“Honor Thy Father” is a main commandment for Christians. It was discussed earlier this month at something called “Party-Oriented Sermon Exchange Activity” for priests of the government-controlled (and now Vatican-approved) Patriotic Catholic Church of the Gansu province, celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in October 1949.
120 priests and lay workers went through a training on how to prepare truly “Sinicized” sermons, and the theme was “Filial Piety in Chinese Culture and the Bible.”
Father Wu Binbin, a member of the Provincial Catholic Preaching Exchange Activity Propaganda Team, offered the keynote speech. He noted that both Chinese and Catholic culture are very much about respecting the elders. Surely, those who are of old age are included, and a good way of honoring them is to “actively support the social pension work of government departments,” Father Wu said.
However, he insisted that the notion of the “elders” goes beyond biological connections. Broadening the idea of the “elders,” the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its leaders should also be acknowledged as “elders.” “Honor Thy Father” also means “Honor the CCP,” which is the father of the Chinese Catholics and of all Chinese people.
The sermons on the theme “Honor Thy Father” should thus teach Catholics to “guide the church members and religious people to firmly support the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, unswervingly listen to the Party, feel the Party’s grace, and follow the Party, always be of one mind and one heart with the Party, and walk in the same direction with the Party,” Wu said.
As one of the lay Catholic workers in attendance told “Bitter Winter,” “We do not see any progress after the Vatican-China deal of 2018. We are told that we should preach more and more loyalty to the Party. What about loyalty to the Church and the Pope?”
