BEIJING (UCAN) -- Some foreign Catholics attending the Beijing Olympics say they were surprised to discover that the Catholic Church actually operates in mainland China and the liturgy there is the same as back home.

Local and foreign Catholics gather in front of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Beijing after the Aug. 10 English Mass ends.

Rob Walsh, father of Olympic athlete Filipino-American James Walsh, was one of several visitors, including state leaders, who went to Sunday Mass on Aug. 10 at Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (South Church). His son is representing the Philippines in the men's 200-meter butterfly swimming competition.

Rob is staying in Beijing for three weeks with family members and earlier attended two other Sunday Masses at the cathedral. Before that, he told UCA News, he had thought the Catholic Church is not allowed to function in China.

His experience of Mass in Beijing, he said, is similar to what he is used to back home. His wife, he added, is the one who learned about the cathedral through the Internet and asked their tour guide to bring them there.

The historical cathedral, a 30-minute walk from Tiananmen Square, offers five Masses every Sunday -- one in Latin, two in Chinese and two in English. These days, its facade features a message in Chinese, "Hundred years of Olympics, dream comes true in China. Pray wholeheartedly, peace will prevail forever."

Li Aoda, an 18-year-old Catholic volunteer at the cathedral who took photos with Rob, told UCA News she answered his questions about the presence of the Catholic Church in China and explained that there are no Catholic schools here.

Most visitors ask about Mass times but few inquire about the local Church situation, Li added. Still, foreign guests are friendly, she beamed. "I feel happy to talk with them."

Matthew Valletta and Sarah Leary, young American Catholics in Beijing to study Chinese and glad to be there for the Olympics, told UCA News they found out about the cathedral through friends in Beijing.

"I am really surprised to see so many people" at Mass, Valletta said. "I thought religions are deemed superstitious" and thus "not encouraged in China."

His Mass experience here, he remarked, "was really beautiful because we were surrounded by people from around the world."

Leary, in her 20s, said she was surprised that the Chinese celebrant prayed for the pope at Mass since China has no diplomatic ties with the Holy See.

Rob Walsh admitted feeling Masses here may be monitored to see if anyone says anything subversive. "Most governments are afraid of things that could threaten them. We (in the United States) also have 'big brothers' watching," he said.

Cobei Ruiter, a tourist from the Netherlands who is not Catholic, has a different sense of the situation. "The church looks normal and I don't see any military here," she said. "Every country has its way of looking at religion."

Hundreds of Chinese and foreign Catholics attend English Sunday Mass at the Immacaulate Conception Cathedral of Beijing on Aug. 10, the first Sunday since the opening of Olympic Games.

Security checks were apparently stepped up at the cathedral on Aug. 10 when Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines, Luxembourg's Grand Duke Henri and Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese Efi, Samoa's head of state, were among those attending the Mass.

According to Beijing diocese's Tianguang (Heavenly Light) website, Bishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing received the state leaders after the Mass.

That same day, according to a White House Office press release, U.S. President George W. Bush attended a Sunday service at Kuanjie Protestant Christian Church in Beijing. Bush was quoted as saying that he and his wife "had the great joy and privilege of worshiping here in Beijing" and "it just goes to show that God is universal, and God is love."

At a press interview the next day, he said the Beijing Olympics gave him a chance to tell China's people, "Religion won't hurt you. You ought to welcome religious people." He added that he would seek a chance to tell Chinese leaders to "register the underground churches and give them a chance to flourish."

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