China shuts seminary

THE CHINESE authorities have forcibly closed a Catholic seminary loyal to the Vatican and arrested or interrogated its students and faculty.
The "clandestine" seminary in the province of Hebei, was founded a year ago without Chinese government permission, Fr Hou Jinde, a professor at an officially-sanctioned seminary in the province told a French news agency. The secret training centre was shut down in May.
Seminaries and church are allowed by the Chinese authorities if they belong to the National Association of Patriotic Catholics, a government-approved organisation which claims independence from the Vatican.
Catholics who continue to acknowledge allegiance to the Vatican face government censure.
Fr Jinde could not confirm that the seminary's students and professors had been taken into custody, nor could he say how many were involved.
Early last month, new buildings for a governmentapproved major seminary were opened in Sheshan, 25 miles from Shanghai.
Sheshan Regional Seminary, with 115 seminarians, was reopened on the site in 1982, the first seminary in China since the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution.
But the patriotic association, formed in 1957, remains condemned by the Vatican. In recent years, however, there have been signs of improvement in Vatican-Chinese relations, with a number of church officials visiting the country.
In 1985, China released a Catholic bishop loyal to the Vatican after 30 years imprisonment.
Last March church officials met in Rome to draw up guidelines governing church contacts with China.