Apologists for Parolin and Francis

Pleased to write for the first time for the New York Post, with ⁦@gjpappin⁩, in defense of the Vatican’s renewed agreement with China https://t.co/d2OoCagDTo

— Adrian Vermeule (@Vermeullarmine) October 29, 2020

🇻🇦The Vatican just renewed its agreement with China.

Why?

The deep theological & political reasons behind the Vatican's approach are rarely discussed.@Vermeullarmine & I lay out reasons for the agreement in today's @nypost https://t.co/Jr99ijJd1H

— Gladden Pappin (@gjpappin) October 29, 2020

Actually, having two different jurisdictional orders for the same territory is very much possible. Juridical "neatness" at the expense of what is pastorally wise is a problem. But apologists for the papal centralism prefer juridical "neatness." Even Latins recognize that the supreme law of the Church is charity, and the good of Christians overrides all other considerations, even "ecclesiastical neatness." Who in Rome consulted the underground bishops in China for their opinions?

Anthony Clark's latest at least offers both sides of the argument: China’s Catholic Leviathan: Jesuits and the Sino-Vatican Agreement. But the affirmative is still wrong: full communion with the bishop of Rome is not the highest good.

Dr. Anthony E. Clark on the China Situation

The Roman Rite in China

CWR: China, politics, faith, and the liturgical village: Cardinal Joseph Zen in context by Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D.

China’s Catholic culture has preserved Western devotional practices that one seldom sees in Catholic homes today in the U.S. and Europe.

What Future for Higher Ed?

CWR: Bonfire of the Humanities: The Moorings of Academy Adrift by Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D.
We must choose between a commitment to the unmeasurable things that bring us refinement and solace, such as beauty, or the destructive path of pure pragmatism and economics, which engender apathy and narcissism.

Too late for Oxford? Too late for England?

CWR: Oxford’s Catholic Revival: “The battle for freedom to practice our religion is never done” by Anthony E. Clark
University cities are seldom today locations of Christian revival, but the vibrant Catholic presence at Oxford today provides a healthy counterbalance to the secularizing trends that afflict the Academy.

History of the Catholic Church in China

CWR: The Catholic Church in China: Historical context and the current situation

Chinese Catholics—“above” and “underground”—view themselves as part of “one suffering Catholic Church.” Will the Vatican’s present negotiations with China help or hinder those struggling to practice the Faith under a communist government?

CWR: Chinese Catholics who changed China and the world by Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D.

The inspiring and little-known stories of Fr. Ma Xiangbo, SJ, Princess Yu Deling, Ying Lianzhi, Abbot Lu Zhengxiang, OSB, and Bishop Fan Xueyan.

Catholic World Report: China and Vatican Make Preliminary Agreement on the Election of Bishops
Pope Francis is not the first pope to turn his pastoral gaze toward China, and in the long scope of the Middle Kingdom's history, the Vatican’s overtures to China are not so unusual.
By Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D.

The American historian and novelist, Edward Eggleston, once said that, “Journalism is organized gossip.” There has been a lot of journalism lately about the Church in China, but it has been extremely difficult to separate the genuine news from “organized gossip.” In June, the bishop of Shanghai, Ma Daqin, who has spent four years under house arrest for refusing

Asia News: Card. Zen: My concerns over China-Holy See dialogue and repercussions on Chinese Church

Card. Tong: Communion of the Church in China with the Universal Church

Card. John Tong, bishop of Hong Kong, gives an in-depth explanation of the Holy See’s reasons for continuing dialogue with Beijing: to ensure greater religious freedom to the Catholic communities; re-establish unofficial and imprisoned bishops; reinstate illicit bishops. The Letter of Pope Benedict XVI is "absolutely valid."

CWR: "Partakers in the Suffering”: Recent events in China’s hopeful Church by Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D.
The situation in China is far more complex than a simple chronicle of antagonism, suspicion, and persecution; progress and hope also punctuate the narrative