Church eradication manual (Chinese commies)

The Cardinal Kung Foundation also has a most fascinating document from the Donglai Township Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, entitled "The Procedures Legally to Implement the Eradication of Illegal Activities/Operations of the Underground Catholic Church." One of the basic principles is:
Use the strategy of "Conversion Through Re-Education, Disintegration, Unification of the Majority and Attacking the Individuals"
The whole three phase process (preparation, implementation, consolidation) was structured as an action plan with timed targets from November 1996 to June 1997. In the implementation phase, one of the targets was to break up the underground religious influence by the following measures:
B.II.4.c.i) Uniting the majority through education,
B.II.4.c.ii) Isolating and attacking the extremist,
B.II.4.c.iii) Developing overall education,
B.II.4.c.iv) Organizing specialists, and
B.II.4.c.v) Using any other conceivable means.

With the exception of the few stubborn and core members (of the underground Catholic Church) who must be prosecuted according to law, the remainder will be indoctrinated by education. Persistent effort should be applied to convince the believers to obey the government and no longer to join illegal religious activities. Settle those who join legal religious activities and provide them with a suitable assembly place.
The document shows a good understanding of the use of propaganda and the manipulation of public opinion:
Political matters should be treated as non-political ones while the problems of religious character should be so solved as non-religious ones. Do not agitate the already conflicting situation; thereby irritating the restless factors and causing very serious social disturbances as the result of erroneous problem management.
Part of the fascination with this document is seeing some faint echoes in some developments in public policy in our own country.

Let me be clear: I do not want for a moment to belittle the suffering of the Chinese Catholics of the underground Church. If we were to meet some of these heroic faithful and talk about persecution, it would be embarrassing if they said to us enthusiastically "Yeah, the beatings were pretty awful - I thought I was going to give in when I started vomiting blood. How did you block it out? We used to try to think of the Passion of Christ..." No - we might talk about "persecution" but we need to do so with great humility and respect for the suffering Catholics over there.

But I'm sure they would be screaming at us to see how important it is for us to use our freedom to resist:
  • The attempt to treat religious matters as non-religious
  • The drive to isolate "extremists"
  • The use of education as a tool for Government propaganda
  • The acceptance of state aid for compromise solutions
And, of course, we must pray earnestly for our Chinese Catholic brothers and sisters. Here is a picture of the mosaic illustrating the Union of Prayers for the Persecuted Church in China:

Almighty and eternal God, Comforter of the afflicted, and Strength of the suffering, grant that our brothers of China who share our faith, may obtain, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of our holy Martyrs, peace in Thy service, strength in time of trial, and the grace to glorify Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

And here is the picture of Our Lady of China approved by Pope Pius XI in 1928:

Our Lady of China, pray for us

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