Reflections on the Scriptures of the sacred Liturgy and the Catechism of the Catholic Church
The MCITL Liturgical Library
MORE CHRISTIANS HAVE DIED FOR THE FAITH IN THE 20TH CENTURY THAN IN THE PRECEDING 19 CENTURIES COMBINED
ST. THERESE OF THE CHILD JESUS AND THE HOLY FACE, VIRGIN AND DOCTOR, PRAY FOR US.
Read more on the life and works of this 33rd Doctor of the Church and third woman doctor.
MONITOR THE PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH IN CHINA.
Visit FREE THE FATHERS on the WWW.
JAILED CHINESE BISHOP RELEASED DURING PREMIER'S US VISIT
BEIJING (CWN) - Even as Chinese President Jiang Zemin
sparred with US President Bill Clinton over his country's
record on human rights, Communist authorities in China were
releasing from jail Bishop Shu Zhimin, the Vatican news
agency Fides said on Thursday.
Bishop Zhimin, 65, of Baoding, who had already spent two
decades in jail for refusing to renounce the authority of
the pope, was arrested in Xinji last month for erecting and
visiting a Marian shrine. The Communist government does not
tolerate any Catholic entity in the country aside from its
state-sanctioned Patriotic Catholic Association which
renounces all ties with the Vatican.
Other Chinese Catholic leaders who remain in jail or under
some form of detention for practicing their religion,
according to US Rep. Dick Armey, R-Texas, who presented the
list to Jiang, include Bishop Zeng Jingmu, 77, sentenced
without trial in March 1996 to three years in jail, Bishop
An Shuxin, arrested in February 1997, Bishop Johannes Han
Ding Xiang, 58, most recently arrested on August 27, 1995,
Bishop Joseph Fan Zhongliang, 74, under house arrest in
Shanghai, Bishop Casimir Wang Milu, 55, under house arrest,
Bishop Cosmas Shi Enxiang, 71, under police surveillance and
restrictions of movement, Father Guo Bo Le, sentenced to two
years in 1996, Bishop Julius Jia Zhigho, under police
surveillance and severe restrictions of movement, Bishop
Joseph Li Side, in his 60s, in internal exile since 1992,
Bishop Gu Zheng Mattia, under police surveillance and
restrictions of movement, Father Vincent Qin Guoliang, 60,
arrested in 1994 and sentenced to two years although his
release has not been confirmed, Father Liao Haiqing, 68,
arrested on August 4, 1995 and last known to be still in
detention, Father Peter Cui Xingang, 31, arrested in March
1996 and believed to be still in detention.