HONG KONG (UCAN): Catholics of the unofficial Church in the Diocese of Shanghai, China, are upset about their inability to use the city’s largest funeral parlour after their priests were barred from officiating at the facility. In a notice on July 27, the diocese said the management of the city’s Longhua Funeral Parlour would allow only priests of the official Church to conduct memorial services.
Priests entering the parlour to conduct funeral prayers need to present their Catholic clergy card, also known as a priest’s card, the official identification of state-approved priests.
The Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau manages the facility, the biggest of several funeral parlours in the city which, with some 24 million people, is China’s biggest city.
A priest with the unofficial Church who requested anonymity, said the move over the identity card came after funeral prayers were conducted for a priest of the unofficial community in Longhua. He said the funeral must have attracted the attention of the authorities as several priests of both the unofficial and official Churches attended it.
“Strictly speaking, the notice should not come from the diocese. It should have come from the Patriotic Association or the Religious Affairs Bureau, who are behind it. They are targeting the priests of the unofficial community,” the priest said.
The notice outraged Mei-Yue Liu, a leader in the unofficial Church community in Shanghai. She said the authorities were using every opportunity to force priests to switch to the official Church.
She said the move is “disrespectful to the dead but we will not give in to such pressures.”
Father Paul, a priest with the official Church, said he spoke with a diocesan official about the notice but had received no clear answer.
“However, the notice could not have been issued on the initiative of the diocese. Nor can the notice come from the funeral parlour, which does not take note of the deceased’s religion. The only possibility is that it was issued at the authorities’ request,” he said.
Many people were surprised by the move of the diocese.
“I don’t understand why the diocese did this. There hasn’t been any major disagreement between the official and unofficial Church groups in Shanghai for years,” Zhang Tianbao, a member of the official Church, said.
An attempt contact Shanghai diocesan authorities was unsuccessful.
Catholics of the unofficial Church Shanghai worry that the other funeral parlours in the city may also implement the same policy, forcing their people to limit funeral prayers to their homes.
“If funeral prayers cannot be done at the funeral parlor, they will ask the priest to hold the service at home first,” said John Wu, an underground Catholic.
The notice asked the priests to be cautious in handling incense and charcoal under the open flame as a fire alarm system is installed in the parlor. Priests are also asked to remind families not to pour holy water on coffins made of paper and bamboo.
