Six bishops, including one who is under excommunication, ordained Joseph Chen Gong’ao on the morning of April 19 as the new bishop of Nanchong diocese, in Sichuan province, south-western China.
This is the first ordination of a bishop for the Catholic Church in mainland China in 2012. It was done with the approval of both Rome and Beijing, as was the last such ordination in November 2011, and is being widely interpreted as a positive development in Sino-Vatican relations at a particularly delicate moment in the history of the world’s most populous country. Bishop Peter Fang Jianping of Tangshan presided over the ceremony in the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in the city of Nanchong, which was attended by 800 people and 87 priests, including several from outside the province. Hundreds more who could not get into the cathedral watched the ceremony on a close-circuit TV screen at a nearby shrine, UCA News reported.
Bishop Fang was the main consecrator. He had earlier requested and received pardon from Pope Benedict for having participated in an illicit ordination in 2011. Four other bishops in union with Rome joined him as co-ordaining prelates: Joseph Li Jing of Ningxia, Paul He Zeqing of Wanzhou, Paul Xiao Zejiang, coadjutor bishop of Guiyang and Peter Luo Xuegang of Yibin.
But, exactly as happened at the last Episcopal ordination which took place in Yibin on 30 November 2011, the harmony of the celebration was disturbed by the presence of the excommunicated Mgr. Paul Lei Shiyin. Ordained bishop of Leshan diocese on 29 June 2011 without the papal mandate, he was subsequently declared excommunicated by the Holy See.
At the Nanchong ceremony, Mgr Lei was dressed in bishop’s robes and stood together with the five Vatican approved bishops and laid hands on Mgr. Chen.
His participation in the ordination ceremony in defiance of Canon Law, has further aggravated his situation in the eyes of the Holy See as he is seen to be persisting in harming the unity of the Catholic Church in China. According to reports, criticism of him for doing this has also circulated within the Catholic community in the mainland in recent months.
Sources expect Mgr. Lei Shiyin’s case to be discussed at next week’s plenary session in the Vatican of the papal Commission for China which Benedict XVI established in 2007. As the Commission is an advisory body to the pope and does not have decision-making power, any further sanction against Lei Shiyin will be taken by the Holy See.
Apart from this disturbing problem, the ordination of Bishop Chen as new pastor of Nanchong diocese went smoothly and has been warmly welcomed by Catholics in the mainland.
Born in 1964, Bishop Chen graduated from Sichuan Catholic Seminary in 1988 and was ordained priest 1990. Elected by unanimous vote (23/23 votes) in the democratic election in 2010, he succeeds Bishop Huang Woze who died in 2004, and now leads a diocese with 86,000 Catholics, 11 priests and 11 nuns.
Interviewed by UCA News, Bishop Shen said his main priority is to enhance the quality of the priests, seminarians and nuns “so that diocese’s work of evangelization can be developed in a more systematic manner.” He also plans to organize formation for lay people, especially catechists. And referring to the forthcoming 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), he said he hopes “to open up new avenues for evangelization” by encouraging priests and lay catechists to spread and integrate Catholic teaching with the local Nanchong culture.
Furthermore, he said he would like to build a new cathedral to replace the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral where the ordination took place because it was damaged in the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 and, in any case, is too small to accommodate large-scale religious events.
At the end of the ceremony on April 19, Bishop Chen, addressing the congregation, thanked God for choosing him to be a bishop and also thanked the clergy and faithful for putting their trust in him, and for honoring him in this way. He said he interpreted all this as “a sacred mission”, and promised that he would seek to “enhance” his spiritual life and ministry by “following the example” of his three predecessors in the diocese.