Dear Friends:

As I write to you, we are at the beginning of the Church's Year for Priests. The year began on June 19 and will continue through June 10, 2010. Pope Benedict XVI called us to dedicate this Year to deepening our appreciation for the priesthood and to reflect deeply on the mystery of priestly grace being lived in our midst. We have all been blessed by the ministry of priests, and we all must thank God for this great gift to our Church and our world.

The Holy Father has named St. John Baptiste Marie Vianney as the patron of this special year.  This coincides with the 150^th anniversary of the death of St. John Vianney, who is the patron saint of priests.  One quote of St. John Vianney is “All the good works in the world are not equal to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass because they are the works of men:  but the Mass is the work of God.  Martyrdom is nothing in comparison for it is but the sacrifice of man to God; but the Mass is the sacrifice of God for man.”

Every priest needs the prayers of his people to strengthen and confirm him in the grace that he has been given to be the sacramental presence of Christ himself. This is especially true of those priests who are persecuted for being true to their vocation, like those persecuted priests of the Roman Catholic Church in China . When he was the bishop of Shanghai , His Eminence, the late Ignatius Cardinal Kung composed the following prayer for priests in 1953 while the persecution of the Catholic Church in China by its communist government was escalating. At that time, hundreds of priests in China , with only few exceptions, remained faithful to their vocation and suffered 15, 20, 30, and even more years in jail. Many were martyred because they refused to join the Patriotic Association sponsored “official church” or because they refused to accept appointments from the Patriotic Association to become independent bishops. All of this perseverance on the part of Catholic priests in China at that time of great persecution speaks volumes about how powerful this prayer is. I encourage you all to recite this prayer on a daily basis during this Year for Priests for all priests throughout the world.

By His Eminence, the late Ignatius Cardinal Kung  (1953)

All powerful and eternal God, through the merits of your Son, Jesus, and through your love for him, I implore you, have pity on the priests of the Holy Church. In spite of their sublime dignity, they are fearful and weak, like all created beings. In your infinite mercy, inflame their hearts with the fire of divine love. For the sake of Jesus, your Son, bestow grace on the priests and uphold them. Do not let them fall into temptation and tarnish their noble vocation.

O Jesus, we implore you. Look with pity on the priests of the Holy Church: those who are serving you faithfully and proclaiming your glory; those who are persecuted for tending your flock; those who are abandoned, weary, and sorrowful; those who are lukewarm, confused and who have denied their faith; those who are sick, dying or in Purgatory. Lord Jesus, we entreat you. Listen to our supplication, have pity and console them.

O Jesus, we entrust to you the priests of the whole world: the priests who baptized me, absolved my sins, offered Holy Mass and consecrated the Eucharist to nourish my soul. We entrust to you the priests that instructed me when I was ignorant, gave me strength in my weakness, showed me the Way and the Truth and comforted me in my sorrow and affliction. For all the blessings they obtained for me, I implore you to support them in your loving kindness.

O Jesus, shelter our priests in your Sacred Heart. Let them take refuge in your mercy and love, in this life and to the hour of death. Amen.

If you wish to receive a copy of this postcard-size laminated prayer card with a picture of the late Cardinal Kung taken in 1949, please write clearly to us your name, address, telephone number, and number of copies you need.  We have both English and Chinese versions.  In addition, we also invite you to become a “Prayer Sponsor” by remembering in your daily prayers one underground priest/bishop.  If you accept our invitation, we will mail you the name of and information about this priest.

Next year, March 12, 2010, is the tenth anniversary of Cardinal Kung going home to the Lord. We will have a Thanksgiving Mass for the life and ministry of the late Cardinal at 12 noon on Saturday March 6, 2010 at St. John the Evangelist Church in Stamford, Connecticut. Bishop William Lori, Bishop of Bridgeport, has kindly offered to be the main celebrant. We hope that you will join us at this Mass. More details will be forthcoming on our website and in our newsletter.

Many of you had inquired about Bishop Jia Zhiguo.  Bishop Jia is the underground bishop of the diocese of Zheng Ding in Hebei, which is a very active underground church community with approximately 150,000 faithful.  Bishop Jia also takes care of approximately 110 physically and mentally handicapped and orphaned children.  Bishop Jia has been arrested at least 13 times   since January 2004.  He was last arrested on March 31 this year and has not been released.  While we do not know where Bishop Jia is being held, we understand that he has been under intense pressure from the Chinese authority to retire from his episcopate so that the Chinese Government could appoint another Official Church’s priest to replace him.  Bishop Jia has flatly refused to submit his request to the Holy See for his retirement in exchange for his freedom.   In the meantime, one of his two priests whom Bishop Jia had appointed to administer his diocese while the bishop is being detained by the government was also arrested by the Chinese authority in May this year.  I understand that this priest has recently been released.  The other priest is under an arrest warrant from the Chinese authority, forcing him to go in hiding.  Many priests in this diocese have been called by the government authority for a “chat” in an effort to pressure them to join the Catholic Patriotic Association in order to receive a “priest card”.  I have not heard of any underground priest in the diocese of Zheng Ding that has been converted to join the Patriotic Association.

There are two other bishops who are still in jail. We do not know where they are being held. 

Bishop Shi Enxiang, Bishop of Yixian in Hebei, 87 years of age, was arrested more than eight years ago on April 13, 2001.  He has never been seen ever since.  We do not know where he is.  For details, please read our press release.

Bishop Su Zhimin, Bishop of Baoding in Hebei, 77 years of age, was arrested almost 12 years ago on October 8, 1997.  Bishop Su was accidentally seen in hospital for treatment in November 2003. He has never been seen otherwise.  For details, please read our press releases from 1997 and 2003.

We also know that there are at least eight priests in Chinese jails at this time.  For details, please read our prisoners list.

The list above is by no means complete as a result of the difficulties in obtaining details.  Accordingly, many cases of arrest of Catholic faithful are simply beyond our reach.  Please do not forget them.  Please pray for them.

Monsignor John Horgan-Kung, age 94, the confessor of Cardinal Kung, was seriously ill and sent to hospital emergency on August 8, 2009.   The doctor there told me that he had pneumonia with high fever, his kidney function had almost totally shut down, and his heart was failing.  The doctor indicated that the next 48 hours would be very critical for him.  I called in a priest to give the Monsignor an absolution immediately.  That was close to 10 pm.  We prayed to Cardinal Kung’s intercession for his recovery.  Two weeks later, he was fully recovered. His kidney function was restored and was normal.  His heart was steady.  He had no more infections.  We give thanks to Cardinal Kung and praise God.  We hope that the Lord will continue to bless Monsignor Horgan-Kung so that he may celebrate his 70^th anniversary for his priestly ordination on August 15^th next year.  However, at the time of printing this letter, he is not well again.  Please pray for him.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely in Christ,

Joseph Kung
President