Posted on 03/28/2014 6:13:45 AM PDT by marshmallow
The Maoist era marks one of the darkest hours of the Church’s history in China, and Chinese Catholics are begging to let the world know about the sacrifices of holy men and women to retain their faith.
Photograph of a Red Guard attack on Tianjin’s Xikai cathedral in 1966. Author’s private collection.
Resistance
“Our greatest success is not in never falling, but in rising again every time we fall.” — Confucius
In 1952, the young and energetic Catholic students of Shanghai addressed their bishop, Ignatius Gong Pinmei (1901-2000). “The battle demands sacrifices,” they asserted, “even if the battle and sacrifice were painful, the depth of the heart is filled with joy.”[1] For his part, Bishop Gong continued to encourage his flock to remain loyal to Christ and the Church as China’s new Communist government intensified its campaign to destroy the Catholic faith. China’s Catholic youth were undaunted. They composed a statement—written with a brush soaked in their own blood—in which they vowed their resistance to Communist pressure. “We have daily marched down a sure path in a set direction: we now maintain our position: steadfastly and resolutely Catholic, come what may.”[2]
China’s Catholic response to its new government was simple: resistance. The historical pattern for Catholics in China after Chairman Mao Zedong (1893-1976) became the “Great Helmsman” was straightforward; Communist persecution and Catholic resistance produced decades of suffering and martyrdom. Several years ago, during a visit to Guiyang’s magnificent cathedral, I met with Bishop Wang Chongyi (b. 1919). After sitting down beside him he told everyone to leave and close the door, and then he leaned over to whisper in my ear: “I was in prison during the Maoist era; I watched my fellow Catholics suffer. No one will ever know how many people were tortured and killed. I saw it.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicworldreport.com ...
The Red Book of Chinese Martyrs
This powerful book presents documents spanning the war between the Communists and Chinese Nationalists in the mid-1940s up to 1983, shortly before the “modernization” promoted after Mao’s death. These are memoirs of those who have experienced in their own flesh how far violence of a power blinded by ideology can go, a power which, after winning its battle against armed forces, decided to exterminate its “enemies without gun”, as Mao called intellectuals, believers, and opponents. From the historical perspective these are valuable sources, especially for anyone who wants to learn about the injustices and brutality of Maoism. Only recently have non-specialists had access to autobiographical testimonies concerning the laogi, the Chinese forced labor camps...
http://www.ignatius.com/Products/RBCM-P/the-red-book-of-chinese-martyrs.aspx
Both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict addressed the plights of the underground Catholics in China during they’re respective pontificates. I wonder when Pope Francis will do so, rather than addressing the plight of illegal muslim immigrants or complaining about the “self-absorbed, Promethean neo-Pelagian” “rosary counters”.
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