Fighting for their Faith

Found on the site of my favorite West Coast Blogging Barrister is this CNN piece about the underground Church in China. There are two Catholic Churches in China. The Official State sanctioned Church in which the Bishops are picked by the Communist Government and the Underground Church which is unquestionably loyal to the Holy See and thus constantly harrassed by the Chinese Government.

Eight years ago when my wife and I spent two weeks in China to adopt our daughter it was culture shock in the most profound sense. For the first few days we were appalled by the big things that were readily apparent. Pollution, poverty, and interestingly enough not one free bird to be seen anywhere. Late in the first week there having had time to acclimate ourselves to the environment (and people looking at me like I was Gulliver) we began to pick up on things, subtly absent that were shocking if you took the time to pay attention.

In our two weeks in China where we stayed in two huge cities we did not see one Christian Church of any type. This clip, which I would have missed had it not been for the Digital Hairshirt, illustrates the fact that there are many people who have to struggle with many obstacles just to practice their Faith, our Faith.

Its a good clip to bookmark for the next time you contemplate blowing off Mass in your magnificent climate controlled church or leaving early after Communion because you don't want to miss the pregame.

Since for some reason I can't get the embed code to work in this post you can view the video here until I figure out what the hell I am doing wrong.