https://international.la-croix.com/news/vatican-china-talks-and-the-future-of-catholic-monasteries/4364?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=e-mail&utm_content=14-12-2016&utm_campaign=newsletter__crx_lci&PMID=3d4bff6e21bd8a4c42e60d5186400d8e
Vatican-China talks and the future of Catholic monasteries Ensuring their autonomy is as important as the appointment of bishops. Michel Chambon, Guangzhou China December 14, 2016 Negotiations between the Vatican and Beijing are focused currently on the appointment of bishops. While obviously understandable, that focus reflects a certain approach to the Catholic Church in China that has not always been the case. Most discussions about the church concern dioceses and bishops. Many analyses of the church in China are primarily concerned with the number of bishops, priests, seminarians and nuns, along with the mapping of dioceses and parishes and the development of Catholic healthcare and social services. Such assessments overlook one part of the church that the tradition still values with the highest importance: monasteries. What happened to the monastic tradition in China? Why are our church experts so little concerned about monastic life?
