Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian of the Catholic diocese of Shanghai [WR410/4 PRC06DJ-2002]

‘The Bible is very important to Catholic Christians’

Bishop Jin, the Catholic Bishop of Shanghai Diocese, is 90 years old and has spent nearly one third of his life in prison – a story not that uncommon in a country that has a particularly troubled recent history. Many people were imprisoned or killed during the Cultural Revolution, which began in 1966 and ended in 1976.

Saint Ignatius Catholic Cathedral, Shanghai [WR410/4 PRC06DJ-234]

Nevertheless, Bishop Jin, along with other Chinese Christians, picked up the pieces of his life and carried on where he left off, leading his congregation and teaching them about Jesus and the Bible. Over the years, he has been overjoyed to see the incredible growth of Christianity in China, although most of the growth has been in the Protestant Church. “Even I, as a bishop, do not know the exact number of Catholic Christians in China,” he says. “Before 1949 there were at least three million. Now there are at least five million, but some estimates put that number as high as 12 million. “Since the Cultural Revolution, the Catholic Church has grown threefold, while the Protestant Church has grown at ten times that rate, and is now 30 times the size it was. I think this disparity in growth is because we as Catholics are not as enthusiastic about telling others about our faith as Protestants. They are much better at sharing the Gospel with other people.

Vital book

“But the Bible is very important to Catholic Christians. Since the Second Vatican Council, the Bible has become a vital book for both priests and members of the church. We encourage all believers to read the Bible, both privately and in church groups. Most people who come to Mass bring their own Bibles and refer to them frequently.” Bishop Jin, who has written commentary notes to the New Testament, has enjoyed the close co-operation between the Catholic Church in China and the United Bible Societies.

Good example

“We have worked with UBS for 23 years,” he recalls. “We have received a lot of help throughout that time. We have printed and distributed nearly one million New Testaments, and later, we printed prayer books containing Bible passages. The Bible Society fellowship is the single biggest benefactor of the Church in China – evangelical and Catholic – and a good example of Christian unity. We all stand together in the faith of the Bible, and of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

(WR410/1-04.07)[29 photos]