So after eight weeks I finally made it to mass in China – I’m sure my mum will be pleased – and feel much better, spiritually speaking. This is by far the longest period in my life that I haven’t attended mass.

This morning I attended mass at the most famous church, and also the only one I know how to get to (a 30 min bus ride from home), the Cathedral of St Ignatius. It is located in the West End, Xu Jia Hui, and is a beautiful two-spire red brick building built in 1905. At one point it was ransacked and converted into a grain warehouse, but is now back to proper use.

What I witnessed surprised me. It wasn’t the number of people - Wikipedia boasts that St. Ignatius draws 2,000 attendees for Sunday mass – but rather their nationality. In my mind, the congregation would have been made up of expats, but no: 90 percent were local Chinese and the service was conducted in Mandarin. There was a scattering of foreign-born Chinese – their accents gave them away – and a smattering of Westerners, but that was it.

I began to think back to what I had read about Christianity in China: that locals were banned from attending Catholic services, and foreigners had to produce their passports to gain entry (a fact listed on many expat websites). But this didn’t seem right; even the alter servers and choir were Chinese, and the old women singing and praying off by heart – all indicators of a long-established tradition.

Aside from the language it was almost identical to a European mass. Confession beforehand, communion (no wine though) but no requests for donations. The latter point should have been a giveaway.

It was only when I got home that it dawned on me the possibility that I had probably attended a mass provided by the Catholic Patriotic Association, the official Catholic organisation of China that is loyal to Beijing and does not recognise the Vatican’s supremacy in Catholic matters. Chinese Catholics can only attend such services; illegal Roman Catholic services do take place but those who are caught attending are often imprisoned.

I can’t quite be sure of this because the research I undertook to find out whether St. Ignatius in its restored form provides Roman or Patriotic Catholic proved inconclusive.

For many Catholic bloggers in the West, attending a mass not sanctioned by the Vatican does not count, but I felt at ease there. The tradition of the service and the passion of those in attendance reminded me of church in Poland, and it felt good. I will probably try one of the English language, foreigner only masses at some point, but for now it’s nice to be local.