The three Chinese government bishops pose at Mini Garden Restaurant in Honolulu Sept. 24 with Hawaii’s hosts. Bishop Vincent Zhan Silu is standing third from left. Behind him is translator Father Yang Yu. Standing, front right, are Bishop Joseph Ma Yinglin and Bishop John Baptist Yang Xiaoting. (Photo courtesy of Sister Malia Dominica Wong, OP)
They quietly came last month, and quietly left, three seekers on a pilgrimage of personal and global effect from the Catholic Church in China to the Catholic Church in the United States, concluding in Hawaii.
Three officers of China’s government-sanctioned bishops’ conference — conference president Bishop Joseph Ma Yinglin of the Diocese of Kunming, and vice presidents Bishop John Baptist Yang Xiaoting of the Diocese of Yulin and Bishop Vincent Zhan Silu of the Diocese of Mindong — visited with local clergy and Island Catholics of Chinese ethnicity.
They were accompanied by their English translator Father Yang Yu.
According to a story about the bishops’ U.S. trip by the Union of Catholic Asian News, the Vatican does not recognize the government bishops’ conference. UCAN said that Bishops Ma and Zhan were “consecrated without papal mandate,” while Bishop Yang was ordained a bishop with both papal approval and government recognition.
On a trip that coincided with the visits of Pope Francis and Chinese President Xi Jinping to the United States, the three bishops visited various universities and religious congregations looking for educational support of their seminarians and lay leaders.
Arrangements for their Sept. 23-25 visit to Hawaii were made at the request of Father John Worthley, a retired priest of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y., who has played an ongoing role in Vatican-Beijing relations, to his friend Sacred Hearts Father William Petrie, pastor of St. Damien Parish on Molokai.
The bishops were hosted at the Sacred Hearts Sisters’ St. Anthony Retreat House in Honolulu. They made a pilgrimage with Father Petrie to Kalaupapa and were hosted by the Chinese Catholic Club of Hawaii and its president Daphne Lee, at a dinner Sept. 24 of 40 guests and 17 clergy and religious.
At the dinner, Bishop Yang expressed how grateful they were to be in Hawaii. Representing Bishop Larry Silva, Father Gary Secor, vicar general of the Diocese of Honolulu, recognized the challenges in their country and offered Hawaii’s love, prayers and support.
