It took Stephen Chow Sau-yan months of consideration in prayer before accepting the post of bishop of Hong Kong. “I didn’t feel the call in myself to be bishop,” the 62-year-old explained in a press conference. In the end, it was a handwritten letter from Pope Francis that convinced the Jesuit. “The Holy Father wrote something in his handwriting that he believed I should be the bishop … and so, for me, this was a sign.”
The Hong Kong-born cleric, who trained as a psychologist in the United States, now has the difficult task to build “a bridge between the government and the Church in HK, and between the Catholic Church, fellow Christian denominations, and other religions,” he said in his inaugural speech in December. Just over 12 percent of the city’s citizens identify as Christian. Schools, universities, and social institutions often have a Christian background.
The political turmoil in Hong Kong has left deep cracks within the Christian community. “The political situation is causing great uncertainty among Christians,” said Pastor Tim Buechsel in an interview with China.Table. The German-American has been working for the Vine Church in Wanchai District since 2018. Many church members have fled the city, he says. The Vine Church still had 2,500 members at the end of 2019. Now there are some 1,300 left. A considerable proportion fears that they will soon no longer be able to practice their faith freely under the growing influence of the Chinese Communist Party.
Charity also quickly reaches its limits in today’s heated political atmosphere. Often, there are even conflicts within families over political disagreements. “The mood is explosive. Parents no longer talk to their children and vice versa,” the pastor said. Despite dwindling numbers of members in his community, some new believers have even joined, “because many people no longer feel understood in their existing social spheres”.
Christians among protesters and government
The schism within families reflects the city’s political fronts. Many members of Hong Kong’s protest movement are devout Christians, including its leaders such as Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow, and Benny Tai, who have repeatedly cited their faith as an inspiration for their political commitment. A study by the city’s University Grants Committee found that nearly 25 percent of Hong Kong’s students are Christians. One of their main protest songs was “Sing Hallelujah to the Lord.”
And even Carrie Lam, the head of government who is loyal to Beijing, is also a follower of Catholicism, as was her predecessor Donald Tsang. Although some Hong Kong protesters find inspiration in Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Christian resister who was murdered in a concentration camp, the Hong Kong protest movement is by no means an “us against them” in the shade of the cross.
The church’s continued weighty role in Hong Kong’s social life is a legacy of British colonial rule, as Buechsel explains. “Because the British could not cater to certain needs, or perhaps even deliberately refused to, Christian organizations filled these gaps, especially during times when many refugees arrived in Hong Kong.” Today, his congregation has an average age of 30. Worship services and home groups are held in English, Cantonese, or Mandarin.
Uncertain future for practiced faith
It is uncertain what the future holds for the Christian church in Hong Kong. For Hong Kong Christians, the big challenge in the coming years is a rapidly changing political situation. “That might mean we have to find new ways of dealing with reality,” Buechsel says. The 43-year-old points to mainland China. Between 40 and 120 million Christians live there, according to estimates. However, churches there are under strict state supervision. China has its official state church, congregations of people with foreign passports, and many underground churches.
Because the former dictator Mao Zedong did not tolerate any authority besides himself, the party had an official Chinese state church founded as early as the 1950s, which today has a Protestant and a Catholic branch. The Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPA) and the Three-Self Patriotic Movement consider themselves to be Christian cooperation partners of the government. Portraits of the great chairman are emblazoned on their premises. Today, pictures of Xi Jinping are often placed more prominently than those of Jesus and his apostles.
The underground church, on the other hand, which still swears allegiance to the pope and holds its services in private, operates in a gray area and is more or less tolerated depending on the political climate. More than two-thirds of Chinese Christians belong to this group. Since Xi’s inauguration, the situation for China’s believers has deteriorated considerably, explains Thomas Mueller of Open Doors, an international aid organization that advocates for Christians in more than 70 countries around the world. “The gray area that used to exist has shrunk considerably if it still exists at all. This became particularly noticeable in 2018.”
Fear of “Chinese” conditions
In the past, the party published a white paper calling on all religions to “submit to and serve the interests of the state and the Chinese people “. The rules by which clergy are selected were tightened, as were the rules they had to obey in their daily work. In December 2021, another strict set of regulations on the use of the Internet for religious organizations was introduced – “a medium that is particularly important in times of pandemic,” Müller explains. They will come into force in March.
Even in the state churches, which “continue to faithfully proclaim the Christian message,” ideological pressure has once again increased “to the point of coercion.” Pastors would be compelled to praise the Communist Party and its policies, for example, in fighting the pandemic. Others must submit their sermons in advance for review. “Therefore, there are also repeated reports that Christians are seeking the way (…) into underground churches,” says the analyst of the Christian aid organization.
The Vatican has not yet found a clear strategy on how to deal with the situation in China. “One of the most difficult issues in recent decades has been the appointment of bishops, a right that the Vatican claims worldwide,” Mueller explains. “Consequently, some bishops were abducted and placed under house arrest by the Communist Party. Conversely, there are bishops appointed by the party but not approved by the Vatican.”
Vatican concessions to Beijing
In an attempt to liberate Chinese Christians from the gray area and thus perhaps convert more Chinese, Pope Francis has already officially recognized eight bishops of the state church. It’s a concession that didn’t quite work out, Mueller notes. The agreement has also been used by the Communist Party to increase calls for underground churches to join the CPA. But many Chinese Catholics who remain loyal to the Vatican reject this call.
The new Hong Kong bishop Stephen Chow must now also balance on this fine line. For three years, the Vatican had been searching for a suitable candidate with enough tact and sensitivity for the task. Cardinal Joseph Zen, one of Chow’s predecessors, is still one of Beijing’s harshest critics. And in recent years, Chow has also participated in events such as the Tiananmen commemorations in Hong Kong on June 4. Since the introduction of the Security Law in 2020, such participation has been punishable in the city.
Since taking office, however, he has chosen diplomatic words: “God who wants us to be united,” he wrote in an essay in December. “We hope to have dialogue and develop better understanding.” He said he sees himself in the role of “a bridge” in this effort: “Being a bridge, in a sense, entails bearing the burden. My words may not cater to both sides, but at least, it brings people from the two sides to come together in the middle. Otherwise, there is no future for society. My role is to act as a bridge.”
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