besides, they bring back the development of the society to the seminary and enable the seminary to respond to the spiritual needs of the society. One year later, seminarians come back to the seminary for the theological studies in the following four years. The subjects during this period include Biblical studies, liturgy, theology of sacraments, dogmatic theology, moral theology, Church history, spirituality, Canon Law and pastoral theology etc. with a view to “make it the food of their own spiritual lives, and be enabled to proclaim, explain, and protect it in their priestly ministry.”(OT 16) In these six years, spiritual trainings and guides are the integrated parts of the formation to make seminarians imitate Christ, acquire virtues and realize the ultimate aim of the formation.
Different from the secular universities that are presumed to treat subjects as knowledge, the courses of seminary, whether they are philosophical, theological, ethical, or humanities, are ultimately designed for pastoral work. The most important points of pastoral work are to a) preach and teach basic Catholic faith; b) teach the faithful how to live out a virtual life in this world. Compared to Protestant churches, Catholic Church emphasizes the importance of man’s free decision more on moral issue. “The moral virtues are acquired by human effort. They are the fruit and seed of morally good acts; they dispose all the powers of the human being for communion with divine love.”(CCC 1804) So in the courses of the seminary the lectures concerning moral theology were given an appropriate percentage. It includes basic moral theology, matrimony ethics, social ethics, sacraments ethics, and medical ethics etc. These courses are spread in every term. Except studying for the compulsory credits and final paper, seminarians could not graduate unless passing the examination on moral theology.
We could find that the courses on moral theology play a special role in the seminary’s education. Morality and doctrine, however, are not separate elements, but united with faith. Faith, as the root of morality, informs morality with deep meaning. The practice of morality is showed in real context and is living faith. Fr. Jean Tian Yuanxiang, a lecturer of dogmatic theology at Sheshan Seminary said, “Doctrines should serve faith and should be expressed through spirituality and practice. What we teach are not simply the doctrines we should follow, but is to pilot people to know how to establish the relation between themselves and God. It is this relation that decides people’s daily life.” From Catholic’s perspective, human’s moral performance needs a deep base which is man’s relation with God, man’s response to God and the interaction with God. We will discuss this in detail and see that this relation might be expressed through various intentions of the faithful, such as the expectance of eternal life, the fear of punishment, loving God and following Jesus etc. If this base disappears, morality will be isolated and become external laws for the lack of inner connection. The result of this is the lack of the possibility of morality. In our contemporary world, the root of immoral behaviors and conflicts is not in that people do not know what morality is, but in no force to compel people to practice. With the temptation of utilitarian motivates and desire, the necessity of morality loses.
What Church wants to discover is deep moral dimension in faith and combine them as an inner part of human’s life, and then promotes moral life. In Christian tradition there exists the unification of faith and morality. In Old Testament, no matter ethnic norms, worship activities or secular laws, they are validated by God’s commandments. Infringing the law is equal to opposing to God. Be faithful to obligations, no matter how small they are, the religious meaning will include in it. This trend in Christianity makes moral obligation non-replaceable by any magic faith.[5] Jesus severely criticizes this idea: Any support to parents might have had from their son is dedicated to God and then the son will not have any moral duty to his parents. (Mt. 15:4-6). We think the reason Jesus speaks out these words is the same. Furthermore, the authors of New Testament see the new life in Christ of the faithful as the fundamental root of morality. “Action sequences being” indicates that the renewed life by the Holy Spirit and tasting the love of God become the root of moral life.[6] On this point, Fr. Jean Tian said, “The first requirement for a man to understand what is love and then to love are to feel being loved. In the relationship with others, there is no assurance that a person will be loved, but only in the relation with God we can feel His eternal love to people. The formation of our faith is to learn how to open ourselves to God, to experience His love and establish the personal relation with God through which we try to transform ourselves. Nourished by this experience, we will be able to face others independently and to fulfill God’s commandment to love in the real world.”
To learn how to love and
actively pass love to the faithful, seminarians need more practice and
spiritual exercise. Besides the monthly retreat, the first two weeks of the
term is a period to do spiritual exercise which is called “spiritual
fortnight”. In these two weeks, seminarians must keep silence to intensify
their prayers, reflection and meditation. At the same time, they are asked to
do some physical work to keep the balance between spiritual and physical work.
Whether in the time of studying or practice, seminarians must have a life
suitable to their identity. Their daily program includes getting up early in
the morning immediately followed by the thirty-minute reflection and Mass at
2.2 Pastoral work of the
priests
The main task of a priest is to celebrate the sacraments. The sacred liturgy not only keeps coherence of Church, also shapes the religious life of the faithful. From the perspective of the Church, they are also the best chance to give the faithful Church’s teachings. “Catechesis is intrinsically linked with the whole of liturgical and sacramental activity” (CCC 1074). In the New Testament the word "liturgy" refers not only to the celebration of divine worship but also to the proclamation of the Gospel and to active charity (CCC 1070). In all of these situations it is a question of the service of God and neighbor. Through the liturgy the doctrine of the Church sends seeds in Catholic’s hearts.
The most important and celebrated sacrament in Catholic Church is Mass. In Mass priests teach doctrine to the faithful. It is an obligation for every Catholic to attend Sunday Mass, so priests could use this opportunity to teach them the core of Catholic faith. For the faithful, listening to the homily in the sacred and solemn atmosphere of the Holy Mass, it’s easy to receive these teachings with awe. Because of the different understanding ability, the homily does not emphasis on theology but pay more attention to the teachings meaningful to daily life. As epistle says, to conclude some practical and multi-form law and emphasis the direct moral direction within the frame of faith, such as compliance with law, tolerance, selfishness, taking Christ as example and pursue perfect in faith:
“The Bible asks people to keep all rules which are the rules of life. There are rules to be a human and a harmonious family has its own rule. The social progress and peace in world all have their own long-standing golden rules. These rules are set by God in His creation. Whoever complies with these rules, he will get happiness, a healthy life and growing. Otherwise, decay and death will come for these are the natural rules which are inner human’s life. …Laws have their own aims. If we could not comply with them, let’s reflect, whether it is originated from our selfishness, laziness and not willing to sacrifice?” (Fr. Ma Daqing)
“Perhaps in our faith life we should pause to reflect these issues: why we believe in God? Why we preach forgiveness but not forgive others at the same time? Why we set a high requirement for others but not ourselves? Why we like to hear praise not criticism? Why we always disdain other but praise ourselves? Thinking about these, we find how concupiscence plays in us. So I immediately repent for Christ’s forgiveness and ask for him to cure me and make me a heart of true Christian. (Fr. He Wei)
This kind of pastoral work is practical and relevant. It does not leave the task of discerning goodness and evil to the faithful themselves.[7] But a priest’s preaching does not cover all dimension of life and neither could it give every concrete norm to the faithful. So it is necessary to give the faithful a principle and live out it in daily life. This principle is Jesus responds to those scribes who want to tempt him: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mt 22:34-40) What Church preaches and laws she made should be understood in the context of these words, anticipating the actively response from the faithful who can make their lives as the instrument of God’s love.
“When we are willing to render ourselves, people around us will experience the miracle of love. God gives life, power, time, talent and money to man. All these are not for man himself or his family, but for all those in needs. Today Jesus is continuing to make the miracle of five bread and two fish, which invites us to live out His love and grace. He is in no moment not wait for us to give our five bread and two fish, and the miracle will take place. What we should ask God should be ‘what is I desire to increase?’”(Fr. Joseph Jin Lei)
Except public preaching, priests impose Church’s authority through the sacrament of confession. The sin on the spiritual and life levels are seen as the illness and trauma of soul which need to be confessed before a priest and do some forms of satisfaction which bring back God’s forgiveness and peace, reconciling with Church. Therefore, this sacrament is also a channel for priests to know the faithful more and give them more direct guides. Canon Law says the priest listens confession must keep it secret. The content of confession is covered by “the seal of the sacrament”. All these make the faithful reflect their sins more honestly and without hesitation. After confessions, the faithful always put down their worries and face the life optimistically. However, it does not a way to cheat one self or others, because the repentant must do satisfaction for the sins he committed, such as “return belongings stolen, restore the reputation of someone slandered, pay compensation for injuries” (CCC 1459)
As another sacrament, the
sacrament of marriage is also got more attention of Church. “The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and
a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by
its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and
education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised
by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament.”(CCC 1601) Catholic
Church insists: a) The chastity and sacredness of matrimony i.e. condemn any
sexual relation beyond the legal marriage; b) the indissolubility of the
marriage, i.e. no divorce (except some extreme cases mentioned in the Canon
Law). “What God has joined together, no
human being must separate” (Mt 19:6); c) The matrimony involves the
responsibility of “Be fertile and
multiply” (Gn
“Since entered the university, I have made many boyfriends just for funs. I made boyfriends and end the relations so randomly that never thought it will be a moral issue. After my conversion, I changed thoroughly and knew what is God likes us to do. From this view, I realize how far I walked in a wrong way before my conversion. It is clear for me now: the aim of making a boyfriend is marriage not just for funs. It’s so meaningless to take this just for funs. When my classmates or roommates are not happy with their boyfriends or want to end the relations with their boyfriends without careful discernment, I will advise them to see their relations with more love and forgiveness, because love and marriage should be seen serious.”
However, this view on matrimony has a tension with the counterpart in secular world. The family is the base of the society. In our world today, sex freedom, divorce, the problems brought by single parent family, family violence, quarrels between members of a family, no responsibility to the next generations etc., exist everywhere. All these make conflicts in family to be one main factor in social conflicts and potentially bring about more social problems. How to keep the faithful out of these problems? The Church has done her best. First, priests have big responsibility to the marriages of the faithful. According to the Canon Law, besides preaching the doctrines on marriage to the couples, a priest must give some guidance before marriage; explain clearly the meaning and obligations of Christian marriage to avoid the possible family problems. All these should be done before the sacrament of marriage.
Besides, Church takes care of the married couple through various
ways in order to strengthen the coherence of the family and create a harmonious
family atmosphere. Since 2000, the Catholic Diocese of Shanghai holds
several-days lasting Communion between Couples every year. Fr. Joseph Lu
Yuchun, an experienced priest, and several elder Catholic couples led this kind
of communion. All are welcome to participate in these events. Some Catholics
from other cities also came to these events. Each time, the communion will
focus on one issue, such as knowing yourself, matrimony in contemporary world,
open talk, the marriages in God’s plan, etc. The aim of the communion is to
pilot couples to commune positively, reflect their matrimonial lives and
recognize the contribution of each other. Many laypeople shared their
experience. Mr. Xu said, “Honestly, I did not put my wife on the first place.
During this three-day communion, however, I realize how important my wife for
me! I will recommend my parents, brother and sister-in-law to come. How nice it
is!” His wife, Ms. Shen, said, “It has been six years since we married, but we
did not write a real love letter. Before our marriage, he wrote a letter which
is to set some rules on our relation. This time I find the sweetness of writing
love letter. It was easy to loose my temperament before and did not know how to
express my feelings or tried to tell him my feelings. I will change myself and
communicate with him. Besides, I will pay more attention to my feelings and try
to share with him.”[8]
Moreover, the marriage
between a Catholic and a non-Catholic is not absolutely forbidden anymore after
the Vatican Council II. However, Church emphasizes that such marriage deserves
more prudence. Couples should be conscious of the possible difficulties brought
by the divergence of the faith and try to conquer them. The faithful in such a
marriage must know he or she is endowed with greater responsibility. Divorce is
forbidden unless it is insisted by the non-Catholic. In
“Once I was sent to another city on business and must set out at once. My husband got very discontent with my sudden departure and left home angrily. I felt sad and discouraged. After all, my work is for our family, but he did not understand! After arrived in another city, I was so busy that I often missed my husband’s calls. He complained a lot and we began to criticize each other, our conversations always ended with quarrel. He became very cold to me and I was very upset. Later through some friends I got to know that if my work disturbs my family, I’d better change my job. Since I am a Christian, I must learn how to sacrifice and to love. My husband is the first ‘neighbor’ I should love! I resigned from my job and return home. I decided to forget all the unhappiness in the past and begin a new life. I changed my attitude, humbled myself and tried to look at problems from my husband’s point of view. I do not make arbitrary decisions anymore but always ask for my husband’s advice. Gradually he felt my change and opened his heart to me once more. Now the happiness and peace spread in our family as before!”
Another important dimension of pastoral work is to care for the lives of the parishioners and give them material and spiritual support as much as possible. A female Catholic in her 30s, who called herself “salvation of love”, said that after her baby was born, she became serious ill due to overwork and psychological pressure. She was nearly delirious and cried nonsense all day. For the worse, she often beat herself in unconsciousness. Doctors had no way to cure her. Her family resorted to Buddhist monks, but they could give no help. Her family members began to criticize each other. At last, her old grandmother, who is a Catholic, asked a Catholic priest of her village to come home. After learned what happened with her, the priest tried to calm her down and make conversation with her patiently and kindly. She felt better. From then on, every few days the priest came to visit her, sometimes with several kind believers, praying for her and blessing her. They also comforted her family with hortative words, asking them to keep faith and hope for God’s power and love. Now she has totally recovered and become a keen Catholic, knowing her life full of hope and God’s salvation.
2.3 Lives in the Church: the spiritual family
of the faithful
The foundation of the melioration of the faithful’s lives and their relationship with others is their inner conversion and spiritual transformation caused by the pastoral efforts of church ministers. When a believer realizes that he is deeply loved by a holiest and kindest heavenly Father, he will be filled with happiness and desire to know God, so that his attitude to life turns to more active and positive. Mr. Shen said:
“…I was totally convinced. God’s power is so great that I cannot reject Him. Then I felt in heart a desire to contact God; I wanted a Bible. As I wanted, I bought a book of Gospel and a Prayer Book. From the books I learned that God, the Creator of all things in heaven and earth, so love us that He is willing to sacrifice His life for us. Later I bought a Bible and began to read it constantly. My education is low and many words in Bible I could not read. I asked some priests for help and they taught me patiently. Till now I have almost known all the words in Bible. The more I read, the more I want to read. I wore glasses of 400 degrees before, but since the last year I can read book clearly without the glasses. It is God’s special love; it’s His grace for nothing. Now I read one chapter of Bible every day, I meet God in His words and lie in His arms of Love. How happy I am!” [9]
Naturally the peace and joy of the individual faithful exert a positive influence on his or her social works and interpersonal relationship, make him or her treat others with kindness and forgiveness and facilitate a friendly and harmonious common life. This issue we shall discuss in detail later in this report.
Relying on the love of God not only gives the faithful a feeling of happiness, but also lets one find and admit himself in God. Faith endows man with another philosophy of life different from the secular outlook so that he can conquer fails and suffers, get out of depression and perplexity, and return to life again. As Ms. Wang Suli said,
“My past life doesn’t bear thinking about. I felt very
mixed-up about life and did not know where I was from and to where I should go.
I wanted success and made efforts, but all things seemed against my will.
Failed in the college entrance examination, the rest of my life seemed only to
be a useless struggle in a small and poor village, as a common country woman.
Since my dream had been shattered, I muddle along from day to day, complaining
God and people…until a sudden occasion has changed my whole life. Last summer
our parish held a catechism class, and I was happened to be chosen to attend
it. …I used to have a mean opinion of myself and dared not to communicate with
others. But to my surprise, this time I became active and enthusiastic, and
acted out of my normal behaviour. I was even elected the exemplar of study! We
studied and prayed together, confessed and cried for our sins together. What
moved me most was that we got along with each other so harmoniously… I have a
sense of success and pride which I had never had before. This is God’s holy
will, I realize. He loves all the people and never gives up any single lost
soul like me. Thanks to His calling, I am a chief member of our parish’s
evangelic group now and often participate in various kinds of activities…”[10]
One of the most important points in the testimonies above is that it is in the community of church that the faithful intensively feel God’s love and will, and rediscovers his or her value and life-goals that deserve to be pursued. Comparing with the intangible doctrines, the tangible church community is an embodiment of the solidarity, harmony and mutual solicitude in faith, so that its members can be easily warmed and cheered. Catholic Church has always attached importance to cultivate the sense of community of the faithful. This community is not held together by similar inclination or social status of its members, but bases on its secure spiritual foundation. Baptized by “water and spirit” (Jn 3:3-5), the faithful are born in the heavenly family and become children of God, brothers and sisters of each other. Now each one of the faithful is part of the church, which is the “body of Christ”, the Holy Spirit are flowing and communicating like blood among them, so that “the unity of all her members with each other as a result of their union with Christ” (CCC 789). This unity excites love in the faithful: “If [one] part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.” (1 Co 12:26).
Therefore, Church emphasizes
the significance of fellowship life and tries to organize various kinds of
group activities so as to establish the fellowship and sense of participation
of the faithful. The first and the most important is the Sunday Mass which all
the faithful have the obligation to attend. In this periodical assemblage, the
faithful get out of the business and pressures of their routines and join
together in the solemn liturgy. Special words in the Mass, such as “Our Father”
and “Brothers and sisters”, and certain actions, such as kneeling, handshake,
and bowing to each other, are all reconstructing a sense of classical order
which has disappeared in the modern life. Many believers in our interviews have
described their feelings of peace, joy and friendship through the liturgy of
the
After Sunday Mass, Church often organizes the faithful for some group activities since many of them are willing to stay in the Church a little longer to meet old fellows or make new friends. Such activities have nothing to do with secular profits and offer opportunities for modern people to relax themselves, since they are always tired of dealing with money and other worldly things. Fr. Jean Tian has mentioned a couple in Zhabei. After the wife became a Catholic, she often asked her husband to go to church with her. Initially the husband, who is a truck driver, was not interested in but even had a little antipathy to the Church, but after he took part in the activities of the church for several weeks, his attitude was totally changed. He became very active in the church chorus, keen to learn the doctrines, and enjoys playing cards with other believers rather than gambling with his colleagues as before. His colleagues could not understand him and ask, “For what fun you play cards not for money?” But he answered that there is no intrigue or secular rivalry in the fellowship of the Catholics, so that he can enjoy and relax himself in such activities.
In
3. The faithful in the society: ‘salt’ and ‘light’
However, the faith not only brings to the faithful private happiness and satisfaction but also demands them to practice and share what they have received from God, so as to glorify and witness to God and serve others as good examples as well. “Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”(Mt 5:15-16). Truly not all the faithful can be the illuminating light or the antiseptic salt, but as this command of Lord has been emphasized in the sermons, lectures and testimonies again and again, it has gradually become their norm of action and goal to chase. We are trying to demonstrate how the moral lives of the faithful come from faith and unite in it, with regard to both the theory and the practice. Faith remolds man’s thought and spirit, gearing them to the social morality, which can be the impetus of the forming of a harmony and friendly social relationship.
3.1 The main motives of the
faithful’s moral life
Just as the law and punishment
works as an important threatening force in the society, God’s judgment is what
cannot be ignored in Jesus’ teachings. Jesus never uses profound theory to
puzzle his listeners. He emphasizes human’s suffering, appetite and their
desire for God, depicts a living picture of the final judgment, and takes love
as the key criterion in it[11]: The Son of Man will give eternal life or eternal
punishment in the light of every person’s deeds, the one who does not love
others will not be kindly treated by God (Mt 25:31-46), and who does not have
mercy on others will never receive mercy from God (Mt 18:35). Before the
omniscient God, man cannot escape his punishment as he does before the human
laws. Therefore whatever the faithful do should “do from the heart, as for the Lord and not for others” (
“My
daughter’s aunt is going to go swimming with her. They agreed to meet at the
gate at
Besides the eschatological dimension, the belief that God rewards the good and punishes the wicked on everything directs the faithful to understand their own daily life. Catholic Church believes that human’s living and suffering are not accidental, but contains holy purpose and meaning. Living in the faith is to unify all the trifles and the accidental experiences to the lead of God. For example, to see God’s blessing when everything goes well, so as to live optimistically and with gratitude, and to notice God’s warning and punishment, when troubles occur, so as to reflect on what we’ve done and to repent. A Catholic has talked about her experience:
“After
my husband’s death, I was caught by Satan that I fell in love with a man who
had a wife. I couldn’t listen to any persuasion, even my friends’ or the
Father’s, but insisted on marrying him. On the Spring Festival of 2005, I went
with him to send a batch of goods to Xichuan. At
However, the mere motive to gain reward and to escape punishment contains, even out of the eschatological expectation, the tendency to become a kind of self-benefit motive, or to make the stimulated moral behavior to be a passive constraint. Jesus rejects the idea of counting the reward for good deeds and the punishment for the evil in the light of the self-interests, and commanding God on the judgment at the end of the world. Though the reward and punishment is related to the good deeds, God’s criterion of judgment is not bound by the general recognized principle of justice. He penetrates everyone’s inner hearts. In the light of the faith, the ideal moral deed originates from love and the desire for God. Only then can men’s moral deeds be the free and happy response to God, and remain consistent in every situation.
What is the behavior that is out of the love for God can be called the correct response to the demand of faith? This is defined by the person Jesus rather than the law and the other principles.[13] Man does not know how to transform their desire for God and their submission to God’s will into the rules of their daily behavior. However, in Jesus, the believers find the perfect model for their spiritual live. He has resisted the temptation of matter, power, and wealth (Lk 4:1-13), He came to the forsaken (Lk 5:17-32), feared not to break the religious taboo in order to heal the patient (Lk 6:6-10), He took care of the children (Lk 18:1-17), opposed violence ( Mt 26:52), forgave the woman who according to the Jewish law ought to be stoned (Jn 8:1-11), He was willing to be as humble as to wash his disciples feet (Jn 13:1-20), and even in His torment He forgave those who persecuted Him (Lk 23:34). The believers compare their encounters in life with His. By following His words and deeds, they share His spirit and His love. As a believer said, “It is Jesus who has deeply influenced my whole life.”
Through imitating Jesus, the faithful can gradually become the
model for others and exert positive influence on them. The life struggles of
the many saints in the Catholic tradition act as an encouraging force for the
faithful and make the moral life more concrete and easy to follow. Not a few
believers mentioned that to a great extent their baptism is promoted by the
good examples in the church. A young girl who serves as a lector of St.
Ignatius’ Cathedral said, “When my friend was in hospital, I went to see her.
In the sickroom, I saw two old women who had cancer. One of them did not
believe in God, and the other believed. The doctor said that their illnesses
were alike, that they both suffered a lot. But the old lady who believed in
God, unlike the other who was in desperation and easy to get angry, was always
happy and peaceful. Instead of being desperate, she often comforted her family
and other patients. Soon the two ladies both passed away. The unbeliever went
with agony. Her expression was twisted. The believer went with peace and a
smile on her face. The last word she left was, ‘I see two angels come to take
me.’ From that time, I’ve decided to believe in God, which can give strength to
overcome so terrible pain, and can bring peace to others at the difficult
times.”
3.2
Practice of the moral lives
Jesus once taught his disciples, by the parable of the Good
Samaritan, that “you shall love…your
neighbor as yourself” (Lk
Neighbors are one’s family, friends and colleagues that he or she gets along with everyday. Su, a young Catholic of Christ King Church said:
“The manager of my department is very severe. No one can bear her and I didn’t like to talk to her actively. However, these days I’ve worked an extra shift with her. When I looked at her, it came to my mind that I should be the first the love her. However, her coldness hindered me from taking the first step. And perhaps, to be warm to her suddenly will make her uneasy, I think. So I’ve decided to express love to her in an indirect way. When she needs to fax, I’ll do it for her; when she needs to print, I’ll prepare the paper for her; when she’s tired in the afternoon, I’ll share my fruits with her to help her to refresh… By and by, I’ve also found many of her merits. And in turn, she becomes much more kindly to us. She’s even taught me all her working experience without preservation. God has given happiness to every one of us, but unless one is willing to love first, this happiness cannot be found.”
Neighbors are also those who one encounters by chance, as Mr. L.P. said:
“Several months ago, a
friend who I only met once contacted me, said he would come to
3.3
Forgiveness and harmony
The Catholic faith holds that the conflicts in human society come mainly from various kinds of evils which are inspired by the concupiscence of human being. The root of evil lies in the original sin which is first made by man’s arrogance and distrust of God, and then is passed on from generation to generation. “The whole of human history is marked by the original fault freely committed by our first parents” (CCC 390). Therefore every person should be alert to this situation, reflect on the trespasses he has made and might make, keep in modesty, and never be arrogance. In the social sense, the conflicts among people often come from man’s conceit, self-centeredness and the neglect of other’s needs. Christianity regards humbleness as one of the most important moral good, for it makes the faithful to restrain from self-centered, and to think in other’s way. In the ordinary human relationship, once the conflict occurs, both parts will be in the corner, for no one want to give up his own interest and compromise first. Because of this, in many cases, little clash will become bigger and bigger, and finally results in a tragedy. Only by the just judgment can not solve the problem. One thing is the situation is usually highly complicated that there’s always a chain of errors that cause one another, because of which no one can tell whose responsibility it is. The other thing is even when the two parts stop quarreling, if they don’t solve the problem thoroughly, they will still be uneasy at bottom, which will probably be the seed of the coming conflict. Hence, the peaceful new life can be accomplished only when this part or that would compromise first, not minding to be hurt, but to stop the process of error causing.
Miss D.Y., a young Catholic of Christ King Church, said, “My company has changed its workers recently. The least beloved boss became my superior. He always reproaches me with no reason. I can hardly understand him. However, what is in the Holy Bible – treat each other with love, kindness, and mercy, just as God has forgiven you in Christ – warns me that I should forgive him and accept him. No matter how rude he is, he is my brother any way. So, I’ve often prayed for him, treated him with kindness. Gradually I’ve become more peaceful, paying no more attention to the injustice with which he’s treated me. While at the same time he’s become more kindly, and even asks me about my belief. Because of this holy word, I find peace between me and him.”
The faithful do so because
the innocent Christ is willing to forgive, first of all, those who have
trespassed against Him through His self-sacrifice. He not only give ‘forgiveness of sins’ (Ro
3.4
“Christ on others”
The purpose of forgiveness is to let those who have been forgiven feel love. Only by this can we be kindly to each other from the bottom of our hearts, and share the friendly and peaceful life. The reason why it’s so hard to love others is that one always find that others are not lovable – this always means that they are not kindly, lack the characters he appreciates, and full of backwards, errors and coldness. If we always consider our own interest, the love of others and forgiveness of their sin will become a negative order. Lacking the inner motive, it is impossible to love those who are not lovable, and to forgive their defenses. Therefore Catholic Church emphasizes, on the one hand, that God loves everyone out of his grace and kindliness, not because of men’s loveliness; on the other hand, since men love God, it’s natural for them to love the image of God in the world – man. Though the image is stained and destroyed by man’s sin, “Jesus knew and loved us each and all during his life, his agony and his Passion, and gave himself up for each one of us” (CCC 478). He is present in everyone mysteriously, calling us to recognize him on them – especially those humblest – and to love him through loving them, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me. …what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.” (Mt 25:40; 45)
Veri, a Catholic of Christ King Church, said: “Everyday I must go a long way – through the pedestrian bridge, then to the bus station – to go to work and come back. One afternoon, when I was on the bridge, I saw an invalid man, with a several-month-old baby beside him, sleeping there. His clothes and quilt are so thin. It was midwinter and I knew that they are very cold, and need warmth. At that time, I remember what Jesus said: what you do for the least of the brothers is what you do for me. So I went to fetch some cotton quilt from home. On the way, I also pray for them quietly: God, please help them! When I took the cotton quilt to the bridge, I saw something new there – cotton quilt! I was deeply moved: Thank God to take care of them. He really knows what we need. He’s really heard what I said! We, then, should take every chance to give love, to practice the love, and to bring it to others.”
All the motives and practices mentioned above can be summarized by one demand which Jesus asks his followers: You shall be salts of the world and the light of the earth. That means the practice of love is not only to bear and to forgive passively, but also for the faithful to summon up the decision to be the first one to pay.
In the Catholic Intellectual
Association of Shanghai, there is a medicine engineer, who is over 74-year-old,
being called by others Mrs. Qian. In 1993, she happened to see some deaf and
dumb people talking with gestures in the
Not only does she comfort the spirit of the deaf and dumb, but also does she help them with their lives. A deaf lady Zhang was blind from cataract and her husband was also paralyzed. Furthermore, her two children were both ill and deprived of working ability. The family of four was squeezed in a room of 13 square meters. Life was so hard for them that it had raised up many tangles. Mrs. Qian took some other deaf and dumb men to her home to do housework for her. Meanwhile she found their former working place, asking for providing an apartment for them. With her efforts, they’ve got another apartment of 8 sq.m. The living problem is relieved, so is the family tangle. Some deaf and dumb people live in the welfare house on the outskirts of the city, so Mrs. Qian visits them twice a month, taking care of them. Now Mrs. Qian has already become the ‘mother’ and ‘bosom friend’ of the deaf and dumb there. With her help, they have formed an especially warm and peaceful community. Under her influence, more than 20 deaf-mutes have already been baptized. They’ve all joined her in the service now.
4. Church in the society: caritas and social services
As mentioned above, being a member
of society, individual faithful plays a role in enhancing social morality and
improving harmonious public relations. As the “society in the society”, the
Church, which is an organic whole of the faithful and the “body of Christ”, has
the obligation to carry out Jesus’ teaching of “the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve” (Mt 20:28)
and to continue what Jesus did when he was in the world. With the spirit of
Christ, the social service of Church has two main goals: one is to help and
care for the “least brothers”, i.e. the disadvantaged people in society,
including the disabled persons, the poor children and the labourers in the
lowest class of the society; the other is to practice the spirit of caritas,
trying to improve the communication, mutual understanding and fusion among
different classes and groups in society.
4.1 “Least brothers of mine”
Serving the weak is not only
Jesus’ commandment, but also “the action through which we express our love to
Jesus. What we have done…is for the poorest brothers and sisters…these weak,
desolate people, are indeed the embodiments of Jesus….Jesus becomes the poor
and comes to us, and we believe who we are serving is Jesus.”[15] The
words above of Mother Teresa can be used to interpret the religious meaning of
the Church’s public services because “I
was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a
stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me,
in prison and you visited me” (Mt 25:35-36). Therefore, the demand of the
weak and the poor is the demand of Jesus himself; it is through caring and
helping to them Church meets with Jesus himself.
Most of the disadvantaged people are the victims of the unbalanced
development of the society. Confucius has said a long time ago that the
inequitable distribution of wealth does much more harm to society than the
poverty or scarcity does. This insight is suitable for our modern society as
well. An ideal harmonious and stable society depends on all-round progress,
common prosperity and universal safety. In such a society the
principle of “from each according to his ability, to each according to his
needs” is applied, therefore the need of the disadvantaged, who have lost part
of right to contribute and to be rewarded justly for a variety of reasons,
should be valued. They should be given chance to share the fruit of common
prosperity. Otherwise, the tribulation and injustice suffered by them may turn
to underlying social crisis and result in a lot of public conflicts. In this
respect, the efforts of religious communities can effectively make up for the
deficiency of the present policy.
Since the Reform and Opening in the 90s of the last century, the
trans-provincial and trans-regional labour flow has increased dramatically. By
the end of year 2004, the number of migrant workers in
Fr. Wei Texuan of Baoshan responded initiatively to this problem. More
than 2,000 rural immigrants live around the
During summer holidays, Fr. Wei sets up a summer school in the church
for these immigrant children so that they have place to gather together to
study and play. Father and nuns pay more attention to those from misery or poor
families and try to help them as possible as they can. Being a priest, Fr. Wei
is willing to teach the children Catholic faith and biblical knowledge.
However, his primary goal is not to have them baptized but to help them to
construct a positive attitude to life, generate a healthy character and a
strong will to conquer their difficulties. When some children ask for baptism,
Fr. Wei does not hurry to baptize them but advise them to be more prudent and
make decision after they have grown up.
Church also cares for the children’s study and life in the private
schools. Noticing the general inferior conditions of the simple schools, Ms.
Audrey Leung from
For the pre-school children, Fr. Wei set apart another room aside the
Church, furnished it with desks, chairs, toys, cartoon and comic books and made
it a kindergarten. The immigrant workers send their children in the daytime so
that they can be looked after by the nuns. Many warmhearted believers,
including some from
There are still many similar social services provided by the church.
For example, the Center for Social Service offers scholarship to the poor
students, and also offers some jobs of the Church, such as porters, dustmen and
gardener, to the immigrants who have difficulties to find suitable employments
in the society. Priests and nuns in Pudong also set up kindergartens for the
immigrant children. Catholic Intelligentsia Association of Shanghai
periodically organizes the faithful who are physicians to provide medical
services in the suburban areas of
4.2 “All Are One in Christ Jesus”
Besides helping the weak and the disadvantaged, the construction of a
harmonious society also demands the mutual understanding and respect among
different social classes and groups. It is important and urgent to relieve the
tension between those in a high social position and those in lower social class
and allay their hostility or underlying antagonism to each other. In this
respect, Catholic Church advocates strongly the spirit of caritas and ecumenism
in the light of the Gospels, emphasizing that “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person,
there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Ga
3:28).
Because of the increasing
exchanges with foreign countries and the rapid economical development of
Based on her faith
and ability, Church has tried her best to relieve the problem. First, Church
tries to enhance people’s sense of communion and collective consciousness
through liturgy. The reformation of liturgy of the Vatican Council II has
highlighted the dimension of the faithful’s participation and sharing in the
“My work is very busy and the pace of my life
fast. I was constrained in my narrow life between office and home, and never
care that there are so many people of different lives around me. I did not like
the migrants before, because they seem dirty and odd…so different from myself
that I did not think I have any relation with them. But in the church, I have
learnt that they are the same important lives as me, we are all the children of
God… Once in the Mass, a stranger, who seemed like a rural emigrant, happened
to sit beside me. I smile at him, and he also smiled at me… we sang the Lord’s
Prayer hand in hand, for the first time I feel so warm a brotherhood between
us!”
Church ministers,
especially those who are serving in the rural parishes, including Fr. Wei we
mentioned above, have made more direct efforts. They pay attention to where
immigrants are from and help them to get in touch with their hometown fellows
so that their children can get to know each other and play together, not
feeling lonely any more. They organize the immigrant believers to visit the
main sightseeing spots and commercial centers of
With the enhancement of the
internationalization of
Permitted by
government in 1993, Shanghai Diocese resumes English Mass in
Church ministers
also invite some active foreign believers to participate in arranging and
managing the Mass in foreign languages. Foreigners are ardently inclined to
contribute their time and capacity to the development of the parish. Believers
from
Through the efforts
of Church, foreign believers began to know Chinese society better and generate
a profound emotion of love for
5. Conclusion and prospects
Through the introduction above we can conclude that although the number
of Catholics in
However, there are still many problems in the Catholic Church of China
for a variety of reasons. Firstly, the persecution and tribulation suffered
during the infamous Cultural Revolution deprived the Church of a whole
generation of talent people. The
Secondly, because the national policy of religion strictly restricts
the social activities in the name of church or individual faithful, some social
services of the church has been constrained. Besides, the social status of lots
of the believers is relatively low, the human and money resources of the church
are limited, therefore in the social services the church often feel her
strength cannot satisfy her wishes. Fr. Wei said, “Many Catholic families have
economic difficulties and their children cannot go to school. We have tried to
help, but as you know, things are different now. IN the past our Church paid a great attention
to the education and set up a lot of schools. At that time the Church has
enough money and labour to serve society in this way. Presently we cannot do
the same things but in other methods we will still try to develop the education
of the Church.”
Thirdly, generally speaking, the doctrines of Church are in accord with
the mainstream morality of today’s Chinese society, but in some aspects,
Catholic faith is in conflict with the national policy. For instance, the birth
control policy of
We can foresee that in the future the Catholic Church in
6. Acknowledgements
The material collection and review composition has received great support and help from the offices, ministers and relevant people of Catholic Diocese of Shanghai, amongst whom are Fr. Jean Tian Yuanxiang, Fr. Francis Fang Buke, Fr. Wei Texuan, Fr. Joseph Jin Lei, Brother Xu Ruhao, Ms. Audrey Leung and Miss Gao Fang. Sincerest acknowledgements should be to them and to all the church ministers and Catholics who have kindly been in our interviews.
Abbreviations
CCC: Catechism of the Catholic Church
CIC: Codex Iuris Canonici (The Canon Law)
OT:
Optatam Totius of
[1] Hu Jingtao, the Opening Speech of Classes for the provincial leadership at the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China on enhancing the ability to establish the socialist harmonious society, February 2005.
[2] See the website of the Catholic Diocese of Shanghai: http://www.catholic-sh.org/
[3] The course book of the seminary, year 2006.
[4] See footnote 3.
[5] Karl H. Peschke, Christian Ethics, Chinese version: translated by Jing Ye (Shanghai Sanlianc Bookstore, 2002), pp. 22-23.
[6] See footnote 5, pp. 41.
[7] See footnote 5, pp. 43.
[8] See the website of the Catholic Diocese of Shanghai: http://www.catholic-sh.org/
[9] Shen Pin-hua, My journey of belief. In the Shanghai Diocese’s magazine Caritas, Oct. 2006.
[10] Wang Su-li, My testimony to faith. In the Shanghai Diocese’s magazine Caritas, Oct. 2006.
[11] See footnote 5, pp. 54.
[12] See the website of the Catholic Diocese of Shanghai: http://www.catholic-sh.org/
[13] See footnote 5, pp. 63.
[14] See footnote 5, pp. 225-226.
[15] Mother Teresa, A Gift for God,
(Chinese version: translated by
[16] Dao Liangde, On Six Urgent
Needs of the Immigrants in
[17] Cheng licong, Zhang Xingrui, The Review on the Education Situation of Immigrant Workers' Children in Shanghai, Journal of Shanghai Polytechnic College of Urban Management, 2004(6).
[18] See footnote 16.
[19] Yue Sheng, Foreigners coming
to feel
[20] See the International Parish
Bulletin of St. Peter’s Catholic Church,