China: The Great Seminary of Shanxi Obliged to Close
The great seminary of Shanxi, in northeast China, is going to close for at least two years, announced Bishop John Huo Cheng, “official” bishop of the diocese of Fenyang, on January 7, 2013. According to the information agency of the Foreign Missions of Paris, Eglises d’Asie (Churches of Asia), the Communist administration required that the bishops of Shanxi reintegrate Fr. Anthony Chang Tongxi as rector of the seminary, threatening to close the seminary if they refused. Refusing to accept this request, the bishops of the eight dioceses of Shanxi preferred to close the seminary themselves “for two years.”
Located in the suburbs of Taiyuan, capitol of Shanxi, the great seminary presently has 28 students. The eleven seminarians who were in their final year of studies will remain there until June. The seventeen others will return to their dioceses and will afterwards be received in another one of the country’s great seminaries.
The Communist administration announced that a “mission of evaluation” is to be conducted. According to Eglises d’Asie, quoting local sources, this mission is a cover for their desire to close the establishment definitively. The ultimate objective is to concentrate the formation in the great national seminary of Peking.
Two seminaries were already closed four years ago: in Shanghai, after the spectacular resignation of Bishop Ma Daqin from his responsibilities in the Patriotic Association of Chinese Catholics (see DICI#267, Dec. 21, 2012); classes were also suspended in the seminary of Sheshan as a retaliation.
(sources: apic/eda – DICI#270 Feb. 15, 2013)
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