“Blessed are the peacemakers”… Should Catholics Shun Hong Kong Protests ?
While our site statistics show we have fairly regular visits from both China and Hong Kong, it strikes me that we’ve never discussed the current volatile situation in Hong Kong. While the news media in the UK restricts itself to reporting, narrowly, on “the protests”, a quick Google search reveals that Catholics are actively participating in this action.
Are they right to do so, albeit that they are calling for a peaceful solution? Is participating in the street protests an appropriate way to achieve this aim? Watching police in riot gear, ready for physical battle, brings to mind Christ’s teaching that “peacemakers” are blessed by God. Are the Catholics of Hong Kong failing to heed Christ’s exhortation – or are they right to participate, actively, in the protests? Is there another, better way, to achieve a peaceful solution?
Comments (24)
Today’s Sky News piece on Hong Kong reported that the protests are not so peaceful now.
I think Catholics must participate in these protests given that China is a totalitarian government which persecutes Catholics and has done for years.
It’s unthinkable that a Catholic could be extradited to China, possibly on a trumped up charge and end up in prison for years or put to death.
So, yes, definitely Catholics should actually be leading the protests,not just join in them.
Josephine,
I completely agree, if this law is allowed to go unprotested, there will be round-ups of political “dissenters” and religious people, all taken to China on trumped up allegations and charges.
I know this Washington Post article is quoting an LGBT activist, but a lot of what she says is important and applies to everyone
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/06/07/hong-kongs-extradition-law-threatens-our-democratic-spirit-its-also-awakening-it/
Laura,
The video in that Washington Post report is really interesting and important to watch since it shows what lies ahead of Hong Kong if these protests fail.
Thank you Laura – a very thought-provoking article and video.
Josephine,
The reason the protests are not so peaceful now will be because the protesters are being persistent and the authorities have decided to crack down. I thought it was too good to be true that so many people were being allowed to protest on the streets for so long.
I agree, Catholics should be leading to way – when Christ spoke about being peacemakers, I’m sure he wasn’t meaning a false peace that is a cover for tyranny.
Nicky,
Watching the news a short while ago, with police beating up protesters merely en route to the place of protest, makes me think you are spot on – the authorities are not going to tolerate any serious dissent. And look what happened when a Hong Kong pop star/activists took the case to the UN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6qny5ScUSg
Chilling.
Considering the fact that in WWII their government was NOT Communist (the Communists came to power in 1949, i.e. 70 years of the Church in captivity there), Taiwan should hold the seat on the UNSC, since they are the rightful heirs of our WWII ally. Then again, Nixon did away with that in the 70s.
Josephine,
Agree – 100% – with you. It is not a denial of the Beatitudes to participate in peaceful protests with the aim of repairing an injustice.
I wonder if any of these Hong Kong Catholics were protesting last year, when Pope Francis threw their PRC underground brethren under the bus . Too little, too late, and I’m sure the tanks will be rolling over them before too long.
Here in the USA, Catholics march peacefully to protest abortion, mostly in national events like the “Right to Life” March this winter. I think the time is fast approaching when more of us will be forced to act similarly, because the darkness is closing in.
RCA Victor,
Very good point about the lack of action over the Pope’s betrayal of the “real” – underground – Catholic Church – a very good point indeed.
I also agree that the “darkness is closing in” – things are steadily and dramatically worsening around us; that is very clear.
Pathetic that you are so morally weak that you’d ask the question.
Is this the same Catholic Church that once had the [courage] to attempt to free Jerusalem from the Moors?
Editor,
Greg, you are clearly not an educator or you would know that lessons, discussions, exams etc are FULL of questions to which we know the answer. We get the chance, in exams, to show off what we know – it’s great! The purpose of Catholic blogging, certainly here, is to educate, and so our topics are designed to make us think through what we believe. Wasn’t it St Peter who said we should always be ready to explain the reasons for the hope that is in us – that is, we should be always ready and able to explain our Faith. Instead of coming on with a nasty comment, aimed at making YOU look knowledgeable and the rest of us, as you say, look “pathetic”, you might have provided a link to an informative article to support your claim about freeing Jerusalem [many readers may not know anything about that] or even a general article about the real nature of the Crusades [again, few people know the truth about the Crusades and believe the propaganda].
One other thing; it is certainly the fashion today, in secular society, to use sexual language all over the place in speech and writings, as adjectives, for example. The ridiculous “sexy dossier” during the Iraq war crisis is one of the more obvious examples of nonsense, if not stupidity, in the use of language; here, however, we aim to be as truly Catholic as we possibly can be, and so we heed St Paul’s warnings not to speak about such things, because it is important, always, to protect purity.* It’s not “pathetic” or prudish – it’s just modest. Being careful with language, not to sexualise everything, as happens in worldly circles. I will always remove such language, so try to think of another word when you are tempted to use an inappropriate/sexual term.
Finally, if you learn to read our headlines with intelligence, and recognise the opportunities to help in our aim of educating – primarily ourselves – in our Faith, then, I believe you will become a valued contributor to our blog. Otherwise, I’m afraid your comments will continue to be moderated and only those – like this one – which I can use to help clarify matters for you and others, will be released. Have a good day! Miss you already!
* Obviously, we have discussed various issues, such as the LGBT+ agenda, sex education in Catholic schools etc, because these are now part and parcel of the crisis in the Church, sad to say, but in ordinary speech and writing, we must avoid normalising sexualisation by using inappropriate/sexual words as adjectives, nouns, metaphors etc. Unless our grasp of language is so poor that we really can’t think of anything else, that should not be a problem. If our grasp of language IS so poor that we can’t think of anything else – say nothing!
Last night I found this little nugget in #217 of Tanquerey’s The Spiritual LIfe:
“It is for such select souls [men of conviction] and for priests to infuse into the more timid Christians the courage to fight the tyranny of human respect, of fashion and of legalized persecution. [emphasis mine] The best means of effecting this is to band together into societies those influential laymen who have the courage of their convictions, and who fear neither to speak nor to act accordingly. It is in this manner that the Saints brought about in their times the reformation of morals.”
I don’t know if there are any “influential laymen” working against the Red Chinese persecutions, and I don’t know if there are any priests doing this either, but in the absence of the ability to form societies in a Communist police state, I’d say public protests are the next best thing.
RCA Victor,
I completely agree that, especially in the situation where people are living in a tyrannical State, under a totalitarian government like China, public protests are the next best thing to band together in societies. The old saying “safety in numbers” springs to mind. Seeing the massive crowds in the Hong Kong airport and streets, the government can hardly imprison them all!
The Hong Kong situation is very serious now, with China moving troops to the border.
https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/08/14/calm-safe-donald-trump-confirms-china-moving-troops-hong-kong-border/
Catholics always suffer under Communist governments – hence Our Lady’s warnings at Fatima. If only the Pope would do as she requested, consecrate Russia, and let us have that promised period of peace.
Pope Pius XII consecrated Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1952 BUT Our Lord said that it was “insufficient”.
On June 13, 1929 – 90 years ago! – in the Presence of the Most Holy Trinity, Our Lady said to +Sister Lucia:
“The moment has come in which God asks the Holy Father to order and make in union with all the bishops of the world the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means.”
In the 1950s, Our Lady said to +Sister Lucia that She is “still awaiting the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart. Without the consecration, Russia will not be able to convert, nor will the world have peace.”
She is still waiting.
Margaret USA,
Well said. Our Lady did say that the Consecration would be done but “it would be late”. Well, it’s late, all right. Big time.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
The PRC wanted Hong Kong but honestly what did they expect? Did they think that the population of Hong Kong would become communist in 22 years? Countries never voluntarily accept communism, it’s always forced on them from above. I sometimes wonder, if our country hadn’t entered World War I would there have been revolution in Russia? Russia then would not have spread it’s errors around the world, and the legitimate government of the Republic of China would not have been overthrown by the Communist Party. Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau and mainland China would all be united and democratic and Tibet would be free.
Miles Immaculatae,
Not sure what you mean by “if our country hadn’t entered World War I would there have been revolution in Russia?” Could you explain?
RCA Victor,
I can see that Miles Immaculatae hasn’t exactly rushed to answer your question – let’s hope he sees it soon because I’m keen to know the answer as well!
Thanks for your contributions today when the blog has been very quiet … In fact, I’ve seen busier nature trails!
https://i.pinimg.com/236x/35/94/77/3594776b3e4b6b11969cb9a6a331ac10.jpg
The historian John Charmley suggested that had the UK not entered World War I then the Bolsheviks might not have succeeded. He also says that there would have been no Second World War.
Miles,
The Bolsheviks succeeded because they were trained on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (by Trotsky, no less) and funded by wealthy capitalists like Kuhn, Loeb (Wall Street brokerage) and even the King of Sweden. There was also a network of globalist leg men set up in Russia itself, through the Red Cross, to aid the fledgling revolution. Not to mention the famous story of Lenin being transported to Russia during the war via train, through Germany, to do his dirty work.
In other words, I don’t know what the presence of the UK in the war had to do with it, but I’d be interested in viewing the video. Could you supply a link?
There is a video on YouTube, worth watching, a debate on the motion “Britain Should Not Have Fought in the First World War”.
This news about China’s increasing threat to Hong Kong
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/china-rotates-new-troops-into-hong-kong-amid-mass-protests/ar-AAGtBlx?ocid=spartanntp
comes just as this news comes from the Vatican
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/vatican-confirms-consecration-of-first-chinese-bishop-following-controversial-vatican-china-deal
WOW!
And some time later, this…
“The deafening silence from Vatican City exposes the communist fault lines buried within this pontificate.”
https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2019/08/29/yore-pope-francis-goes-silent-on-hong-kong-protests-as-christians-take-major-role/