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Detained Priests, what detained Priests?
Mixed signals are coming out of China this week over the fate of seven priests detained in north China late last month, with reports from Christian rights advocates saying that the group were released earlier this week, and Chinese officials claiming that the group could not have been released because they had never been detained.
According to reports from the Cardinal Kung Foundation, a US based Christian advocacy group founded by the late Bishop of Shanghai, the group of seven priests from Hebei Province were released earlier this week after being detained for 7 days in response to their attendance of religious retreat held by outspoken Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo.
The retreat had not been officially sanctioned by the state church and Bishop Jia has previously been sanctioned for his refusal to renounce his loyalty to the Vatican.
At the time that the priest’s release was announced, representatives for the Cardinal Kung Foundation said that they were unable to confirm what had happened to the priests during their detention, or if they had been mistreated.
Despite regular stories about the abuse of Chinese Christians who refuse to align themselves with the state church, the use of torture or excessive force against detained priests is the exception rather than the norm.
In response to media reports relating to the detention and release, officials with the local police force denied that the priests had been detained. Regional religious affairs representatives also maintained that the priests had not been taken into custody.
Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo?
Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo is the Bishop of Zhengding, Hebei, an area believed to contain approximately 1.5 million Catholics, many of whom recognize the Papal mandate in defiance of Beijing. He has long been a critic of Beijing’s policy to ‘manage’ religious affairs and to prevent Chinese Catholics from publicly recognizing Papal authority.
For his religious activities and refusal to submit to the authority of the state church, Jia has been detained or imprisoned on numerous occasions, and has routinely been placed in detention before important religious.
During the last days of the reign of Pope John Paul II and the indoctrination of Pope Benedict XVI Jia was forbidden from carrying out his duties, and has spent 20 years in detention and house arrest since 1980.
Jia is also well known for his work with Chinese orphans.
Media reports named the detained priests as
Li Qiang
Li Suchuan
Liu Wenyuan
Pei Zhenping
Wang Dingshan
Yin Zhengsong
Zhang Qingcai
If Jia has spent 20 years since 1980 in detention and house arrest, when
did he work with Chinese orphans? Was he allowed to work from home? Did
he have access to his followers and to communication facilities? What does
house arrest consist of in China?
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From what I understand Jia has been in and out of detention, and he has
often been detained for short periods.
I think that by house arrest they mean that his movements have been restricted, and that he has been allowed to go about some of his duties. I also believe that he supports the orphans rather than tends to them himself.
Much of the information that I found on Jia came from Christian advocacy groups in the US, and I have a slight distrust of any group that advocates for a single cause and does not have independant financing.