Dear Friends:

The Day of Prayer for China - May 24, 2008
The Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians

Responding to the worldwide invitation from Pope Benedict XVI to pray for China and in keeping with the tradition of this foundation for an annual Mass for the same purpose, the Cardinal Kung Foundation sponsored a high Mass on May 24, 2008 noon at St. John the Evangelist Church in Stamford. A large image of Our Lady of SheShan stood in the sanctuary. Some 400 faithful from Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and other states attended this Mass celebrated by Monsignor Stephen DiGiovanni, pastor of St. John, and concelebrated by five priests and assisted by a deacon and a dozen of altar boys.

"This Mass is not a political statement," Msgr. DiGiovanni said in his homily. "We offer our prayers and ask God's Mercy that more hearts may be opened in China and around the world where people see Christ and are filled with rage.

"We pray that Our Lord might finally be understood," Msgr. DiGiovanni continued. "The See of Peter and the Church of Christ have outlived governments that persecute the Church. These governments say that this world is all there is. It is not. This world is not that important - it is the Kingdom of God that matters. That is why so many have suffered to establish the Kingdom of God." In the meantime, Cardinal Rigali, in a separate Mass in his diocese in Philadelphia, said in his homily: "The more the communists were determined to kill the Church by outright persecution and by focusing internal conflict, the more the Church grew."

We sang Lady of SheShan and the Great Pope in Chinese, Panis Angelicus, Ave Maria, and Salve Regina in Latin, and the choir sang many Gregorian pieces. The music, under the direction of choir master David Hughes and with Soprono soloist Yvonne Cheng, was just heavenly. The Mass was concluded by praying to Our Lady of She-Shan with the prayer newly composed by Pope Benedict XVI and to St. Michael.

Prior to May 24 in January 2008, I wrote to every active bishop in Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, New Zeland, Scotland, and United States to remind them about the Pope's world-wide invitation to pray for China on May 24 every year and to urge them to do so on that day. Five cardinals, four archbishops, and six bishops responded, promising their prayers. They are Sean Cardinal Brady of Armagh, Northern Ireland; Cormas Cardinal Murphy O'Connor of Westminister, London, UK; Sean Cardinal O'Malley of Boston; George Cardinal Pell of Sydney, Australia; Marc Cardinal Quellet of Quebec, Canada; Archbishop John Bathersby, Brisbane, Australia; Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee; Archbishop Dennis Hart of Melbourne, Australia; Archbishop Peter Smith of Cardiff, UK; Bishop Alan Hopes of Westminister, UK; Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Chicago, Bishop Arthur Roche of Leeds, UK; Bishop Patrick O'Donoghue of Lancaster, UK; Bishop Francois Thibodeau of Edmundston, Canada, and Bishop Peter Ingham of Wollongong, Australia. Your Eminences and your Excellencies, we thank you so much for your prayers.

In the meantime, Approximately 100 Masses were offered across the United States and around the world by the members of the Cardinal Kung Foundation. Thank you for your continuing support and prayers.

During this Mass, I prayed silently to many martyrs who endured years of Chinese communist jails and finally offered their lives to God.  Many of them were my teachers, friends, relatives and confessors. They include not only those martyrs who died in jail, such as Father Beda Chang, S. J. and Father Francis Chu, S. J., headmaster and dean of my high school respectively, but also those who suffered decades of jail sentences, were let go "free" and finally died outside of the jail. Among them are our beloved Cardinal Ignatius Kung, Archbishop Dominic Tang, Bishop Peter Joseph Fan and Father Francis Tsai.  "Their noble behavior and their words illuminated the night of hatred, violence and affliction. Nothing could separate them from Jesus.  Jail?  Accusation rallies?  Handcuffs?  Beatings?  Tortures (pushing bamboo picks into their fingernails)?...."  wrote the Silent Catholic Church in Mainland China.  This book illustrates some forty of these martyrs.  I prayed to each and every one of them, including those 120 Chinese martyr saints who have already been canonized by Pope John Paul II.  I prayed that Pope Benedict XVI will also canonize all these faithful martyred during the reign of the Chinese communists regardless of the fact that the communists are still in power in China.  As many have known, I have petitioned the Bishop of Bridgeport, Bishop William Lori, to open the causes for the beatification of the late Ignatius Cardinal Kung more than three years ago, but have not heard any decision from him.  We need to pray for Bishop Lori's response to this petition.

Natural Disasters

In recent times we have read about some natural disasters in Myanmar and China as well as civil unrest in Tibet. On March 14 in Tibet several days of monk-led marches protesting against Chinese rule turned violent in Tibet's regional capital Lhasa, resulting in many deaths and many of Tibet's religious detained by the Chinese government. On May 2, Myanmar was hit by a cyclone that left approximately 150,000 people dead or missing and another 2.4 million destitute. On May 12, an earthquake hit China. The official death toll from the quake is approximately 70,000 and is expected to rise, with 18,000 people still missing and 374,000 injured. More than 200,000 others were evacuated from Youxian on the outskirts of Mianyang city. Also, numerous tornados and forest fires have hit the United States every year, causing a huge lost of human lives and heavy loss and damage to both private and public properties.

When such terrible events occur, people are sometimes prompted to ask if God is the cause of them as a way of punishing people. According to the Christian faith, this is most certainly not the case. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus himself addressed this issue. While teaching, some people told Jesus about the fate of some Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. Although they did not directly ask Jesus if this was God's way of punishing the Galileans, Jesus clearly read their minds because he responded to them: "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered thus?" (Luke 13:2) Jesus even reminded them of yet another terrible event in which a tower fell down upon eighteen people and repeats his question: ""[D]o you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem?" (Luke 13:4) However, Jesus went further than simply telling the people that God is not the cause of these events. He reminded them that the worst thing that can happen to a person is being separated from God. For this reason, he exhorted them to see such terrible events as opportunities for repentance. As Jesus put it, "I tell you…unless you repent you will all likewise perish." (Luke 13:5) The inference from Jesus' statement is that those who are in proper relationship with God cannot be separated from God by anyone or anything in this world. St. Paul makes this point explicit in his letter to the Romans: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." (Romans 8:35, 37)

It is very difficult to obtain reports from the quake area regarding the damages to the Church properties. According to Asianews, in Chengdu, 14 of the diocese's 56 churches had completely or partially collapsed, and 27 others were severely damaged. It is estimated that the property damage or loss in Chengdu is approximately US $12 million. While Asianews did not elaborate on how many of these churches belong to the official Church, and how many to the underground Church, I would gather that a great majority of them belong to the official Church. However, in the neighboring province of Gansu, we have received a report from an underground priest in the diocese of Tianshui, a much smaller diocese when compared with Chengdu, that at least eleven churches were damaged. Six of them collapsed. Three of these six collapsed churches belong to the Patriotic Official Church, while the other three belong to the underground Church. Others suffered severe structure damage. In addition, there are a number of churches that are still in the hands of the Chinese government and have not been returned to the Church authority that totally collapsed. Numerous church properties are either collapsed or damaged beyond repair. We understand that the Chinese government has refused to give any financial aid to the underground churches to repair or to rebuild the underground churches while the official Church is receiving subsidy for repairing their churches. It has been estimated by an underground church official that approximately US$100,000 is needed to repair or rebuild these three collapsed underground churches in Tianshui. While US$100,000 might not seem by American standards a huge amount to repair three churches, it is astronomical to the underground Church. Can someone help? There is no way to estimate at this time the financial needs for repairing the other property damages for the underground faithful.

Passing of an Elder and Scholar of the Underground Church

With sadness, we learned the peaceful death of Father Matthias Lu who died in California on June 25, 2008. He is the founder of International Saint Thomas Aquinas Center and a firm supporter of the underground church in China. He translated, commented and published many selected works of Aristotle, the Apostolic Fathers, The Apologist Fathers, Justin and Aristides and Saint Thomas Aquinas. Father Lu and I communicated with each other often during the past twenty years. The Cardinal Kung Foundation has benefited in many ways from his in-depth analysis of the Patriotic Association and many other religious issues in China. We have lost a dear friend on earth, but gained a friend believed now in heaven. We pray that God may grant mercy to his soul soonest.

Founding Director of CKF Board Received His Master of Arts Degree in Pastoral Ministry

Mr. Mac C. P. Mak, a founding member of the Board of Director and the Treasurer of the Cardinal Kung Foundation, has successfully completed his MA degree in Pastoral Ministry from Caldwell College in December, 2007. Religion is an important part of Mr. Mak's life and he consistently sought opportunities to deepen his knowledge of his faith. He has been teaching 7th grade Sunday CCD class every week for the last 12 years in spite of the fact that he was an extremely busy business executive as the treasurer of a multi-billon Engelhard Corporation which has now been acquired by BASF. Congratulations, Mac. Keep up with your good work.

One Year Later

It has been a year since Pope Benedict XVI made public a letter that he wrote to the Catholic Church in the Peoples' Republic of China. While there are so many issues in the Pope's letter that we could reflect upon together, I will only concentrate on the following few points:

1. Some Chinese bishops "not wishing to be subjected to undue control exercised over the life of the Church, and eager to maintain total fidelity to the Successor of Peter and to Catholic doctrine, have felt themselves constrained to opt for clandestine (underground) consecration." However, they are not recognized by the Chinese Authority. Pope Benedict XVI hopes that "these legitimate Pastors may be recognized as such by governmental authorities".

Fact: There have been no such pastors (underground bishops) recognized by the Chinese civil government one year after the Pope's request.

2. "Other Pastors," Pope Benedict XVI wrote, "however, under the pressure of particular circumstances, have consented to receive episcopal ordination without the pontifical mandate, but have subsequently asked to be received into communion with the Successor of Peter and with their other brothers in the episcopate.  The Pope, considering the sincerity of their sentiments and the complexity of the situation...has granted them the full and legitimate exercise of Episcopal jurisdiction… Unfortunately, in most cases, priests and the faithful have not been adequately informed that their Bishop has been legitimized, and this has given rise to a number of grave problems of conscience. What is more, some legitimized Bishops have failed to provide any clear signs to prove that they have been legitimized. For this reason it is indispensable…that legitimation, once it has occurred, is brought into the public domain at the earliest opportunity, and that the legitimized Bishops provide unequivocal and increasing signs of full communion with the Successor of Peter."

Fact: One year after Pope Benedict XVI's request, not even one of these "legitimized Bishops" (or legitimized bishops belonging to the Official Church or the Patriotic Association) had the courage to come forward to provide "unequivocal and increasing signs of full communion with the Successor of Peter."

3. 3) In his letter, Pope Benedict XVI referred many times to the ongoing persecution of the Church by saying: "it must not be forgotten that many Bishops have undergone persecution and have been impeded in the exercise of their ministry, and some of them have made the Church fruitful with the shedding of their blood…." The Pope also insisted that there must be "authentic religious freedom" in China, meaning that all those bishops, priests, nuns, seminarians and other faithful currently in Chinese jail, labor camp, or house arrest for practicing their religion must be released.

Fact: One year after Pope Benedict XVI's insistence of "authentic religious freedom" in China, persecutions of religious believers in China persist wildly.

Two underground priests, Fathers Zhang Jianlin and Zhangli, both from Xuanhua, Hebei, were arrested and detained because of their desire to participate in the day of prayer on May 24 in Sheshan. One was arrested on his way to Sheshan. The other one was arrested even before he started his journey. Both priests disappeared while they were in the hands of Chinese authorities.

In the meantime, every one of approximately 35 underground bishops, together with many priests and faithful, are either in prison, disappeared, under house arrest or under surveillance. Bishops Su Zhimin, Bishop of Baoding, and Shi Enxiang, Bishop of Yixian, were arrested in October, 1997 and April 2001, respectively. There has been no news on these two bishops since then. Both have now disappeared. We do not know if they are still alive. Bishop Han DinXiang, the Bishop of Yong Nian, was arrested in Dec 1999, and disappeared during the last two years of his imprisonment. He died suddenly in prison on Sept 9, 2007 in very mysterious and suspicious circumstances. He was not allowed a Catholic burial. Instead, by order of the government, the Bishop was cremated and buried within 6 hours of his death!

Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo, the unregistered or "underground" Roman Catholic Bishop of Zhengding, Heibei whose repeated arrests by the Chinese government have been reported by the Cardinal Kung Foundation and by various world news media many times, was last arrested on August 23, 2007, the 11th time since January 2004, and was finally released on December 14, 2007. However, Bishop Jia's release did not bring about his "freedom" to carry out his duties as a bishop of a diocese. Bishop Jia is now under house arrest, confined to the living quarters of his cathedral, Christ the King Church in Wu Qiu. He is not allowed to receive any visitors except for a few rare occasions when the visits are supervised and accompanied by government officials.

Near the vicinity of the Christ the King Church, the public police bureau has set up an observation post in order to monitor the activities of and visitors to this church in WuQiu. The government has an organized unit of six officers patrolling the vicinity of the church 24 hours a day, forbidding any visitor to visit Bishop Jia, or to approach the vicinity of the church. Bishop Jia is seriously sick, and this causes a constant tremor of his right hand. The bishop requested medical service outside of his living quarters, but was denied by the authority. Bishop Jia, almost 74 years old, was consecrated a bishop as the bishop of Zhengding, Heibei on December 19, 1980, mandated by the Pope. He has spent 18 years in prison. Zhengding is a small village situated approximately 100 miles south of Beijing. It is a faithful Roman Catholic community with approximately 110,000 Catholics. Bishop Jia is also caring for approximately 100 abandoned handicapped orphans. This orphanage is greatly in need of financial help.

The plight of these bishops is just one example of many underground Roman Catholic bishops' civil rights being seriously violated in China. The persecution of religious believers is very much alive in China and ongoing regardless of the fact that the Olympic games will be held in China less than two weeks away. Your continuous prayers for the persecuted Roman Catholic Church in China are desperately needed and appreciated.

Currency Exchange Rate Problem

I wish to request your understanding that due to the significant devaluation of the U. S. dollar, we, the Cardinal Kung Foundation, are facing a major shortfall of funds to meet the expense of various projects that we explained in detail in our last Easter 2008 newsletter. The problem is that most of our income is in U.S. Dollars. But our project-expenses are in Euro or Chinese RMB, both of which have risen in value against U.S. currency - 40 % for Euro and 20 % for RMB. While one US dollar could fetch more than one Euro or 8.40 Chinese RMB five years ago, it could now exchange into only approximately 0.60 Euro or 6.80 Chinese RMB. Our students and religious in Europe and China are facing enormous difficulties to live on this 40 or 20 percent reduction of an already meager allowance. In other words, in order to maintain the same standard of our projects, we need approximately an average of 35 percent more income than we had before. We are nowhere close to it. In addition, due to the current economic downturn in U.S., some of our benefactors found it difficult to maintain the past level of donations. While we are very grateful to our benefactors who have supported our causes, we do respectfully request that when you make your next donation to this Foundation, please kindly consider the above mentioned factors if you could afford it. Thank you so much.

Mailing List

In the past, once a benefactor donated to our cause, no matter how small or infrequent it is, his/her name remains on our list under the assumption that the news we provide in our newsletter is of much interest to the benefactors. Consequently, we have many people who have been inactive for many years. In order to reduce the expensive mailing cost of our newsletter, we have decided to shorten our mailing list. Effective next Christmas newsletter, those who have no activity for the last three years will be dropped from our list. However, if you cannot afford to donate at this time but wish to read our newsletter, please drop us a note to this effect. We will be happy to keep you on our mailing list. We should appreciate your understanding. We will also continue to send our newsletter to religious, journalists, government officials and others who have an apparent need to receive information on China and the Underground Church due to their positions. Your generous support is most important to our work for the Underground Church. May Our Lady of China bless you and your family. Thank you again.

Yours sincerely in Christ

Joseph Kung