July 21, 2012: The local government has concluded its investigation into the ordination
of a bishop who simultaneously quit the government-sanctioned Chinese Catholic Patriotic
Association (CCPA), sources said on Friday. But so far Beijing has not issued any
statement on Auxiliary Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin of Shanghai, who has allegedly been
restricted from exercising his episcopal ministry since the incident on July 7. The
45-year-old bishop is reportedly in confinement at Sheshan Seminary, in the outskirts
of Shanghai, although his blog was updated twice this week since his disappearance,
immediately following his ordination.
Government officials questioned more
than 100 diocesan priests and nuns who were absent from the ordination about their
reasons for not attending and their opinions on the ordination and Bishop Ma’s speech,
sources said. Repeated interviews with several priests who officiated at the ceremony
ended last weekend. The Holy See appointed Bishop Ma as auxiliary bishop but the
Chinese government only recognized him as a “coadjutor.” A diocesan priest of Shanghai,
who asked for anonymity, said Bishop Ma has to stay in the seminary indefinitely.
He quoted officials as saying the prelate’s return “depends on his performance and
the Catholics’ reaction.”
The CCPA and Bishops’ Conference of the Church in
China (BCCCC) have said the ordination “allegedly seriously violated the BCCCC’s regulations.”
Bishop Ma is the first “open” bishop in recent years to publicly announce during an
episcopal ordination his intention to give up his offices in the CPA. After Bishop
Ma’s ordination, the title of his blog was changed from “Notes of a Shanghai Priest”
to “Notes of Shanghai’s Least Servant,” a typical way for a bishop to refer to himself.
Updates
to his blog comforts those concerned about the bishop, who is well-versed in Chinese
literature, sources said. But a few comments left below of his Thursday’s post questioned
whether it was published by the bishop or by someone else.