From Catholic News Service

Chinese bishop ordained in 2000 still hopes for papal OK

By Catholic News Service

HONG KONG (CNS) -- Newly installed Bishop Vincent Zhan Silu of Mindong said he hopes the Vatican, the underground Catholic community in Mindong and his priests will come to accept him as bishop.

The 45-year-old bishop, who was installed May 14 as head of the Mindong Diocese in Fujian province, told UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand, that he would have preferred having the Vatican's approval before his installation, but he still awaits it.

Bishop Zhan was ordained with four bishops in Beijing Jan. 6, 2000, the feast of the Epiphany. The ordinations were conducted without papal approval. He has not assumed his episcopal ministry until now, he said May 15. He refused to elaborate on the circumstances of his ordination in 2000.

On May 14, all six priests of the Mindong Diocese and six others from the Minbei and Xiamen dioceses, also in Fujian, concelebrated Bishop Zhan's first Mass as head of the diocese at the church in Ningde city, where Bishop Zhan is based. Ningde is about 950 miles southeast of Beijing.

Hundreds of Catholics attended the Mass, and Bishop Zhan wore his miter for the first time since his episcopal ordination.

Bishop Zhan said that after the death of his predecessor, Bishop Peter Zhang Shizhi of Mindong Aug. 5, the diocese needed a new leader to continue church operations.

In early 2006, he decided to be installed "due to the requests of laypeople and advice of government officials." He said the date was postponed twice to avoid coinciding with the elevation of Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong to cardinal in late March or the recent episcopal ordinations conducted without papal approval.

Bishop Ma Yinglin of Kunming and Bishop Joseph Liu Xinhong of Anhui were ordained without a papal mandate April 30 and May 3, respectively.

Bishop Zhan said he wanted to avoid any misunderstandings at a time when China and the Vatican were having difficulty relating to one another.

Pointing out that his installation was a routine church procedure, Bishop Zhan said, "I really hope they (the Holy See) could be more understanding about my situation and the urgent need for young bishops in the mainland."

He said he "supports the Holy Father" and "is confident that the Holy See would gradually accept" him. He has written to the Holy See and hopes to be approved by the pope, he said.

However, a Vatican source told UCA News May 12 that the legitimization of China-approved bishops without papal mandate is temporarily on hold after the recent controversial ordinations in Kunming and Anhui.

Bishop Zhan has maintained a low profile since his ordination in 2000, seldom wearing his bishop's cassock in the Mindong Diocese. He did not wear it when attending the National Congress of Catholic Representatives in Beijing in July 2004. He has not ordained any priests or presided at Masses in episcopal garb except on Holy Thursday this year, when he presided at a chrism Mass wearing the bishop's "little hat."

By keeping a low profile, the bishop said, he hoped his priests would have more time to accept him as a bishop and would "finally come together for his installation Mass." He also hoped to obtain approval from the Holy See.

He added that he also had no intention to "stir up any confrontation with the underground community" and wants to maintain solidarity and stability in the diocese.

"I informed the underground leaders of Mindong Diocese about my installation and got no objections from them, but it wasn't the right time to invite them to come along," he added.

When the communist government formed the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association in the 1950s, the association officially spurned ties with the Vatican, while an underground church continued to exist and often faced persecution. In recent years, Catholics familiar with the situation in China have said more than 90 percent of the government-approved or open-church bishops have reconciled with the Vatican, and in some areas of China there is intermingling with underground Catholics. Much of this depends on the local bishop, they said.

A Mindong underground church leader who requested anonymity confirmed May 15 that the community had been informed about the installation Mass, but none of their 46 priests had attended the event, since they "cannot be in communion in sacraments" with Bishop Zhan.

The installation "would cause more difficulty in reconciliation" with them, he added, suggesting that Bishop Zhan continue to keep a low profile in order to allow the underground church to maintain dialogue with the open church.

Coadjutor Bishop Vincent Huang Shoucheng, 82, became the ordinary of the underground Mindong Catholic community last September after the Aug. 25 death of underground Bishop James Xie Shiguang.

Bishop Zhan was born in 1961. He entered Sheshan Regional Seminary in 1984 and was ordained a priest of the Mindong Diocese in 1989. In 1998 he obtained a bachelor's degree in theology from Hong Kong's Holy Spirit Seminary College, affiliated with Rome's Pontifical Urbanian University.

Bishop Zhan was elected auxiliary bishop of Mindong in 1999, leading to his episcopal ordination in 2000. He is currently a vice chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and one of the members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a state consultative body.

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