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The Catholic Church in China

Reading Ian Johnson’s essay and watching this documentary have made me excited all over again to be heading to China next year.

A keyboard, a notebook, headphones, and a cup of coffee rest upon a wooden desk.
Photo by Lukas Blazek on Unsplash

The good folks at America Magazine recently did a great feature on the Catholic Church in China. There’s a feature article and a documentary. I recommend both.

The feature article is by Ian Johnson, a leading scholar of religion in China. He also teaches at The Beijing Center for Chinese Studies. When I studied abroad there, I didn’t take his class, but I did read his book Wild Grass for my Chinese politics class. (That’s a fantastic book if you’re looking for some long-form journalism on China.) The point here is, Ian Johnson is fantastically well qualified to write on the Catholic Church in China for America Magazine. His article is an accessible overview of the status of the Catholic Church in China and its major challenges.

Reading Ian Johnson’s essay and watching the documentary have made me excited all over again to be heading to China next August with the Maryknoll China Teachers Program. In the meantime, I’ll have to keep studying my vocab and watching Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf.