December 10, 2014 – Excerpted from Put Out Into the Deep, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet.

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

Democracies offer citizens the right of assembly, regress, and the ability to protest issues that are not favorable to its citizens. Recently, we have seen examples of both peaceful and not so peaceful protests. In Hong Kong, far from us, we have seen in the last month, protests, especially among students, trying to get the attention of the communist leaders in Beijing to allow open and democratic elections in Hong Kong. Even the retired Cardinal in Hong Kong, Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, is involved in these peaceful demonstrations. Recently, he and other adult leaders of this protest movement have turned themselves into the government in order to avoid any repression or bloodshed, mindful of the terrible memory of Tiananmen Square when the communist forces killed many demonstrators over two decades ago.

Read the full text of the Bishop’s article on The Tablet website.