Shanghai, 22 March 2014: About 5,000 Catholics, including 70 priests from open and
underground catholic communities in Shanghai and other dioceses, gathered at a funeral
parlor in Shanghai to celebrate the requiem Mass for Bishop Joseph Fan Zhongliang,
the ordinary of Shanghai who was not recognized by the Chinese government.
Father
Zhu Yude from the underground community in Shanghai diocese, presided the requiem
Mass. Father Zhu spoke about faith and servant, and asked Catholics to follow the
example of Bishop Fan. However, the all-awaited Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin was absent
at the ceremony.
The 70 priests concelebrated, and each wore a red stole. "Red
symbolizes martyrdom," participating priests told AsiaNews. At the Eucharistic prayer,
priests recited "our bishop Thaddeus".
In the funeral hall, on a banner, the
term "bishop" was replaced with "shepherd", as the Chinese government always bars
underground prelates from being called "bishop" at funerals. However, Bishop Fan was
addressed as "bishop" orally throughout the liturgy.
A booklet was specially
made for this requiem Mass. A total of 4,000 copies of the booklet was distributed,
but insufficient.
Since Bishop Fan was not recognized by the Chinese government,
his body was not allowed by the Chinese government to be buried inside St. Ignatius'
Cathedral in Shanghai. Instead, Catholics bought a place in a cemetery in Sheshan
area to bury his remains after cremation, sources said.
This morning, two hours
before the liturgy, the courtyard in front of the funeral parlor was filled with thousands
of Catholics. Police were directing traffic in the area.
A huge screen was
set up in the courtyard to televise the situation inside the funeral parlor. Police
put up barriers in the courtyard to confine Catholics to a certain area of the courtyard.
The
Mass lasted for about 3 hours, including Catholics, one by one, paid the last tribute
to see the body of Bishop Fan.
At lunch time, participants were given bread
and water before they attended the farewell session in the afternoon. Then, the body
of Bishop Fan was taken to cremation.
An underground priest told AsiaNews that
he was happy the liturgy went on smoothly with God's blessing. As priests from both
sides reconciled and concelebrated at the funeral, he said, hoping that the Church
in China will be united.Source: AsiaNews