Cardinal Burke Celebrates Pontifical Requiem Mass for Cardinal Kung in SF

The Benedict XVI Institute, along with the Cardinal Kung Foundation, invite you to pray with and for the persecuted Catholic Church in China by celebrating a Pontifical Requiem Mass in the Ordinary Form with Cardinal Raymond Burke and Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone on the 25th Anniversary of the death of one of the great leaders of Chinese Catholicism: Cardinal Ignatius Kung Pin-Mei.

Cardinal Kung, imprisoned by the Chinese Communists for 33 years, died in March of 2000. Joining the Archbishop will be His Eminence Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, who will preach the homily. Join us to pray for the eternal rest and the cause of canonization of Cardinal Kung. The ethereal sacred music will be provided for this Mass by Prof. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka and will include the second use of the Hymn for the Martyrs of Chinese Communism commissioned by the Benedict XVI Institute from composer in residence Frank La Rocca, with the text by our poet-in-residence James Matthew Wilson

Join us and Cardinal Burke for fellowship after at a public reception at Star of the SEA-SF following the Mass. Please register today to help us plan for the reception. Your donations help defray the costs of providing this level of wonderful sacred music and defray our hospitality costs. If you can afford it, a donation of $25 or more is appreciated. But come, your presence and prayers are what we most desire.

Star of the Sea has parking but it is not unlimited. One option is to park at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, which has a patrolled lot and is about 2 miles away and Uber over.

About Cardinal Ignatius Pin-Mei Kung, the first native-born bishop of Shanghai

Ignatius Pin-Mei Kung was consecrated bishop on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, October 7, 1949, just after the Chinese Communist Party had taken over China; he was made the Roman Catholic Bishop of Shanghai, and the Apostolic Administrator of Souchou and Nanking in 1950.

In defiance of the CCP, Bishop Kung personally supervised members of the Legion of Mary to train catechists to pass on the faith when all the priests were gone. He declared 1952 to be a Marian Year in Shanghai, during which there was to be uninterrupted round-the-clock recitation of the rosary in front of a statue of Our Lady of Fatima which toured all the parishes of Shanghai. The holy statue finally arrived at Christ the King Church where a major arrest of the priests had just taken place only a month before. Bishop Kung led the Rosary there while hundreds of armed police looked on. At the end of the Rosary Bishop Kung prayed: "Holy Mother, we do not ask you for a miracle. We do not beg you to stop the persecutions. But we beg you to support us who are very weak."

Between 1951 and 1955 all foreign priests and religious sisters were deported from China, sometimes after time in Pr*son. Chinese bishops, priests, sisters and legionaries were typically arrested, subject to public humiliation, brainwashing sessions, torture, and sent to labour camps for long periods (often more than 20 years) or simply executed. Not all Catholics remained faithful.

Bishop Kung was arrested along with more than 200 priests and other Catholics on September 8, 1955. He was subjected to a mob "struggle session" (an orchestrated denunciation by a baying crowd which sometimes becomes violent) in the old Dog Racing Stadium in Shanghai. Thousands were ordered to attend and to hear the Bishop's public confession of his “crimes". With his hands tied behind his back, wearing a Chinese pajama suit, the 5-foot tall bishop was pushed forward to the microphone to confess. To the shock of the security police, they heard a righteous loud cry of "Long live Christ the King, long live the Pope" from the Bishop. The crowd responded immediately, "Long live Christ the King, long live Bishop Kung".

The night before he was brought to trial, the Chief Prosecutor asked once again for his cooperation to lead the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA). His answer was:

I am a Roman Catholic Bishop. If I denounce the Holy Father, not only would I not be a Bishop, I would not even be a Catholic. You can cut off my head, but you can never take away my duties.

Bishop Kung spent a total of thirty years in Pr*son with long periods in isolation. He was not even permitted to receive his relatives, or letters, or money to buy essentials.

In 1979, Bishop Kung was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in pectore (in "the heart" or secretly). Not even Bishop Kung was aware of this honor.

Eventually, in 1985, in the face of international pressure and the opening of China to western capitalism, Bishop Kung (as he was still publicly known) was released from J*il to serve another term of 10 years of house arrest under the custody of the schismatic Patriotic Association bishops who betrayed him and the Pope and who usurped his diocese. After two and a half years of house arrest, he was officially released, but never pardoned.

Shortly before Cardinal Kung was released from J*il, he was permitted to join a banquet organised by the Shanghai government to welcome His eminence Cardinal Jaime Sin, Archbishop of Manila, Philippines on a friendly visit. This was the first time that Cardinal Kung had met a visiting bishop from the universal Church since his imprisonment. Cardinal Sin and Cardinal Kung were seated on opposite ends of the table separated by more that 20 communists, and were prevented from speaking privately. During the dinner, Cardinal Sin suggested that each person should sing a song to celebrate. When the time came for Cardinal Kung to sing, in the presence of the Chinese government officials and the Patriotic Association bishops, he looked directly at Cardinal Sin and sang: Tu es Petrus et super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam ("Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church").

About The Cardinal Kung Foundation:

The Cardinal Kung foundation was founded in 1992. Cardinal Kung was the first chairman of the foundation. The Mission of The Cardinal Kung Foundation is to promote the Roman Catholic Church in China, now under persecution, through increased prayers, financial support and other appropriate projects that support the underground clergy of the Roman Catholic Church in Communist China and elsewhere both financially and spiritually, as well as other undergrounds institutions including orphanages for the physically and mentally disabled, support for persecuted individuals and families, and assistance to those seeking religious asylum.

About Jenny Donelson Nowicka:

Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka is an Associate Professor and the Director of Sacred Music at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California, where she holds the William P. Mahrt Chair in Sacred Music and serves as the founding Director of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music.

Host or Publisher Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music & Divine Worship