The only ethnic Mongolian Catholic bishop in China, and possibly the world, has celebrated his 90th birthday and priestly anniversaries in his northwestern diocese in Inner Mongolia, mainland China.Retired Bishop Joseph Ma Zhongmu (also known as Tegusbeleg in Mongolian) of Ningxia has Vatican approval as a bishop, but the Chinese government recognizes him only as a priest.
Bishop Ma celebrated his Nov. 1 birthday and priestly anniversaries with his parishioners and local people earlier, on Oct. 7, at his Chengchuan Church on the southern rim of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The occasion also marked the silver jubilee of his episcopacy and 60th anniversary of his priesthood.
Father Barisi, an ethnic Mongolian priest at Chengchuan Church, told UCA News they held an early celebration because of the local Church's busy schedule in November, the Month of Holy Souls, with many visits to Catholic graves.
Oct. 7, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, also marked Chongyang, the traditional festival in the lunar calendar on which Chinese clean the graves of their ancestors, which the government has recognized as Respect the Elderly Day in mainland China.
Father Barisi, who was ordained in 2005, said the celebration was first planned for last year, when Bishop Ma was 89 and in his 59th year of priesthood, since number nine has a festive meaning for many Mongolians.
They "met some difficulties" from the government, however. After negotiating for a year, officials finally agreed to allow the celebration as a "gesture of gratitude" for the bishop's contribution, "not for other reasons," the priest said.
In recent decades Bishop Ma, who suffered 20 years' persecution before religions were allowed to revive in the 1980s, has translated the breviary, biblical and religious books from Chinese into Mongolian.
The celebration started at 8:30 a.m. with a procession. Bishop Ma, wearing a traditional red Mongolian garment, sat in the open back of a truck, with four Mongolian horsemen following.
"He wanted to ride on horseback himself but was persuaded not to do so due to his advanced age," Father Barisi said. "So we arranged the horsemen to represent our festive tradition."
Bishop Ma presided at the Mass that followed the procession. Hundreds of local Catholics joined as Coadjutor Bishop Joseph Li Jing of Ningxia, a Han Chinese from the government-recognized "open" Church community, and a dozen priests from the area concelebrated.
Bishop Li, 41, told UCA News that ailing Bishop John Baptist Liu Jingshan of Ningxia, 92, was too old to travel. The two open-Church prelates reside in Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia Hui Ethnic Autonomous Region and base of the diocese, which covers the whole Ningxia region neighboring Inner Mongolia. Yinchuan is about 3 hours by car from Chengchuan.
Even though the government does not recognize Bishop Ma, the Church community does and respects him, and considers it appropriate to celebrate his special day, Bishop Li said.
Local government officials joined about 1,000 local people, Catholics and others, for a lunch reception.
Church sources told UCA News that though Bishop Ma is an "underground" bishop, the government officials at the end allowed the celebration because "it is rare for Mongolians to live up to that age."
Immaculate Heart of Mary Father Patrick Taverine, a Hong Kong-based historian, told UCA News the prelate is the only Mongolian bishop in the history of the Church in China. The country of Mongolia (outer Mongolia before independence in 1924), where missioners established the Church only 16 years ago, does not yet have a Mongolian priest.
Chengchuan Church is located in Otog Qianqi, the "banner," or traditional Mongolian administrative division, where 90 percent of the Mongolian Catholics in Inner Mongolia live. Otog Qianqi, part of Ordos city in Yimeng (Ih Ju League), lies 580 kilometers southwest of Hohhot, the Inner Mongolian capital.
The Mongolian Catholics mostly descend from families baptized by Belgian missioners. Immaculate Heart of Mary founder Father Theophile Verbist arrived in the area in 1866.
Today, about 7,000 Mongolian Catholics live in Chengchuan, according to Father Barisi. The place name in Mongolian, Boro Balgasun, means "brown city."
Including the Han, the underground Catholic community of Ningxia diocese numbers about 20,000. According to Church jurisdictions before 1949, Ningxia diocese covers part of present-day Ningxia, Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi province.
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(Source: UCAN)