Two Chinese nuns have been on a hunger strike since June 12 because they say they have not been properly com-pensated for the disbanding of their religious congregation.
They are sisters Gao Wanjuan and Jiao Jialin of Our Lady of Good Counsel in southeast Jiangxi province who launched their hunger strike outside the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) in Beijing. They claimed that they failed to get help from various government departments since their congregation was disbanded in October 2014. The nuns accuse Bishop John Baptist Li Suguang of Jiangxi(Nanchang) — who disbanded their congregation — for not providing adequate compensation.
“We are determined to die for justice in the hunger strike,” Sister Jiao told ucanews.com.
Following the congregation’s disbandment, Bishop Li allowed its 23 nuns to decide their own future. In a 2014 statement, the bishop said the nuns could join “other religious congregations, live a secular life or negotiate with parish priests to serve in the diocese [as laywomen].”
Whatever the nuns decide to do with their lives is a personal matter and has nothing to do with the diocese, said the statement.
Bishop Li said there were numerous reasons for the congregation’s disbandment, among them continuous arguments among the nuns after the diocese assigned a nun from Beijing as their acting superior. The bishop’s decision was “cruel” as the nuns’ ages ranged from 32 to over 50, have been in the congregation for 12 to 17 years and they would be stigmatized by Catholics if they returned home, she said.
