PARIS—On February 29, 2008, Divine Performing Arts held its first performance at the Palais de Congres in Paris, France. People from all different cultural and religious backgrounds attended the show.
Father Jerzy Chorzempa came to Paris from Var just to watch the Spectacular. Originally from Poland, he has been a priest for more than 39 years. This path that has taken him from Poland to France to Morocco to Chad in Central Africa and the to Sarajevo before returning to France in the city of Fréjus. He attended the Spectacular with two Polish-born parishioners who are fascinated by Chinese culture.
The Epoch Times (ET): Is this the first time that you're attending a Chinese cultural show?
Father Jerzy Chorzempa (FJC): I had the chance to attend two or three multicultural festivals, but in my heart I always wanted to be able to learn more about the richness of traditional Chinese culture. When I heard that a show of this size and high class would arrive at the Palais de Congres in Paris, I didn't want to miss this chance, so immediately booked tickets for my friends and I. It is an opportunity for us to discover Chinese culture, to better know and realize that there are people of high standards in this world.
ET: Where does your passion for traditional Chinese culture come from?
FJC: My passion comes from the various Chinese men and women that I met in the past and who have enriched my life by their culture and ways of living. I always wanted to learn more and I have this wish to learn more about the Chinese people. So it's natural that I look for every opportunity to learn, see and appreciate anything that can help expand my horizons. I have this wish to better understand my Chinese friends, so that I can appreciate them even more. Having learned all I have about the Chinese culture in my life, I have already realized that it's incredible, but through this Spectacular I can appreciate it even more.
ET: What are you impressions of this show?
FJC: I liked everything. It is incredible. One immediately realizes that this a completely unique culture after seeing all the aspects that the shows wants to convey. I really appreciated this wish to live nobly, this wish to live in peace and harmony. All this was really well expressed by the show. I think that this can reach people around the world and really make them think. These beliefs that conveyed through the dance, the songs and the music, these are the beliefs of someone who believes, who is religious and who truly lives by them.
ET: What was your favorite performance?
FJC: Every performance had a message, but the one that I enjoyed the most was the one about The Power of Awareness. (a dance act set in modern China where bystanders stand up against police who are beating a mother and child for their beliefs in practicing Falun Gong)
ET: How do you see the place of religions in China?
FJC: It's clear, I mean it's not something new, that the Communist system does a lot of evil. In our 21st century world, things like this shouldn't be allowed to be taking place. Every citizen should be allowed to share the spiritual wealth he has with others.
It's incredible when we can share all opinions, all the richness for only this way can make China a country where different cultures and religions are encouraged. It's only in this manner that the Chinese people will feel free and welcome, and not feel compelled to obey laws that aren't really human.
But today, the opposite is true. The Chinese people are afraid. The Catholic Church should not need to have two faces: one for the government and the other against it. It's fake. The government should grant all citizens their rights to freedom and personal wealth. It's only in this way that China will be able to become a country where every person will have this right to happiness, whether he lives in a little village or a big city...anywhere. F
or the Chinese people today who are oppressed, I would like to renew the prayer that the Polish Pope John Paul II said in Victory Square in Warsaw when he came there for the first time, when Poland was still communist: "Holy Spirit, renew the face of this earth and give it the chance to fully live this freedom that every man and women truly wishes to live". I hope that the Chinese people can live this freedom.
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