The beginning of Self-Selection and Self-Consecration of Bishops
After the founding the New China in 1949, most of the foreign missionaries left. Some, who were against the new power in China, went to neighboring countries to await the outbreak of the Third World War so that they could return; others, who were involved in anti-government activities, were expelled from China. A few Chinese bishops misjudged China"s political situation and left the country. This left only 20 or so bishops running 137 dio- ceses, which greatly affected Church activities and development.
In order to cope with this lack of bishops, on December 18,1957, Chengdu Diocese in Sichuan first decided to use the elec- tion process to elect Father Li Xiting as a bishop"s candidate. This method was well accepted and adopted elsewhere. From January 1958 onward, many dioceses used a similar process and elected their own bishops, including Suzhou in Jiangsu Prov- ince, Yibin in Sichuan Province, Kunming in Yunnan Province, Jinan in Shandong Province; Guangzhou in Guangdong Prov-ince; Taiyuan in Shanxi Province, Nanjing in Jiangsu Province, Heze in Shandong Province, Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province; Yongnian, Yongping, Xiwanzi and Xuanhu in Hebei Province, and Yidu and Zhoucun in Shandong Province.
On March 18th and 19th 1958, Hankou Diocese and Wuchang Diocese in Hubei province elected Dong Guangqing and Yuan Wenhua as their respective bishops. According to the rules of the Church, the two dioceses notified the Roman Curia by telegram on March 24th and 29th. The Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith annulled the election in its replies on the 26th and 29th respectively, and reactivated the rule promul- gated in 1951: any bishop, no matter what his status or the lit- urgy he uses, if he ordains any candidate bishop who is not nomi- nated or accepted by the Holy See, will be excommunicated along with the candidate.
In the face of the severe shortage of bishops and the hostil- ity that the Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith, the Catholic Church in China had no other choice but to protest. On April 9th, more than a thousand Catholics gathered in Wuhan to protest. On April 13th, during a solemn mass, Dong Guanqing and Yuan Wenhua were consecrated in Wuhan. Li Daonan, the bishop of Puqi Diocese, Hubei Province, was the main celebrantwho was assisted by Bishop Wang Xueming of Suiyuan Dio- cese, Bishop Li Boyu of Zhouzhi Diocese and Bishop Yi Xuanhua of Xiangyang Diocese. There were 82 representatives from 23 provinces and cities who attended the celebration from Jilin, Gansu, Yunnan, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Hebei, Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Jiangxi, Hunan, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Mongolia, Beijing and Shanghai. The theory behind this action was the following: a) from the epistles, there were sayings about the election of church leaders who should be blameless (c.f. Timothy 3:1-2; Titus 1:7;3:15.)? b) the Council of Nicaea, which made the requirement for the presence of three bishops; c) the sayings of Pope Leo I that a bishop was meant to lead the people and be elected by the people.
Later, in Hebei Province, Bishop Zhao Zhensheng of Xianxian Diocese consecrated Wang Shouqian as Bishop of Yongnian Diocese, Pan Shaoqing Bishop of Xiwanzi, Chang Shouyi Bishop of Xuanhua and Lan Bolu Bishop of Yongping. In Shandong Province, Archbishop Pi Sushi consecrated Dong Wenlong as Bishop of Jinan Diocese, Li Mingyue Bishop of Heze, Jia Shanfu Bishop of Yidu and Zong Huaide Bishop of Zhoucun. Because of the needs of the Catholic Church in China, this self-selection and self-consecration movement spread rapidly. On June29th 1958, Pope Pius XII issued an encyclical entitled Ad Apostolorum Principis in which he again criticized the Chinese government"s policy on religion and the Chinese Catholic Patri- otic Association. He also re-emphasized the papal power to name bishops, so that any bishops consecrated via self-selection andself-consecration process would not be legitimate.
China, how-ever, did not pay much attention to this, because it considered the Roman Curia did not care much about the real needs of the Church in China and continued its anti-new government policy that could only be offensive to patriotic Chinese clergy and laity.
From 1958 to 1962, the Church in China consecrated more than 50 bishops. It was only because of the collaboration of these newly consecrated bishops and the older bishops that the evan- gelization of the Catholic Church could continue in socialist China.