UCA News published an article on May 22, 2019, entitled Hong Kong Catholics mark Tiananmen anniversary. Quoted below without hyperlinks are excerpts from the article [1]:
Catholics in Hong Kong have begun conducting a special exhibition to commemorate the crackdown by China's communist regime on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.
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Catholic organizers of a May 18-26 exhibition in Hong Kong wanted to show that the Church supported the pro-democracy movement.
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"Once I stepped out from home to join the protest, my life changed," she [Biddy Kwok] said, adding that other Catholic parishioners came onto the streets.
What she said could have been true for her but in this blogger's opinion, Ms. Kwok's life might not have changed for the better or have become holier because she decided to join the protest. Protests by activist Catholics do not bode well for non-activist Catholics who pray in silence, who want to be able to attend church, who do not underestimate the power of prayer, who live in humility and who rely on God for assistance. Ms. Kowk acted as if she and her cohort activists had the power to overcome the authoritarian regime in China. Their civil disobedience only angers the Chinese officials, giving them an excuse to close down all Catholic churches in order to stop insurrections that threaten the state's political system and stability.
If Ms. Kwok and her cohorts do not have peace living under an authoritarian regime, this blogger recommends that they move out of China-owned Hong Kong to take up residence in India to become part of an ethnic (Chinese) minority in the world's most populous democracy. Perhaps they will find what they are looking for, interior peace, plenty of joy and lots of laughs!
Or perhaps, rather than protesting, they can find fulfillment by making a trip to two a year to India to help out the brothers of the Missionaries Of The Poor in Andhra Pradesh [2] and in Orissa [3].
Even a priest, Father Louis Ha, took part in mixing politics and religion. Continuing with quoting from the article cited [4]:
Father Ha said there were then Catholic Church events such as prayer meetings and Masses to support the democracy movement.
Father Ha was then the Hong Kong Catholic Social Communications Office director and he offered space to journalists returning from Beijing to compile reports and edit film footage. That included editing a film record of the massacre that occurred on June 4, 1989.
The priest added that because of such assistance being given, Hong Kong citizens knew that the Church was working for justice and peace.
Father Ha also recalled that Cardinal Joseph Wu, the former bishop of Hong Kong, regarded the student movement as peacefully and rationally seeking democratic reforms as well as an end to corruption.
These clerics must be thinking that democracy will lead to justice and peace and end corruption. They just need to look at the the democracies around the world to realize that it is a fantasy. Which democratic government in the world has justice, peace and a total absence of corruption?
The Chinese Catholics who think that democracy is a path to God have not lived in a democracy. Democracy is noisy because every one can express an opinion and every opinion counts. How often do people share the same opinion and agree on everything? Those who are in the minority who have no power may not find peace within a democracy. Some may not even think there is justice, and they would be correct because wherever there is a lack of justice, there is corruption and corruption is an integral part of every kind of government. Even the Catholic Church cannot escape politics and corruption, and with all the sex scandals being revealed, peace has been elusive.
It appears that Fr. Ha and Cardinal Wu, Ms. Kwok and her cohorts are not at peace but want peace, the kind of peace they believe democracy will bring. Can they possibly be in error?
Christ said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives." [5] Perhaps they should all try to seek the peace that Christ gives by practicing humility and by setting aside their hunger for recognition fueled by their pride and vanity, the roots of all politics.
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