Catholic missionary discusses freedom of Religion and China with MHS Global Scholars

At the end of September, Global Scholar students welcomed guest speaker, Father X to Mukwonago High School. (Father X is not his real name, but will be used to help protect his identity and work in oppressive countries). Fr. X is a Catholic priest working with the Xavarian Missionaries and presented to our students on the topic of religious freedom and civil liberties.

Fr. X shared his experiences working in other countries as a religious priest. His introduction was simply to identify the difference between Human Rights (rights everyone possesses when they are born) and Civil Rights (rights and freedoms granted from a government). To stress his point he discussed the first amendment right in the United States and our freedom to believe in any religion we chose, or no religion, we have that choice which we have held since birth. However in Indonesia, where he was born religion is not a choice but an "obligation." He shared his drivers license from Indonesia which identifies his religion and how all citizens are obligated to choose a religion to be identified on their drivers license, however they only have a few choices such as Catholic, Islam (majority in Indonesia), Buddhist, Protestant or Hindu. However choosing no religion or leaving it blank is not a choice.

Regarding his work in China and Taiwan, Fr. X used the analogy of a fish tank. As a missionary he is like a fish in a tank, the more water in the tank the easier it is to move around. In Taiwan his fish tank is quite full, so it is easy to move around (but he is still in a fish tank so he is still being watched). However in China there is very little water in his fish tank, meaning it is very difficult to move around and avoid being seen. Of course, China is watching everything that he does while in the country. Security cameras everywhere allow the government to watch all citizens, especially within the cities and "undercover" government workers will be hanging around activities he is at just watching and listening. While in China he is not allowed to perform traditional priestly duties and primarily works to serve the people in China.

While China allows people to believe what they want, there is a lot of propaganda reminding citizens that "religion can not help you, only the (Communist) party" and that it is illegal for foreigners to teach about religion, so tell authorities if any foreigner does teach about religion. One interesting question from a student afterwards was whether or not the Communist Party is trying to replace religion. This sparked an interesting example within Catholic churches where they often have a picture of priests, bishops and Pope Francis. Currently the government is requiring and implementing that next to the picture of the Pope, there must also be a picture of President Xi Jinping (interestingly enough all members of the Communist Party, including the President must be Atheist and not allowed to practice a religion). There is also pressure from the government to remove the cross from the central point of the church, and where the cross is still present they are putting the five starts of the Communist party above the cross.

Fr. X's work is truly interesting. While he is working at returning to Asia to continue his work he was asked about the consequences of being caught working as a missionary. He talked about how China has treated missionaries historically (with violence and murder) and today. Most likely if he was arrested in China today, he believes he would be deported, after all he is a foreigner and China has been trying to improve its image (despite oppression against muslims in the Xinjang Province and Tibetans in the Tibet Province). However if a Chinese citizen is found to be practicing a religion in a way that is not approved by the government, sharing their faith or practicing with a missionary, their consequences would be much worse.

Our hope is that Fr. X's presentation not only gave students an additional understanding of how

other governments like Indonesia, China and Taiwan approach religion within their society, but also an appreciation of the freedom to practice and believe in any religion here in the United States, or no religion at all.

If students were not able to make the presentation and would still like to see it for their global citizenship requirement, the presentation was recorded and is available in the Mukwonago High School Library. The video is on a USB flash drive that can be checked out and watched in the library only. See Mrs. Brannon in the library if you are interested.