By David Fleet
Editor
Ortonville— Fr. Yongli Chen has come a long way to share a unique story to the parishioners of St. Anne Catholic Church and the community.
Earlier this summer Fr. Yongli Chen became the new pastor, his first parish following extensive study and a rather challenging background.
“I refer to myself as Fr. John to honor my baptismal name,” he said. “People in Ortonville are very generous here and welcoming. I am happy when I can see farmland too, that always confronts me. I grew up on a small farm with my family.”
Born in Manasi of Xinjiang, in rural northwest China (near Afghanistan), Fr. John grew up in a Catholic family. After earning a high school diploma in Manasi, in 1998 he entered the Seminary of Xinjiang Diocese in Xinjiang Autonomous Region, China. After a brief pause he returned to his religious studies in 2001 and moved to the United States to complete work at Sacred Heart of Major Seminary of the Archdiocese of Detroit.
In 2008 he returned to China and worked as a professor at National Seminary of Catholic Church in Beijing, China. He was ordained Aug. 8, 2011.
In 2012, Fr. John returned to Sacred Heart of Major Seminary of Archdiocese of Detroit. There he studied biblical theology at. St. Paul University in Ottawa where he earned a Ph.D and a Doctor of Sacred Theology. In 2014 he returned to the National Seminary of Catholic Church in China, where he taught scriptures and the History of Western Philosophy.
With an extensive background in theological studies, Fr. John shares his story of persecution by the communist.
“We don’t have churches in China,” he said. “We only saw pictures of churches growing up. We prayed together as a family and celebrated in our home. They called it ‘house-church,’ no physical existing church building exists. We would have Eucharistic celebrations about four to six times per year in our home, sometimes going to other homes in the area to worship.”
The church is always under persecution, he said.
“That’s what made us what we are today,” he said. “I want to share my experiences with people and the understanding of my faith.”
Fr. John was teaching at the National Seminary of Catholic Church Beijing when the Communists, as he says, ‘kicked him out of the country.’
“They (Communists) started interfering with the church,” he said.
Until that time they allowed us to exist, but in recent years that changed, he said.
Fr. John shares that the faculty and students of the National Seminary were compelled to participate in a Eucharistic celebration presided by an illicitly ordained bishop, who was the Rector of the Seminary and a major figure in the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association. When he refused to comply, his teaching career at the seminary was terminated.
Fr. John referred to sinicization or the act or process of making something more Chinese in character, or bringing something under Chinese influence. The policy was established by Emperor Xiaowen.
“Basically make everything under the guidance communist ideology,” he added. “My family now has to apply for a permission card just to go to church. You are registered and recorded then decide if they can go to the church. Almost like a pass.”
Fr. John knows the difficult situation Catholic Christians in China and is glad to be serving St. Anne parish here in the United States, but has mixed feelings.
“But I’m not allowed to serve in my church at home,” he said. “Be thankful, we suffer with Christ. I’m not sorry. I don’t want people to feel sorry for me at all, to celebrate we are all from the same church, I’m from the other side of the world where religion is persecuted.”