Letters

Persecution in China

Christopher Rule

Contents - Mar 2015 - Buy a copy now Editorial: AD2000 to be available online only - Peter Westmore Synod: AFA calls for Synod to strengthen support for families - AD2000 Report News: The Church Around the World Rediscovering the spiritual dimension in modern psychology - Wanda Skowronska Liturgy and mystery in the Mass - Audrey English Challenging radical Islam - John A. Azumah The parish priest and parish school - Fr John O'Neill The linen cloth and the Second Coming - Andrew Sholl The person and mission of St Joseph - Pope St John Paul Seventh iWitness Retreat: another youth ministry success - Br Barry Coldrey Apps: Smartphone apps to bring you closer to God - Peter Westmore NACF: National Catholic Families Conference attracts 400 to Albury - Kathleen Horsfall and Marie-Louise Fowler Letters: Persecution in China - Christopher Rule Letters: Abortion - Brian Coman Letters: Mary's knowledge - Carmel Ford Letters: Anne Lastman replies ... - Anne Lastman Letters: Synod of Bishops - John R. Barich Books: MODERN MORAL PROBLEMS: Trustworthy Answers to Tough Questions, William B Smith - Michael E. Daniel (reviewer) Books: NOT ALL NUNS MAY DO THIS, by Erika Lorenz - Michael E. Daniel (reviewer) Books: Order books from www.freedompublishing.com.au Reflection: Hail Mary, Full of Grace - Anne Lastman

In his letter in the February AD2000, Paul Simmons states, "The facts are that from the time when the Chinese Communist Party seized control of China in 1949, it has attempted to persecute the Church."

Father Raymond de Jaegher, a missionary in China from 1930 till 1949, in his book, co-written with Irene Corbally Kuhn, The Enemy Within: an Eyewitness Account of the Communist Conquest of China, makes it clear that persecution of the Catholic Church by the Communists commenced well before the total conquest of China in 1949.

Let me quote from the book.

When Fr de Jaegher spoke, on 15 June 1939, with a Communist General Ho Lung about a Chinese Christian Brother whom the general had arrested, the general is quoted as saying, "Don't you know I've burned many of your Catholic churches. That I've killed many fathers like you?" (p.182) Fr de Jaegher confirmed that he did know.

Fr de Jaegher, also tells of working, from late February-early March 1940, with another missionary priest by the name of Fr Lebbe, in a place called Linhsien (possibly in Shansi Province).

During that time, Fr Lebbe "received news that twelve of the [Christian] Brothers of St John the Baptist from the congregation he had founded had been buried alive by the Communists " (p. 227).

According to Fr de Jaegher, this was only one of many barbaric methods the Communists used against those it considered to be enemies.

CHRISTOPHER RULE
Gilmore, ACT

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 28 No 2 (March 2015), p. 17