Bishop Tsien Dies, Champion of the Underground Church in China

He had retired as Hualian bishop in 2002. After studying in Italy he worked for the reconciliation of China's official and underground Churches.

TAIPEI (AsiaNews) - Mgr Andrew Tsien Chih-chun, bishop emeritus of the diocese of Hualian, died yesterday of a heart attack at the age of 83 in the city's Mennonite Hospital. Retired since 2002 the prelate was known as staunch supporter of China's underground Church.

For years he worked for the reconciliation of the official and underground Churches. The diocese of Hualian has urged everyone to pray for his soul, "that the Lord may welcome him in His arms." Funeral arrangements have not yet been made public.

Bishop Tsien was born in Yuhuai County (Zhejiang) and was baptised as a child with his entire family. He entered the seminary in 1947 to study theology in Jiaxing, but when Mao Zedong and his regime came to power he was sent to Genoa (Italy) to study. He eventually studied philosophy at Milan's UniversitĂ  cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Sacred Heart Catholic University).

After his return to Taiwan in 1960 he worked in several parishes: Xinzhu, Jilong, Taipei, Xinzhuang, etc. In 1966 he became the dean of the faculty of Philosophy at the Catholic University in Furen. He was appointed director of the Institute of Philosophical Research in 1970 and of the Arts Institute in 1984. In 1992 he became the bishop of Hualian.

Those who knew Bishop Tsien remember him as a great pastor, very close to young people and well loved by his students.

He worked for the reconciliation of the official and underground Church in times when underground Catholics suffered violent persecution and the official Church was almost completely beholden to the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA)

In his farewell speech to his diocese in 2002 he said: "Now I am going into retirement, but I shall not grow idle . . . . I am going to focus especially on the underground Church in China. I shall be in touch with them, share their suffering, become their spokesman . . . . I will try to promote the communion of the one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church."

"Do not say that the bishops and priests of the underground Church are stubborn," he added. "When you do help the official Church (state-sanctioned Church), say that you do not want to help the CCPA. Encourage the bishops and priests of the official Church to be faithful (to the universal Church) and to oppose the CCPA's atheistic principles and its claims to independence.

"Together with the underground Church we must struggle for religious freedom and human dignity. This freedom and dignity is a gift of God; no political authority in this world can take it away from you. If anything, they must respect it and protect it."