EDITORIAL Hong Kong Catholics cool as friends wait,
watch and pray
Ask not for whom the midnight bell tolls on June 30 in Hong Kong:
It tolls for the Christians and the democrats, as the switch to Chinese rule
finally takes effect. Ask, though, what U.S. Catholics can do, and thats
a bit tricky -- whether one is talking about Christians just in Hong Kong or
those throughout China. Prayer isnt the only answer, but it is a genuine
one.
E-mail may prove to be another, providing person-to-person links
unthinkable not too long ago. Opposing Most Favored Nation trading status for
China could be a third, though that could also backfire with Beijing blaming --
and punishing -- dissidents, democrats and Christians if its denied.
In a clutch of words, then, the Beijing-versus-the-Christians
issue, including the newly disenfranchised Hong Kong Christians, is sensitive
and uncertain.
The U.S. bishops, who as a conference have judiciously, by
invitation, and only occasionally inserted themselves into the international
debate on behalf of the beleaguered church elsewhere, have little room to
maneuver on China.
First, there is the matter of trying not to stumble into whatever
the Vatican is attempting to accomplish with both the underground and the
above-ground church in China.
Next, there is the drawback inherent in the understanding that an
episcopal conference does not move on these matters except with the invitation
or at the urging of the bishops in the country in question. And it is quite
unlikely that the Chinese Catholic bishops can issue such an invitation.
Fortunately, Hong Kongs Catholics and democrats are not
likely to remain silent -- unless silenced -- where their freedoms are
concerned. So we can continue to keep track of the situation through them.
As NCR reported last year, many Catholics and democrats
have deliberately not taken out foreign passports as an emergency escape hatch,
but have committed themselves and their children to trying to carry their
message of both Christianity and democracy into China with them, effective July
1.
Theirs is a cool form of courage.
What one is left with, nonetheless, is a sense of futility at not
being able to do anything to actually support such courageous
people.
We must, as they must, wait and see.
And wait for them to tell us, as Beijing inevitably tightens its
grip, what they want us to do to help.
National Catholic Reporter, June 20,
1997
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