Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 3-March 2,1972
Church’s Position In Red China “Inscrutable’
BY JAMES C. O’NEILL
VATICAN CITY (NC) -- The word “inscrutable” applies not only to the Chinese
but also to the Catholic Church’s position in Communist China.
According to Webster’s unabridged dictionary the first meaning of inscrutable is:
“Incapable of being searched into and understood.’ The first to admit this in terms of
the Church in mainland China are top leaders in the Vatican.
The Vatican has been cut off for years from any contact with Red China and
whatever remains of its once 4 million Catholics.
“We have no contact,” said Archbishop Sergio Pignedoli, the No. 2 man of the
Vatican’s top administrative office for missionary affairs.
The archbishop, who is secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of
Peoples, which once guided the development of the growing Catholic Church in China,
said: “We have heard nothing for years. Now, with the new developments, we must
wait patiently for opportunities. We must be confident, optimistic and respectful.”
Some China observers have said that President Nixon’s visit to Peking could result in
improved relations between Red China and the rest of the world and eventually lead to
a better climate for the growth of Christianity in China. N
With the Communist takeover of China after World War II, there began what has
been dramatically called “the Church’s agony” behind the Bamboo Curtain.
The annual yearbook published by the Vatican this year tells the story. Under the
entry for the Archdiocese of Peking, the only statistical figures listed are the last
known: 1949. Shanghai has no statistics listed - only the sad note that its bishop and
vicar general are “in jail for the faith.”
So it goes with all the dioceses of mainland China. As one Catholic China-watcher
put it: “At present there is a huge blank space on the map of the Church and of
Christianity: the Chinese continent with its vast population which makes up 22
percent, more than one-fifth, of the human race.”
The China-watcher referred to is Jesuit Father Louis Ladany, publisher of the China
New Analysis in Hong Kong since 1953.
Father Ladany, who was in Rome recently, said that the Church in China and all
forms of Christianity have been almost completely annihilated.
The once flourishing Church in China -- with about 5,000 priests -- has been gravely
if not mortally reduced. Still another problem for theVatican is the consecration of an
estimated 40 priests as bishops without the Vatican’s appointment or approval but
with'the consent and encouragement of the atheistic Communist regime. In short, the
establishment of a “schismatic” Church has been actively fostered by Chinese
Communist officials with the aims of breaking all ties with the Vatican and the West
and of total suppression.
Fides News Service, published by the Congregation for the Evangelization of
Peoples reported that since 1966 all churches and temples have been closed in Red
China. All attempts by the Vatican to make contact with Peking in recent years have
received no encouragement. In fact, reported the mission news agency, “even if Peking
were to enter into negotiations with the Holy See, which is unlikely under the present
regime, a revival of even minimal religious freedom can hardly be expected.”
Despite China’s aloofness, Pope Paul has made repeated efforts to extend the hand
of friendship. On his historic trip to the United Nations in New York in 1965, he lent
the support of the Catholic Church to the admission of Red China into the UN. In
1966, he appealed to China to try to find an end to the war in Southeast Asia. In
1967, he noted the “grave obstacles” that Red China had put in his path in the
Church’s relations with China and then assured China’s leaders of the Church’s lack of
ambition for temporal gains in its relations with that nation.
“We should,” he said, “still like to re-establish contacts with the Chinese people of
the continent, contacts that we did not voluntarily interrupt, to say to all those
Catholic Chinese who have remained faithful to the Catholic Church that we have
never forgotton them and that we will never renounce the hope of the rebirth and even
of the development of the Catholic religion in that nation.”
In 1970, Pope Paul deliberately stopped over at Hong Kong during his 10-day Asian
visit, in order to be as close as possible to the Chinese people. In his speech he told
China that the Church’s attitude could be summed up in one word: Love. “Christ is a
teacher, a shepherd and a loving redeemer for China, too,” he said.
Although the present outlook for future developments in China remains obscure to
say the least, this does not mean that there is a total lack of thought on the subject
within Catholic circles. While most of the top Vatican authorities discount generally
the older concept of “secret penetration” into China by individual priests, several
plans for action are being studied or are already underway.
For instance, the Vatican has been working with the Rome - based Union of
Superiors General for translation of Christian books -- the Bible and works of Church
Fathers as well as recent theological and liturgical works published since the Second
Vatican Council - for use in China. The training of priests, Religious and laymen as
specialists in Chinese problems is also on the docket.
As Father Chu Li Teh, provincial of the Jesuit province of China, said: “Our hope
of re-entry into China is based not on any war of liberation, but on the possibility that
the Peking regime will open up to the outside world. Something like what has
happened to some of the countries of Eastern Europe.”
Both Father Chu and Father Ladany look to Chinese Catholics for the major
breakthrough in China following on the development of other more immediate
relations, such as cultural and economic. There is also the probability that because of
the presence of Chinese representatives in various international organizations -- such as
the UN -- and with its expanded diplomatic corps, there will be opportunities for papal
representatives and other Catholics to have direct contacts with Red Chinese officials.
Although these will no doubt be marginal at the outset, it is not beyond the range of
possibility that in the Vatican’s efforts to establish world peace, deeper and more
significant relations for the Church and China may result.
But none of this will be immediate, all of the China-watchers in Rome agree. As the
Chinese proverb has it: it is better to light a candle than curse the darkness. However,
this presupposes the candle flame will have enough air to keep its flame alive brightly.
On the Church’s side, the candle is ready for lighting. All it needs now is air in
mainland China.
AN NC NEWS ANALYSIS
Heath Faces Dilemma
Over North Ireland
BY JOHN McCAUGHEY
CATHOLICS PROTEST: (Enniskillen, Northern Ireland) Thousands of Roman Catholics gathered at the Kilmacormick housing
estate in mid February prior to a civil rights march. (NC PHOTO)
IRA Draws Catholic Fire
LONDON (NC) — Prime Minister
Edward Heath’s recent cliff-hanging
victory in gaining approval for Britain’s
entry into the Common Market and his
equally cliff-hanging defeat at the hands
of Britain’s militant striking coal miners -
who won a pay raise more than double
the government’s ceiling on wage
increases -- have subtly altered his
perspective on Northern Ireland (Ulster).
For weeks now the British and Irish
press have reverberated with hints of a
new British government move on the
continuing - and worsening - Northern
Ireland situation.
Summarized, this initiative was
predicted on three fronts:
-A lessening of the internment -
without-trial policy for suspected
terrorists, with the possible release of
non-hard-line Irish Republican Army
men;
-Some form of “community
government” in Northern Ireland that
would give Catholics a considerably
greater say in the running of the British
province;
-The inevitable and necessary massive
economic aid that would be needed to
heal at least some of the scars that have
been created in the past few years.
But these suggestions, which were
being discussed more and more positively
by both Dublin and London observers,
may now be consigned to the limbo that
has mainly characterized both Heath’s
and Home Secretary Reginald Maudling’s
policy toward Ulster.
DUBLIN (NC) — Irish Premier Jack
Lynch said that special legal moves will
be taken to curb the Irish Republican
Army (IRA), whose activities he said are
“morally wrong” and impede progress
toward Irish unity.
In a major policy speech at the
convention of his ruling Fianna Fail
party, Lynch also promised constitutional
changes to satisfy Irish Protestants, but
implied that the changes will be made
only in a united Irish context.
At present, divorce and contraceptives
are forbidden in the Irish Republic.
Lynch’s new sanctions against the
already outlawed IRA were confirmed by
Justice Minister Des O’Malley, a hard-line
opponent of the IRA.
By implication, the move raps some
lower court Irish judges for dismissing too
easily recent charges against alleged IRA
members.
The Irish Republic’s attorney general
will use old legislation to bypass the
original verdicts and reopen cases against
some other alleged offenders. The cases
failed originally for lack of hard evidence.
When the government won - by one
eight votes - a vital Common Market test
in the House of Commons, there were
some who were quick to point out to
Prime Minister Heath that five Unionist
party Members of Parliament from
Northern Ireland had voted for this. Take
those votes away, it was suggested, and
plans for Britain’s Common Market entry
(the main platform of Heath’s foreign
policy) would fail and force a general
election that the opposition Labor Party
would probably win.
Heath therefore faces a dilemma.
Should he go ahead with the wide-ranging
plans that the cabinet has certainly been
considering on Ulster, thus losing votes at
home, risking the fall of the Northern
Irish government, and sparking the
much-heralded Protestant backlash in
Northern Ireland? Or should he just sit
tight and hope for the best?
It is a decision that only Heath can
make. There is now almost total
resistance from Ulster Premier Brian
Faulkner to any change, such as more
Catholic representation in the Northern
Irish government. Faulkner would
probably rather resign than Qgree on this
point. In Dublin, there have been
publicized but, in reality, very limited
moves against the IRA.
It is a dilemma that may be resolved
within the next few weeks - or never.
And the fact that Edward Heath has just
been dealt a cruel blow to his wage policy
at home - by a band of tough miners who
plunged the nation into darkness by using
tougher and even more implacable
rigidity than Heath himself is famous for
- can be no comfort to the Conservative
party leader as he sits beside his various
“hot lines” on Downing Street.
Lynch is moving carefully because of
growing public support for the IRA. He
has so far shunned the option of
introducing internment without trial or
special military courts in the republic, but
observers here believe he will bring them
in when - and if - public opinion is ripe.
In other evidence this week of a new
initiative against the IRA, four men faces
charges of membership in the illegal
organization. Justice Minister O’Malley
also revealed in the Irish parliament (Dail)
that he had allowed Irish police to give
statements, fingerprint data and other
assistance to British police who were
holding two Irishmen on charges of
attempting to smuggle arms into Ireland.
In his policy statement, Premier Lynch
said violence is no answer to Ireland’s
problems, but he reaffirmed Fianna Fail
demands for Irish unity. This unity, he
said, should not be “something forced,
but a free and genuine union of those
living in Ireland based on mutual respect
and tolerance.”
He repeated his offer to “negotiate” a
new constitution for a united Ireland and
said it should be “a constitution as
acceptable to the Protestant ethos as to
the Catholic ethos.”
LONDONDERRY, Northern Ireland
(NC) — The killing of a Catholic member
of the part-time Ulster Defense Regiment
and the bombing of an officers’ mess at
an army base in England which killed
seven persons have drawn Catholic
condemnations of the Irish Republican
Army (IRA).
The IRA, outlawed both in Northern
Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, seeks
the reunification of Ireland and has
admitted that it is responsible for several
killings and bombings. Sympathy for the
IRA has grown among Northern Ireland’s
Catholic minority as the actions of British
troops, sent to the province in August
1969 to prevent sectarian strife, have led
the Catholics to view the troops as
supporters of the predominantly
Protestant Unionist party government
that has discriminated against them.
Several commentators viewed the
killing by British paratroopers of 13
civilians here on Jan. 30 as serving to
attract recruits to the IRA.
But subsequent acts claimed by or
attributed to the IRA have had different
results.
On Feb. 16, terrorists dragged
45-year-old Thomas Callaghan, a bus
driver and Catholic member of the
predominantly Protestant Ulster Defense
Regiment, a militia, from the bus he was
driving and killed him.
Bishop Neil Farren of Derry (Derry is
the term Catholics use for Londonderry)
called the killing a “dreadful act” and
said it has horrified the community. A
large number of Protestants and Catholics
attended Callaghan’s funeral.
Several days later, four priests of St.
Mary’s parish in the Creggan Estate, a
Catholic section of Londonderry, said
they were “appalled” by the killing.
Recalling that they had also condemned
the actions of British troops, they said
that they “also are greatly saddened by
the senseless acts of violence of some of
our own people.”
Citing the loss of jobs through
destruction of places of employment and
the injuries resulting from bombings, the
priests said: “The people responsible
sometimes claim to be our protectors, but
what irresponsible protectors they are
showing themselves to be . . .”
The blast at the British army base in
Aldershot, England, Feb. 22 killed Father
Gerard Weston, an army chaplain who
had been decorated for his efforts to
reduce tensions in Northern Ireland, five
women on the domestic staff of the
officers’ mess and a gardener.
The official wing of the IRA in Dublin
claimed responsibility for the explosion
and said it was in retaliation for the
killings in Londonderry Jan. 30. Later,
when the identities of those killed
became known, the IRA claimed its
intelligence reports had indicated that no
civilians frequented the area where the
bomb was set off.
Cardinal William Conway of Armagh,
Northern Ireland, president of the Irish
Bishops’ Conference, reacted to news of
the killings by saying that “words cannot
express my horror of this foul crime.”
The day before the Aldershot
bombing, Michael O’Shea, a Catholic
member of the Alliance party’s executive
committee, said in Fermanagh, Northern
Ireland, that Catholic members of the
IRA should be automatically
excommunicated.
The Alliance party is a political
grouping of both PrrUostants and
Catholics in Northern Ireland. It supports
union with Britain but is more liberal
than the ruling Unionist party.
“Cardinal Conway and the bishops of
the Catholic Church in Ireland,” O’Shea
said, “should reiterate in decisive terms
that every Catholic who joins a secret
society, such as the IRA, devoted to
murder, maiming and wanton
destruction, is automatically outside the
Church.”
He said nothing is further from the
truth than justifying “IRA violence on
the ground that it was waging a war of
defense against the forces of occupation.”
O’Shea said the British troops in
Northern Ireland had acted impartially as
a peace-keeping force until the IRA began
to attack them.
“Vicious IRA acts . . .gave the excuse
to a calculating and corrupt government
to alter the role of the army, directing it
exclusively to arms searches in Catholic
areas and finally bringing in the evil and
disastrous policy of internment without
trial (for suspected terrorists). The
residents of Catholic areas will no doubt
continue to suffer as long as the IRA is
allowed to operate. If we wish for peace
in Ireland, both political and Church
action must be taken.”
In Dublin the day after the Aldershot
bombing, Irish police, on orders from
Irish Prime Minister Jack Lynch, arrested
eight leading members of the official wing
of the IRA, and held them for
questioning.
The previous week at the annual
meeting of the ruling Fianna Fail party,
Lynch denounced the IRA and said it is
necessary to deal effectively with it in
order to end the partition of Ireland.
Chinese
Women Still
Lack Equality
BY MARJORIE HYER
NEW YORK (NC) - Chinese women
have made tremendous strides toward
equality with men, but some elements of
“male chauvenism” are still deeply
imbedded in Chinese culture, a woman
visitor to China reported here.
Mrs. Ray Whitehead, a United Church
of Christ missionary based in Hong Kong,
described for a luncheon gathering of
women at the Interchurch Center here
the role of women in the People’s
Republic of China.
“Women in China build bridges, they
drill for oil, hold responsible posts, in the
government, teach in the universities.
They are not afraid to stand up against
men. In terms of history, a tremendous
amount has been accomplished, yet they
still have a long way to go,” she said.
Mrs. Whitehead and her missionary
husband were members of a group of 13
Americans, sponsored by the Committee
of Concerned Asian Scholars, which
toured China for a month last Summer. It
was the first group of American visitors
to be admitted to China in the era of
Ping-pong diplomacy.
The Whiteheads both speak Chinese
fluently. For the past five years they have
been in Hong Kong attached to the China
Program of the National Council of
Churches as “China-watchers,”
monitoring Chinese magazines and
newspapers and radio transmissions.
Certain conditions of employment for
women are “pretty much accepted as a
matter of course,” Mrs. Whitehead said.
These include the right to work at any
job for which they are qualified, equal
pay for equal work, and a standard
56-day maternity leave.
Marriage is still considered the norm
for Chinese women, though there has
been an emphasis on late marriage.
Women are not supposed to marry until
they reach 25 and men at age 27,
“though obviously this isn’t held to in the
countryside,” she said.
Extra marital sex is severely frowned
on as are liaisons without marriage
between men and women. “There is a
very strong feeling that marriage is the
normal relationship in Chinese society,”
she said.
Pregnancies among unmarried women
are “not very usual,” Mrs. Whitehead
said. Abortion on demand is legal in
China, and if an umarried women sought
an abortion she would get it, an official
of one of the clinics explained to the
visitors “but they also feel a strong
program of re-education is necessary
along with it.”
Women continue to use their maiden
names after marriage; “you don’t know
from the name whether a woman is
married or not.”
Another idea still imbedded in Chinese
culture is the importance of a family’s
having sons. “The Chinese have gone a
long way in educating their people in the
idea that a small family is a good thing
for society,” she said.
But the high value put on sons “may
result in too many children,” Mrs.
Whitehead said this issue has been dealt
with recently in the official Chinese press.
Mrs. Whitehead emphasized that “the
changing role of women in China didn’t
begin with 1949 (when the Communists
came to power). It really began at the
beginning of this century. But in the last
20 years, the rights women have achieved
have been spread to the broad masses.”
Ireland’s Premier
Moves Against IRA
BY DICK GROGAN