Fr Peter Woodruff SSC interviews Fr Tommy Yu.
Fr Tommy Yu has never given in to the Chinese Communist authorities. On the feast of St Columban, November 23, 2010, I had breakfast with Fr Tommy Yu Guojie, a priest of Nancheng Diocese in China.
Fr Tommy Yu remembers Columbans from his youth in his home village, Yujia. He was Columban Fr Pat Hennessy’s altar boy.
Fr Tommy Yu is now 81 years of age. He had studied two years of theology in the Shanghai seminary when he was imprisoned for the first time under China’s Communist government’s crackdown on public religious practice.
However he was released from prison in January 1957 and was ordained priest in April of the same year. In December 1958 he was imprisoned once again and remained in prison labour camp for the next 30 years!
Released in 1988, he was free to resume evangelisation in his home diocese, but in 1989 he was asked to take a 3 year appointment as spiritual director in the Shanghai seminary.
The Communist Party cadres who watch over what goes on in the seminary decided he was becoming too close to the students and therefore more influential than they wanted so after just one year he was obliged to return to his own diocese, where he was appointed parish priest of Nancheng, and worked until his retirement in 2009.
I had the chance to ask Fr Tommy Yu how he saw the future of the Church in China. He said immediately that he thought the Church would be in a much better position than now. He put it this way, “There has been progress in recent years in many parts of the country. Now the Chinese government consults Rome before appointing bishops, whereas before this the Holy See had no say in the matter. Recently, the Pope approved the government appointment of our own local Bishop of Nanchang, Li Shuguang, who was consecrated on 31 October 2010.
Bishop Li Shuguang was once pulled up by the police while driving his car and, after a phone call to the Governor of the Province, the policeman let him go, which might indicate that he is basically the government’s man. However, I am confident that this bishop will not become anybody’s puppet. He is his own man.
I also see great hope if diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the Chinese Government are established. This would make a huge difference for the "underground" members of the Church as they would then be recognised by the Government. In fact, the relations between the "underground" and "above ground" parts of the Church have improved, except in a few specific places."
In reply to my question about significant moments in his life as a parish priest, Fr Tommy Yu replied: "My greatest consolation, especially during many years in prison, was being able to say the rosary and sing the Salve Regina (Hail Holy Queen) and the Dies Irae (from the Requiem Mass in Latin).
My greatest joy as a priest after coming back to work in the parish was being able to visit the Catholic people and to minister to them. It felt great to have no restrictions placed on me, I was left free to get close to my people."
Fr Tommy Yu celebrated his 50th anniversary of ordination in Nancheng in 2007 and the importance of this occassion was embraced by the many of the locals who attended. However, fifteen local diocesan priests were ordered by government officials not to attend the celebration, but they disobeyed the order and went.
One of Fr Tommy Yu’s sisters, Teresita, who died in 2006, was a Columban Sister, so it seemed right that we remember her and St Columban at that early breakfast in his family’s house before beginning the seven hour bus, train and taxi journey back to Wuhan.
Fr Peter Woodruff SSC resides at Columban Mission Centre, Essendon and writes for The Far East.
Read another article by Fr Peter Woodruff: For too long have we ignored you?
or
Read more articles from the current E-News