Faith, Rebuilding, and Local Leadership in Yanjing: The Story of “Mr. Lu”

Faith, Rebuilding, and Local Leadership in Yanjing: The Story of “Mr. Lu”

In the borderlands of Tibet and China, a small Catholic community has endured wars and rapid social change. In a largely Tibetan Buddhist region, the Chinese Catholics in the town called Yanjing have inspired admiration and hope for their resilience and steadfastness.

This enduring faith in Yanjing can be attributed in part to Mr. Lu, a Tibetan Catholic born in 1971. In 1996, after being ordained, he led the Yanjing Church through a major renovation project. After he resigned from religious office in 2007, he continued to serve as a layperson, demonstrating adaptive leadership that sustains faith amid challenges.

This article is an intimate reading of a single lengthy interview with Mr. Lu, whose life story echoes what historians of Chinese Catholicism have observed across the country, particularly the importance of families, lay leadership, and negotiation with officials. Interestingly, his personal account has been unraveling in a distinctively Tibetan setting.

His life opens a unique window into how the Catholic faith is lived, strengthened, and passed on in a place where almost everyone else is Buddhist. (Author’s note: This interview was conducted in Chinese and translated into English by a Professional.)

Becoming Guardians of the Church

Mr. Lu’s narrative does not begin with his birth nor his vocation. This extraordinary tale dates back to his grandfather.

Mr. Lu recalls his great-grandfather’s son, who was “saved by a missionary” in 1919, when, by order of the Tibetan Buddhist theocratic monarchy under the 13th Dalai Lama, all foreign priests were forced to leave Tibet. Before they departed, one priest entrusted the church and the small community of believers to Mr. Lu’s grandfather, imploring him to watch over the people and the property. From that point onwards, the family embraced what seemed to be their destined role as guardians of the local church.

Growing up, Mr. Lu recalls how sacred objects were carefully preserved in the family home. These items included vessels, vestments, and other liturgical tools, which have become tangible reminders of the bond between Yanjing’s Catholic community and the wider Church. At a time when priests were unknown, these objects anchored the people’s memory and identity. Importantly, these pieces reminded them that they belonged to something older and deeper than any regime or campaign.

Over time, as his relatives quietly passed on the faith amid a strong Tibetan culture and Buddhist influence, the recurring task of serving as keepers of the faith when clergy is absent fostered respect and appreciation. In this sense, the Church’s story is also his family’s. Such fusion of Church and kin would later help him—as a priest and then a lay leader—rebuild both the physical building and the congregation. For Mr. Lu, the line actually blurred between “church history” and “family history.”

Rebuilding, Negotiating, and Enduring

Like many Catholic communities in China, Yanjing’s church building was damaged, repurposed, and rebuilt more than once in the 20th century. Mr. Lu recalls timber reconstruction in the 1980s, followed by a decision to build a new church on a different site. The completion of this “new” church in 2002 symbolizes hope and perseverance, inspiring the community’s resilience.

He describes the work in very concrete terms: organizing teams of parishioners to cut timber in the mountains; traveling to raise funds; and visiting local government offices to explain, persuade, and negotiate. “I began to raise funds everywhere,” he says, “[I also] mobilized parishioners to cut timber in the mountains and communicated with the government to negotiate reconstruction.”

In this case, the rebuilding process was not a mere spiritual act; it involved trust, conversations, and complex paperwork, thereby strengthening the community’s resolve and perseverance amid ongoing regulatory challenges.

An especially striking episode involved the acquisition of three bells. Mr. Lu recounts how he obtained three French church bells through a Japanese intermediary—an unlikely chain of events he interprets as providential. Eventually, these bells, along with the old missionary cemetery and other inherited items, became powerful symbols that tied Yanjing not only to its own past but also to the history of Catholic missions worldwide. Notably, they offered visible proof to both Catholics and non-Catholics, reaffirming the community’s deep roots and its legitimate claim to be part of the Church.

Despite their achievements, Mr. Lu frankly admits the church’s vulnerability due to financial constraints and practical difficulties with maintenance, highlighting the ongoing challenges the community faces in sustaining its modest local church.

Living Alongside Tibetan Buddhism

For many readers, the idea of a Tibetan Catholic may be surprising. Yanjing, a small town on the border of Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces, has profound ties with Buddhism (“Yanjing Town,” n.d.). As Tibetan Buddhism is the dominant religious presence in the town, figures of the Living Buddha, prayer flags, and imposing monasteries shape the place’s physical and spiritual landscape. Mr. Lu goes on to describe that their Catholic community has long lived under the shadow of its powerful neighbor while thriving on its own.

However, he recalls that many locals initially rejected Catholicism in the early days. Over time, through enduring presence and daily interactions, the Catholic belief has become “integrated into the local community and accepted by society.” Nonetheless, the spiritual competition between the two religions never fully ceased.

The Tibetan Autonomous Region is home to 2.8 million people, with the majority being Lama Buddhists (Petro, 2017). Yet, Mr. Lu does not see a hostile or combative relationship with the dominant religion. In fact, on major Catholic feasts and holidays, the Church invites its Buddhist neighbors to celebrations where people share meals freely and enjoy them together. In the only village in the Buddhist-dominated Tibet, where 80% of the village residents are Catholics, Yanjing stands out for its people’s small but steady acts of hospitality, opening up a social space in the community where religious difference is acknowledged without inflaming it.

This “coopetition”—embodying a mix of competition and accommodation—fits what observers of Chinese religious life have reported elsewhere. In particular, people living in villages have multiple religious options, including churches, temples, local healers, and ancestral rites. In fact, these individuals move between these spiritual choices almost seamlessly, especially in times of illness or misfortune. While the same dynamics are colored by Tibetan identity, this evokes a familiar question: how to maintain the boundaries of Catholic belief while living as good neighbors among those who do not share it.

Mr. Lu’s descriptions and insights suggest no desire to dominate or displace Tibetan Buddhism. Rather, his goal is for Catholicism to be respected as a legitimate—albeit small—part of local life. He hopes that it be given room to breathe so that parishioners can build their faith, practice their beliefs, and pass them on to the next generation.

Transitioning From Priest to Lay Leader

Perhaps the most unexpected part of Mr. Lu’s narrative is his decision to resign from the priesthood and lead a civilian life.

Ordained in 1996, he led the community through a demanding reconstruction project. However, by 2007, the accumulated burden had become unbearable. Eventually, he realized that he could no longer continue as a priest.

“I officially resigned in 2007,” he says. “I believe this was another arrangement by God, allowing me to continue fulfilling my duties in another way.” After leaving his sacred office, he decided to marry and start a family. He has since remained involved in the Church, serving as a respected lay figure in the community, helping manage repairs, and even presiding at pastoral activities.

His story replicates broader patterns in recent Chinese Catholic history, in which laypeople are frequently called upon to fill leadership roles when priests are absent, or simply too few to serve small, widely scattered communities. Mr. Lu’s case adds a unique aspect: he has transitioned from an ordained priest to a layperson while maintaining his moral and practical responsibility for the parish.

From a spiritual lens, Mr. Lu interprets this shift from priesthood to a lay status not as a failure but as a new calling. His language of heeding “another arrangement by God” suggests a theological vocation that is more flexible than we might expect, especially in a context where external pressures can sharply constrain what is doable and possible. Therefore, despite the drastic change, the core remains the same: he recognizes that his life has been guided toward serving God and the Church, regardless of whether he is a priest or an ordinary married layman.

Continuing a Legacy: Will Yanjing’s Church Persist in 50 Years?

Looking back, Mr. Lu fully recognizes how his family’s collective memory, the community’s labor, and his leadership support have helped sustain Catholic life in Yanjing. However, his confidence seems to dwindle as he thinks about the future.

He names one critical challenge above all others: how to pass on the faith to young people. Like elsewhere in the world, young Tibetans and Chinese residents in Yanjing are embracing new options and expectations. Economic development, school pressures, digital media, and the prospects of migration all distract them from appreciating the small local church. Thus, Mr. Lu cannot help but express his concern: “I worry whether the church here will still exist in 50 years.”

Such concern is not only spiritual. Throughout the world, organizations regard religious practices as “intangible cultural heritage,” representing religions, rituals, art forms, cultures, and ways of life that risk vanishing in a single generation. For Yanjing, Catholicism can be considered both a living faith and a distinctive strand of local history and identity. If it fades, something irreplaceable will surely disappear from the unique fabric of the local community.

Still, even as he expresses his fears, Mr. Lu continues to serve, encourage, and, most of all, hope. Owing to his perseverance, we are offered a glimpse of a more profound reality: the Church’s survival does not rest on visible strength or dominance but on the quiet trust of individual believers who sow seeds that may or may not fully mature and yet continue to plow on, buoyed by their faith.

References

Petro, P. (2017, March 23). History of the Yanjing church, the only Catholic church in Tibet.  fnvaworld.org. https://fnvaworld.org/history-of-the-yanjing-church-the-only-catholic-church-in-tibet/

Yanjing Town. (n.d.). mysterioustibet.com. https://mysterioustibet.com/destinations/tibet/qamdo/yanjing-town