Mgr Ma Daqin, the Vatican and the Patriotic Association’s “crooked logic”
A priest in central China looks at the bishop of Shanghai’s volte-face, comparing him to John the Baptist who was jailed after he accused Herod. Because of their crooked logic, the Patriotic Association and the government seek to eliminate religion from the country. The Vatican is in danger of contradicting itself if it makes compromises with the Patriotic Association. Pope Benedict XVI described the latter as “incompatible” with Catholic doctrine in his Letter to Chinese Catholics, which Pope Francis has never disclaimed, but has instead reiterated.
Beijing (AsiaNews) – John the Baptist's witness to the world can be traced even to the time before his birth. The Angel Gabriel gave him a name and prophesied what life he would live and the things he would do.
The Bible intentionally avoids reporting John's secular life until he went into the wilderness. John is closely related to God and with Jesus Christ. When he was still in the womb, he leapt for joy when he met with Jesus. John grew with a strong spirit and lived in the wilderness until the Messiah began to preach. When John saw Jesus approaching him to receive the baptism, he humbly pointed at Him and proclaimed, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world"! This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”
However, toward Herod and the Jews, John was extremely critical, straightforward, and outspoken, hitting the nail on the head and raising opposition.
John was a Man of God. He baptized others, so they could repent. Moreover, he spoke out against sin, even when facing imprisonment. He spoke the truth, to testify to the light, and illuminate the darkness of the human heart.
Mgr Ma Daqin goes into the wilderness
Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin wrote five articles in the past six months. Although the former four articles seem to have laid some groundwork and preparation for the fifth one, only the fifth one, when it came out, caused a strong shock among the Chinese, the Church in China, and the universal Church.
The Patriotic Association, which is a government-controlled grassroots organization, should not have become a problem for the Catholic Church. Why has it become an unescapable problem? Perhaps because, now as in the past, it has created a dilemma in many local churches!
At the ordination on July 7, 2012, Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin voluntarily left the Patriotic Association, and this made those who support religious freedom policy lose face (at least as the authorities define such freedom). Consequently, Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin was restricted and forced to live in the Sheshan seminary, like in the wilderness, for four years. It has been a high price for leaving the Patriotic Association.
This shows that, in fact the "government-controlled" Patriotic Association, a so called "self-formed service organization" established within the Church, interferes with the policy of religious freedom that is written in the Chinese Constitution.
This is, indeed, a paradox: it determines the necessity of the presence of the Chinese Patriotic Association. Since, on principle, this is an organization spontaneously formed by faithful Catholics, it shows that religious freedom is present with no outside interference. If there is a contradiction, it is only internal. If it needs to be resolved, it needs something that can guarantee justice. This way, the Religious Affairs Department, which is run by the government, can legally intervene and its role is even justified. This means that they can resolve all the conflicts within the Church by themselves. This way of doing things does not contradict the Chinese Constitution, limits religious freedom, and can eventually eliminate religion (this has been the government's dream).
Patriotic Association’s crooked logic
Chinese people can easily understand this form of "logic" better than non-Chinese people. "Logic" is a word introduced from outside, which is tied with truth and justice. Otherwise, it is not "logical”. However, Chinese people are able to make "obscurities", "sophistry" and tricks develop into a learning theory that becomes "logical" even though these principles do not fit into the definition of logics. This is not real logical, but they still want to pretend that it is logical. How to do it? They invented a "crooked logic"! As a result, they use "crooked logic" and they know that cooked people, bandits, always do not value logics.
In his five articles, Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin seemed to justify this "crooked logic". From the very beginning, the existence of the Patriotic Association within the Church has been a disaster, and now, due to these ‘Chinese characteristics’, it has become unavoidable and righteous… If Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin knew that the Patriotic Association was worth giving up, why is he now making efforts to retake what he denied?
In Pope Benedict XVI's Pastoral Letter to the Chinese Church, he clearly stated that the Patriotic Association is not compatible with Church teachings. Thus, Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin's publicly announced to resign from it. Until today, it is not hard to say that this action, inspired at the time of ‘Pastoral Letter’, is a model of bearing witness to the faith for the Chinese Church. However, why has he now changed his mind?
The Vatican spokesman has already clarified that Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin’s “volte-face” was not inspired by the Holy See, and that all the allegations and rumours that the Bishop's change was due to the influence of the Vatican are all false. As a result, Bishop Ma got himself stuck in the mud (got himself cornered).
Although the Vatican has clarified that it had nothing to do with Ma’s volte-face, it did not continue to proclaim Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s basic decision of Patriotic Association as not compatible with the doctrine, nor did it do this with respect to Benedict XVI’s basic definition of the Patriotic Association. Moreover, there is a strong push for negotiations between the Vatican and China. All this seems to have inevitably misled Bishop Ma "into the wilderness”.
Vatican goes into the wilderness
With Bishop Ma's retraction, the Vatican now also faces a difficult situation.
When he met Herod, Jesus said nothing, because he knew that Herod was a fox! Although Jesus ate with sinners, he did not talk to foxes.
Usually, it is thought that “logic” confuses people, not bandits. But foxes are very cunning; they know that God is merciful and has pity on bandits Therefore, they hold in their hand the card of the Patriotic Association and negotiate following a “crooked logic”.
If the Vatican saves the bandits and signs an agreement, it will bring shame onto itself. If the Vatican does not sign the agreement, it will have to see the faithful struggle with the "crooked logic" and starve to receive some care. If all these efforts do not result in any progress, this will bring more embarrassment. So now, the Vatican’s situation is the same as Bishop Ma’s, who wrote " the baby is suffering" on his blog.
“People who lived in the shadow of death saw a ray of light," that was the light of survivors who went through the valley of death; it is the light of truth, that is the light witnessed by John Baptist in the wilderness. It is the light that encouraged the bishop to declare publicly his resignation.
Today, facing Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin’s volte-face, we cannot help but ask ourselves from the bottom of the heart: is this happening because the light is hidden? Or is it because the light is, in its own way, engulfing the dark?
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