China And The Catholic Church

In spite of difficulties posed by a hostile socialist government, the Catholic Church in China has shown remarkable perseverance and growth since the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1979. The essays contained in The Catholic Church in Modern China inform readers of the major issues facing the Catholic Church in China today. Their insights should be welcomed by everyone from the Catholic layperson contemplating a trip to China to scholars and specialists in China and religious studies.

This book explores the Chinese Catholic Church as a whole as well as focusing on particular aspects of its activities, including diplomacy, politics, leadership, pilgrimage, youths, and non-Chinese Catholics in China. It discusses Sino-Vatican relations and the rationale behind the decisions taken by Pope Francis with regard to the appointment of bishops in China. The book also examines important changes and personalities in the Chinese Church, the Catholic organizations, and the Catholic communities in the Church, offering a key read for researchers and graduate students studying the Chinese Catholic Church, the Church in Asia, and religion in contemporary China.

After suffering isolation and persecution during the Maoist era, the Catholic Church in China has reemerged with astonishing vitality in recent years. Richard Madsen focuses on this revival and relates it to the larger issue of the changing structure of Chinese society, particularly to its implications for the development of a "civil society." Madsen knows China well and has spent extensive time there interviewing Chinese Catholics both young and old, the "true believers" and the less devout. Their stories reveal the tensions that have arisen even as political control over everyday life in China has loosened. Of particular interest are the rural-urban split in the church, the question of church authority, and the divisions between public and underground practices of church followers. All kinds of religious groups have revived and flourished in the post-Mao era. Protestants, Buddhists, Daoists, practitioners of folk religions, even intellectuals seeking more secularized answers to "ultimate" concerns are engaged in spiritual quests. Madsen is interested in determining if such quests contain the resources for constructing a more humane political order in China. Will religion contribute to or impede economic modernization? What role will the church play in the pluralization of society? The questions he raises in China's Catholics are important not only for China's political future but for all countries in transition from political totalitarianism.

The culmination of D. E. Mungello’s forty years of study on Sino-Western history, this book provides a compelling and nuanced history of Roman Catholicism in modern China. As the author vividly shows, when China declined into a two-century cycle of poverty, powerlessness, and humiliation, the attitudes of Catholic missionaries became less accommodating than their famous Jesuit predecessors. He argues that “invasion” accurately characterizes the dominant attitude of Catholic missionaries (especially the French Jesuits) in their attempt to introduce Western religion and culture into China during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Elements of this attitude lingered until the end of the last century, when many Chinese felt that Pope John Paul II’s canonization of 120 martyrs reflected the imposition of an imperialist mentality. In this important work, Mungello corrects a major misreading of modern Chinese history by arguing that the growth of an indigenous Catholic church in the twentieth century transformed the negative aspects of the “invasion” into a positive Chinese religious force.

The volume approaches the relations between China and the Catholic Church in a quite comprehensive and unprejudiced way. Its approach is new since it clarifies the root of the persistent antagonism of both the imperial and republican Chinese Authorities toward the Catholic Church: no matter how the Catholic approach has been, they kept their Sino-centric attitude. It also points out the lack of a truly objective and complete understanding of China by the Western society, including Catholic missionaries: from a blind admiration to a negative evaluation, determined by contingent circumstances and motivations. It tries to clarify myths and stereotyped understandings, that have been created during the historical process, including the role of the Jesuits and in particular of Fr. Matteo Ricci. It also pays particular attention to the role of the Vatican in the recent religious policy of Chinese Government. The reading of the book could be enlightening especially for academics, university students and Christian clergy interested in the history of Catholic Missions in China.

This edited volume starts from the perspectives of Beijing in how it sees that religion should serve the interests of the state. From China’s viewpoint, religion should act as a stabilizing force of society, or else the Christian Churches will lose their reason for existence. This might be incomprehensible to Western Christians, who believe in the freedom of religion and their right to embrace their faith. This collection of articles represents the concerted efforts of Chinese, Italians, and an American—who live in China, Europe, and the United States and belong to different disciplines, such as History, Religious Studies, and Language Studies—to promote a better understanding of the Catholic Church in the world and in China.

China's official policy towards religion is little known in the West for a variety of reasons. The tribulations to which religious believers and organizations have been subjected, and the limitations on religious freedom are, however, very real and frequently very harsh, as this account of the Catholic church in China since Mao's triumph in 1949 will attest.

This book features a collection of essays on China’s modern Catholic Church by a scholar of China-West intellectual and religious exchange. The essays and reflections were mostly written in China while the author was traveling by train, or staying in villages or large cities near to Roman Catholic cathedrals or other important historical sites during research trips to the country. It is clear that Clark’s understanding of Catholicism in China evolved from the first entry to the final ones in 2019. The essays included in this compendium were written in disparate contexts and in response to different events. As such, there is no obvious theme or order to the content. However, despite this, the book provides valuable insights for readers wishing to gain a better understanding of the complex topography of Catholic history in China, the contours of which have undergone stark transformations with each dynastic, political, and ecclesial transition. The information presented serves to highlight and explain the lives of Catholic people and the events that have punctuated one of the most significant dimensions of China’s long history of friendship, conflict and exchange with the West.