In recent years, attempts to
understand China have moved from general descriptions of the nation=s long and complex past to more focused
and detailed studies of people and events which have influenced its
progress.
One book which is broadening our
appreciation of the role of the early Jesuits in China is Liam Brockey=s >Journey
to the East: The Jesuit Mission to China, 1579 - 1727'.
Here, Hugh MacMahon draws some lessons from the early Jesuits= efforts
which laid the
foundations not only of the present Chinese Church but also of the Church in
Korea and, to a lesser extent, Japan.
For too long there has been a
perception that the Jesuits concentrated their energy on the educated elite of
16th and 17th century China and had little involvement
with the ordinary people. The facts show a different picture. In 1582 when
Ruggieri, the predecessor of Ricci by one year, entered China there were no
Christians there but, due to his efforts and those of his colleagues, by 1606
there were 1000 Catholics and in 1610 there were 2,500.
By 1665 the Jesuits were
administering the sacraments annually to over 105,000 people and in 1695 there
were over 200,000 Catholics in the empire. Of that number only a handful were
influential on the national level, a small number had some authority on the
provincial level and the vast majority were lower class Chinese, living in
small towns and rural villages scattered over wide areas of China.
Preparations
Valignano, the Jesuit superior who
masterminded the shape the mission would take, saw the need for a clear
strategy if the efforts of a small band of missionaries were not be wasted in
such a vast and complex country. From the mistakes made in the Japan mission he
realized the importance of language and cultural studies before getting
directly involved in the work of
evangelization. Newcomers were to spend their first three to four years
in the country learning the language and the texts used were the Confucian
classics. As a result students got a grounding in the culture at the same time
as they learned to speak Chinese.
It was no accident, then, that the
Jesuits were the first to study Mandarin in a formal way and the first to
discover and crack the mystery of its tonal nature.
When it came to making contacts in
China, the plan was to find patrons who would provide introductions and
protection for the missionaries. If this meant cultivating the interest of the
Chinese scholar class in Western science, then it was worth committing the
first group of missionaries to introducing Western instruments, maps and
astrology and in the process gaining their friendship.
Some might have had hopes that this
approach would also gain speedy admission for the missionaries to the presence
of the Emperor in his northern capital, and ultimately lead to his conversion.
Then, if the rest of the population followed his example as happened in
post-Reformation Europe where >the
ruler=s faith
became the faith of the people=,
the whole empire would become Christian.
However they quickly realized this
was not going to happen in China and instead they concentrated their energy on
winning over a number of influential officials who would provide them with the
political protection they needed to be present in the country. Only a few of
these scholar-administrators actually became Christians but in the safely
provided by this net of influential
friends the Jesuits were able to move among the lower classes who were
to be the greatest source of converts.
Attracting the Attention of the Populace
After establishing their presence
in an area, the next step for the
missionaries was to find way of attracting the interest of ordinary people who
were totally unfamiliar with Christian beliefs and world view. There was
already a natural antipathy among them towards foreign beliefs due to their
attachment to family religious traditions, the wide use of Buddhist emblems and
charms, the popular practice of Buddhist fasts, a morality that encouraged more
than one wife among the rich and a weakness for fortune telling and exorcisms.
What proved to have the greatest
impact on the imagination and attitude of the people was the lifestyle of the
missionaries. The Jesuits were recognized as men of learning and morality. The
respect shown to them by high officials, their scholarly image, the simplicity
of their houses, their ability to fit in with local society and the solemnity
of their liturgy all made an immediate impression. People began to visit them
either out of curiosity or on the recommendation of a friend.
However, the early Jesuits also took a
pro-active approach. Some of them instituted the practice, when visiting remote
villages, of setting up an altar, waiting for a crowd to gather, bowing
reverently to the image on the altar and the begin explaining about the God
whom they honored. This often led to invitations to stay and explain further.
Building on the Interest
As soon as people showed enough
interest in learning more about their teaching, the Jesuits explained about the
creator God, the human soul and salvation through a moral life. Those who
eventually received baptism were given further instruction as opportunities
allowed and were encouraged to keep the ten commandments, recite prayers
regularly and join in community devotions. The latter became a daily routine in
Christian villages where, morning and evening, under the direction of a local
leader they recited or chanted responsorial prayers such as the >Our Father, the >Hail Mary=
and other popular invocations. This custom survived in Catholic communities for
many centuries and can still be found in traditional parts of China.
The use of rosaries, pendants, holy
water and prayers for healing and exorcism were encouraged as ways of providing
a Catholic alternative to traditional signs of religious allegiance and seeking
other-worldly help. Marian devotions became popular in the Chinese Church due
to the spirituality of the Jesuits though it was Joseph, not Mary, whom they
made the patron of China.
The Structure of Communities
Besides setting up local
communities, often on a clan or family basis, the Jesuits developed the role of
fraternities or hui to ensure that the newly baptized continued to
practice and deepen their faith. In this development two cultural patterns
merge, one Western and the other Eastern.
In renewing communities in
post-Reformation Europe, the Jesuits had discovered the value of fraternities,
sodalities and associations in providing
mutual spiritual support, deepening knowledge of the faith and encouraging involvement
in works of charity.
In China, too, there had long been
a practice of people gathering in groups or hui for fellowship,
cooperation and mutual benefit. Usually they were composed of those of similar age, social class or
commercial interests.
Thus, when the Jesuits introduced
the sodalities and fraternities to China they were an immediate success and
soon played an important role in developing and preserving the Church. There
were devotional groups called the Sheng-mu hui (Our Lady=s Association,) Funeral Societies (hui) that oversaw
arrangements for Christian burials, St Francis Xavier hui for catechists
and Holy Angels= hui
for those teaching children.
Each hui had a leader,
called a hui-zhang (zhang is pronounced jang, as in Korean, and
means >leader=). The word was also used to denote
both the honorary head of a community and the local catechist so each community
was likely to have a number of huizhang.
The various hui enabled Catholics communities to survive in
the1600s and 1700s when priests were few and the communities were small and
scattered. As the priests left the country or went into hiding because of later
persecutions it was the hui that kept the Catholics together and made
sure the church survived
Continuity of the Legacy
Columbans working in China, Korea
and Japan in the early and mid 20th century would come across and
used, not only the hui, but many of the words, practices and
institutions established by the Jesuits in China. It was the Jesuits who
standardized the terms used in the Church for god, soul, grace, sin, sacrament
and a hundred other basic words used in preaching and catechetics. They also
introduced a system of registration for families. The community hui-zhang complied
a list of those who were absent when the priest visited, the sick, those ready
for baptism and the recently deceased.
In China today, while the role
of huizhang survives as catechist
or community leader, hui as
associations of the faithful no longer exist perhaps because the government
fears their potential in organizing people outside state control.
Cultural Similarities
The story of the Jesuit=s cultural breakthrough in China, as related above,
might appear to have been a remarkable successful achievement. To their great
credit the early missionaries were prepared to show a genuine respect for local
tradition and language and put careful thought into how they could make the
most of their limited opportunities and resources.
Some important elements in the
culture favored them. The god preached by the Jesuits was remarkably familiar
to that of the Chinese and the Church=s
hierarchical system had its shadow in the paternalism and structures of
Confucianism.
The image of God, brought by the
Jesuits to China, was heavily influenced by the contemporary European
situation. In the heresy-fearing atmosphere of the post-Reformation Church,
teaching correct doctrine was more important than encouraging private or
communal study of the bible. The catechisms which were the gateway to baptism
and the sacraments taught an unquestioning faith in the one creator God, the
mysteries of the Church, the sacraments, the ten commandments and the laws of
the Church. Jesus Christ was secondary, with emphasis on his role in the
history of eternal salvation. As an African theologian noted recently, it was
the time when mission moved from evangelizing to catechizing.
As it happened, Confucian society
was also based on the belief in one god, Heaven, who set the moral standard for
humans and who regulated society from far. Solemn ritual emphasized the supreme
dignity and power of this remote Heaven. One of the Confucian criticisms of
Buddhism was that it had created a myriad of unnecessary minor gods,
reincarnated Buddha and esoteric dogmas. In siding with the Confucians, rather than
the Buddhists, the Jesuits had further reason to emphasize the oneness of the
Creator God and give less attention to a Son of God who had his own distinctive
message, who had been executed and who rose from the dead.
It was no accident, therefore, that
the Catholic Church was, and still is, known as the >Church
of the Lord of Heaven=,
that is, of the One God.. The early writings of Ricci mentioned Jesus only
incidently since it might have been difficult, at that stage, to explain how
the One God had a son. Rather, the Jesuits concentrated on teaching the one
creator God, his plan for salvation and the morality necessary to live a
blameless life. It was only later, and with great care, that they introduced
the mysteries of the Incarnation, the Trinity and the sacraments. Eventually
sections of the bible were translated into Chinese but scripture never became
the main teaching tool.
Lessons for Today?
This focus on a transcendent God
was to continue in the Chinese Church, and indeed much of the universal
Church, into the 20th century
and it was only with Vatican ll that the centrality of Christology in Catholic
belief was reaffirmed. In China the effect of this change was delayed because
the Church was suppressed by the government and deprived of a full generation
of post-1950 leaders.
In the meantime, forced study
of Mao=s
atheistic materialism had weakened the people=s awareness of a heavenly creator. Today they
are moving away from a hierarchical mindset and, as in the West, developing a
more independent, personal and self-chosen life style. The questions they are
now asking in their more reflective moments are more world-related and
sophisticated than those in the 17th century.
While a new openness to the West
has brought an initial interest in Christianity to China, as in Korea and Japan secularization has a
more immediate appeal and there is no reason to think there will be any more
mass conversions or huge congregations. It will soon be obvious that the
spiritual quest of a more individualistic, cosmopolitan and demanding
population will not be met by traditional catechetical methods. The
questions of modern Chinese will only be answered through a guided study of the
bible with all its complexity and seeming contradictions.
A Role for Missionaries?
Today a Chinese Church exists and
has limited freedom to operate but foreigners are not allowed to participate openly in its
ministerial or evangelical mission. This, however, does not mean there is no
role for foreigners. There are a number of contributions they can still make to
the development of the Church in China. However, they need to be as careful as
the early Jesuits in planning what their contribution should be and how best to
prepare for it. Today the number of trained missionaries is still comparatively
small and the complexity of the Chinese situation has increased.
One opening for foreign
missionaries is to facilitate Chinese Church leaders in acquiring the vision, knowledge and skills they need to
bring the spirit of Vatican ll into Chinese society today.
This has already begun by those who
are helping Chinese Church leaders to attend courses, and get experience of
recent Church developments, both inside and outside their country.
International Congregations are also making efforts to recruit candidates within
China for the contribution they will be able to make within their own country
from their contact with the wider Church. The lessons of using hui and
of living in low-visibility communities or houses will need to be kept in
mind.
Another contribution foreigners can
make is to make use of their >foreignness=. Through their service in China, as
teachers, medical personnel or social workers, they can show what Christianity
is in practice. Like the Jesuits, four hundred years ago, they can share the
benefits of modern science while witnessing to the fact that the human mind is
not limited to the material realm. As in the case of the Jesuits, it is the
selflessness and authenticity of their witness that will make them
credible.
Something to be Brought Home
In the 16th and 17th
centuries it was missionaries from the West who were journeying
enthusiastically to the East, confident they had something valuable to share.
Half of those who set out never arrived because of shipwreck or disease. Those
who got there had no expectations of ever returning home. Yet their commitment
never faltered.
Today it is different. The
excitement of mission is gone from the West. Faith is less important in people=s
lives, it is more individualistic and Christianity is assumed as having nothing
valuable or unique enough to warrant sharing it with others, especially those
far away. Young people are willing to travel abroad to offer their services in
humanitarian causes but do not regard any one faith as better than another.
This would seem either to spell an end for mission in the Catholic church, or
to leave it in the hands of fundamentalists who would not be the best
facilitators of inculturation in Local Churches.
If the mainstream Western
missionary movement is to continue in the spirit of Valignano, Ruggieri and
Ricci, it may be time for missionaries who have worked in a predominantly
non-Christian environment, such as China=s,
to use that experience to help revitalize the faith in their home countries.
In their
efforts to communicate the heart of the Christian message to people of
different religious backgrounds they had to peel off the layers of later
cultural additions and try to uncover the core message.
If they have survived this far as missionaries
it is because they have seen the value, even the urgency, of the message for
themselves and others and this has motivated them to want to share it
cross-culturally. Today that clarity of vision and ability to apply the Word to
the questions of modern life is also needed in their home countries if the
missionary spirit is ever to revive there.
The human figure of Christ with his message of
a compassionate God, of the Spirit active in the individual, the call to be
part of a new creation, an answer to evil in the world and a spirituality that
seeks the transcendent in ordinary life, reaffirm the individual while
challenging him or her in the West as in the East.
Four hundred years ago missionaries
took a confident faith from the West to the East. Now it is time to take that
faith, refined and renewed, back to their home Churches to help meet the
searching of the people there.
Hugh MacMahon 11/21/07
No comments:
Post a Comment