Primitive Christianity

We can look at the Church in different ways.

As a community, Christians share more or less the same set of beliefs (the Nicene Creed), allowing for differences in opinions as long as these opinions do not split the Church. Nowadays, we see many different brands of Christianity not all of which are orthodox. To a certain extent, these are outgrowth of the organized churches. The Church is still one.
As a sacrament, the Church is a visible sign to guide people to receive the salvation of Jesus. Within the Church, there are good people and bad. Together, they invite God to transform them into saints. The Church is holy. Her mission is to make people holy and she herself will become holy, at the end of the world.
As a social movement started 20 centuries ago, this Church has reached a stage such that the lives of many people on this globe are touched by her actions. The Church excludes nobody, not even homosexuals and transsexuals. The Church is catholic (i.e. universal).
As an institution, you see believers organized into a hierarchy of popes, bishops, priests/pastors, deacons and ordinary faithful. The line of authority is clearly defined and can be traced all the way back to the first apostles personally chosen by Jesus. The Church is apostolic.
The four points above have been a general self-understanding of the Church. After Vatican II, there arise in the Church, among theologians, many insightful self-reflections and great developments in Ecclesiology, the theology of the Church.  

In the gospel reading today, we are able to take a glimpse at Christianity before the Church. Jesus chose 12 Apostles and sent them out to preach the good news of reconciliation with God. The 12 Apostles are the foundation of the Church and here is the beginning.
He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts;
but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics (Mark 6:8-9).
Evangelization relies on God and not on material abundance. The Church does not rely on riches to turn people's hearts to God. As long as the missionaries are working with God, good harvest is guaranteed.

One of the many obstacles in the history of the Church is the State intervention into Church affairs. The activities of the Church are not political but inevitably, because of the majority of people involved, the Church comes into interaction with politics. The persecution of the Chinese Catholic Church from the Communists in the last six decades is a good example. The Communists systematically drive away foreign missionaries and local Church leaders. Chinese bishops and priests are imprisoned and church buildings are confiscated. Seminaries are closed. With the grace of God, Chinese  Catholics bear witness to the risen Jesus in a heroic manner.

In March 1957, the then Congregation of Propaganda Fidei granted broader supervisory power to diocesan priests in the absence of bishops. This did not extend to consecration of bishops without papal approval. The extreme leftist movements in 1950's Communist China stirred up a 3-self movement in the Chinese Catholic Church: self-administrating, self-supporting and self-propagating. In July 1957, the Chinese Catholic's Patriotic Association was formally established to begin a new stage of struggles against the imperialists and their running dogs. It was chaired by an Archbishop with a number of bishops, vicar generals, priest and laymen as vice chairmen. In December 1957, they started consecrating bishops to fill the vacancies in different dioceses. Vatican immediately banned them. The division in the Chinese Church began. There were bishops who refused to consecrate new bishops without Papal mandate. They were immediately imprisoned. There were bishops who thought that Vatican did not understand the apostolic needs in China. They went ahead with the consecration of new but illegitimate bishops. Hopefully, in the future, they would gain papal approval when the situation improved.
Situation did not improve but turned worse. Both patriotic and papal clergy were caught unprepared in the Cultural Revolution. Many people suffered, except for those already imprisoned. They suffered less and their faith strengthened whereas many of those who had previously cooperated with the Communists were disillusioned. Many patriotic priests surrendered to the situation and got married ...
In 1979, Bishop Fan Xueyan范學淹主教 was released from prison. In 1981, he was 74 and secretly consecrated 3 priests as bishops. Gaining Vatican approval, he continued consecrating bishops until he was imprisoned again in 1983. Later, some of these bishops took office in the open church. The Catholics in China are not quite divided into open church and underground church. The married priests and bishops of the open church were targets of dissatisfaction. Father Ma Ji馬驥, who was ordained in 1949 and was imprisoned several times. In 1987, he consented and was consecrated bishop of the open church. In1988, he announced that he was leaving all organizations of the Patriotic Association. There were married bishops and priests. They were not in communion with the Pope and church property was not returned to the people.
Vatican has been trying to establish dialogue with the Communist government. When she has sufficient information about the quality of a bishop candidate chosen by the Patriotic Association, she would approve so that Chinese Catholics might lead a decent religious life. Still, the Patriotic Association continues to create new dioceses and consecrate new bishops. Today, the Communists are playing a more subtle game. They bundle the consecration of Vatican approved and disapproved bishops together! When a Vatican approved active member of the Patriotic Association, Fr. Thaddeus Ma Daqin馬達欽 openly announced after consecration on July 7, 2012 that he quited the Patriotic Association, the Public Security Bureau simply puts him under house arrest.

The above is only a brief sketch of modern history of the Catholic Church in China. I believe that nothing can take place without God's approval. The music must continue till the end comes.
Dear Lord, we are blessed because we are worthy of persecutions. May You grant us sufficient grace to embrace these sufferings cheerfully with You. Amen.