Catholics who serve God, two masters

It is three o'clock on Good Friday afternoon and approximately 800 faithful are gathered in the South Cathedral in Beijing for…

It is three o'clock on Good Friday afternoon and approximately 800 faithful are gathered in the South Cathedral in Beijing for the Stations of the Cross.

Outside the church on Xuanwumen Street life goes on. An open-air barber cuts another head of hair, groups of old men play cards and Chinese chess in the balmy sunshine, and a crippled beggar places himself strategically at the door of the 100-year-old church building with his cup rattling with coins.

Inside, the curate, Father Francis Xavier Zhang, starts the service. Eyes closed and head bowed, he quickly becomes absorbed in the task of going through each of the 14 Stations of the Cross.

The cathedral was packed all week for the Easter ceremonies. During the Palm Sunday Mass, Father Zhang broke down and cried after completing the lengthy Passion reading.

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Today, the mainly Chinese congregation recites the prayers and sing the hymns with vigour. here is only a handful of Western worshippers. A sign on a pillar advertises daily Mass in Latin at 5.50 a.m. and in Chinese at 6.30 a.m. There is one English Mass here every week, at 10 a.m. on Sunday.

This seems like an ordinary Catholic Easter ceremony, but not so. It is the service of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Church.

Switch to the Canadian embassy in the centre of Beijing's diplomatic belt 24 hours later. Over 200 people are squeezed into a room in the embassy building for the weekly "underground" Roman Catholic Mass.

This Mass is held at 5.30 p.m. every Saturday. Space is usually at a premium and even more so this week as it is Easter and a group from the UN is also in attendance.

A local listings magazine carried an advertisement announcing the special Easter service, making it clear foreign passport holders only are allowed.

The congregation is a mix of Asians, Americans and Europeans. Quite a few of Beijing's 70strong Irish community are in attendance as well. Before the Mass starts the congregation is led through the hymns by a folk group.

In a small adjoining room, nine children are having their pre-Holy Communion class. They meet here every week in preparation for their big day in May.

Father James, not his real name, is his usual energetic and charismatic self, dressed in casual beige trousers and a shirt. He greets his "parishioners" as he walks through the room. He has a final word with his altar servers before going to change into his vestments.

The Franciscan priest holds down a professional job by day. The authorities know he is here and are prepared to turn a blind eye to his weekend "job" once it is confined to the ex-pat community. He is shy of having his name published in a newspaper for fear of jeopardising what he is doing.

Since 1949, all religious organisations wishing to operate in China are state controlled. The Chinese Patriotic Catholic Church claims to have five million members and 70 bishops throughout China. The Vatican, on the other hand, claims that eight million Chinese remain loyal to the Pope and worship in secret.

Last year was a bad year for relations between the two religious groups. In January, there was serious tension when the Chinese Church ordained five bishops in a Beijing cathedral on the same day that Pope John Paul ordained 12 bishops at St Peter's Basilica to coincide with the Feast of the Epiphany.

Matters deteriorated later in the year when the Vatican canonised a group of Chinese martyrs and missionaries on China's National Day, October 1st. Beijing was not impressed and said the decision was an insult to the people of China.

The two events have put new obstacles in the way of the normalisation of ties between Rome and Beijing, something that has been the subject of behind-the-scenes manoeuvring in recent years.

There are an estimated 40 Roman Catholic priests and nuns who, like Father James, work in office jobs during the day all over China, saying "underground" Masses at weekends.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Patriotic Church in China celebrates its Masses freely and openly in churches and cathedrals, some of which have recently received funding from the state for much-needed renovations.

Reports continue to circulate about the repression of underground Roman Catholic priests and nuns. Recently it was claimed that an elderly bishop had been detained for being too outspoken from the altar.

But on a day-to-day level both churches operate in harmony side by side. During Holy Thursday Mass, Father Zhang prayed for the Bishop Michael Fu of Beijing and for Pope John Paul.

On Easter Saturday, Father James prayed for the Pope and for the bishops of Beijing.

Two churches with the same beliefs and the same God. The difference is the leader of one church is Pope John Paul; and the nominal leader of the other is the Chinese President, Jiang Zemin.