The short-lived Catholic Central Bureau : national catalyst for cultural apostolate in China (1947-1951)  /  Bibiana Yee-ying Wong = Tanhua-yixian : Tianzhujiao jiaowu xiejin weiyuanhui yu Zhongguo wenhua chuanjiao shiye  曇花一現 : 天主教教務協進委員會與中國文化傳教事業 (1947-1951) / Huang Yiying 黃懿縈.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 275-295) and index.
Based on the author's Ph.D. Thesis (Ph.D. Furen daxue Zongjiaoxue yanjiusuo  仁大學宗教學研究所 (2020)),
Text in English with abstract also in Chinese.

Gift of the Author.

本書是研究在戰後中國成立的上海天主教教務協進委員會的首部專著。時值教廷在中國建立教會聖統制，並與國民黨政府展開正式外交關係，教務協進會在教廷駐華公使指導下，集合不同傳教修會的中外籍神職菁英，除了協調近140個教區的傳教活動，特別著重於文化傳教事業，運用現代媒體向城市知識分子傳播基督信仰的價值觀，抗衡唯物論者的反宗教宣傳。它又向全國推廣聖母軍，培育平信徒協助文化傳教，為使一旦神職人員無法履行牧職，天主教團體依然保持活力。最終，教務協進會在中共建國初年被取締，各項計劃未能實現，主要成員遭逮捕、驅逐或在拘禁期間殞命。儘管上海教務協進會鮮明的歷史角色結束，它卻在台北和新加坡開枝散葉，協調全球華人傳教工作，本書的敘述延伸至這兩個鮮少有人研究的機構。

 This book may be called a groundbreaking work of research into the historical event of the Shanghai Catholic Central Bureau (CCB), which was an ecclesiastical executive organ set up by the Apostolic Internuncio after the establishment of Sino-Vatican diplomatic relations and the Catholic Hierarchy in post-war China. Besides coordinating missionary activities of nearly 140 dioceses administered by various religious congregations, it promoted a cultural apostolate with the use of modern communication media to guide people in the understanding of the Catholic faith and advise missionary work in the face of anti-religious propaganda by materialists. It also trained the laity through the Legion of Mary to sustain Catholic communities when the clergy was barred from its ministries. Eventually, the CCB could not establish its endeavor due to the Communist ban. Key members of the Bureau were arrested, expelled or died early in prison. Despite its vivid historical role of the CCB in Shanghai, this book also investigates its two “heirs” in Taipei and Singapore to organize the apostolate to the Chinese in diaspora.

關鍵詞：中國天主教、共產主義與基督宗教、聖母軍、政教關係、三自運動

Keywords: Chinese Catholicism, communism and Christianity, Legion of Mary, state-church relations, Three-Self Movement

Bibiana Yee-Ying Wong is a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica in Taiwan. She received her Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Fu Jen Catholic University in 2020. Her research interest is in the history of Chinese Catholicism in the twentieth century. While working as a journalist for two Catholic news organizations in Hong Kong from 2002 to 2013, she obtained Master’s degrees in Journalism and in Religious Studies from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

黃懿縈是土生土長的香港人，台灣天主教輔仁大學宗教學博士（2020），中央研究院近代史研究所博士後研究學者（2021-2022），研究方向為二十世紀中國天主教歷史與政教關係。曾任職於香港兩間天主教新聞機構（2002-2013），並修畢香港中文大學的新聞學及宗教研究碩士學位。

Table of Contents

Introduction

1 A Zigzag Path to Uniformity

– Historical overview of missionary cooperation before the CCB –

Regional synods in China during late Qing period

New missionary strategy and directives

Celso Costantini and Primum Concilium Sinense

Synodal Commission on Schools, Books and Press

Catholic Action movement and Mario Zanin

2 “The Dizziest Place” in Shanghai

– Creation and organization of the Catholic Central Bureau–

Establishment of the Chinese Catholic Hierarchy

Reorganization of Synodal Commissions by Antonio Riberi

The Catholic Central Bureau in its initial stage

Christianization of China through cultural apostolate

3 Creative Propagators of the Faith

– Five foreign missionaries in the CCB and their work–

François X. Legrand and publication work

Jan Joos and Catholic radio activities

Jozef Vos, Correspondence Courses and his books

Patrick O’Connor and Hua Ming News Service

Aedan W. McGrath and the Legion of Mary

4 Talented Defenders of the Church

– Five Chinese priests in the CCB and their life’s witness –

Matthew Chen, courageous scholar and writer    

Joseph Shen, organizer and martyr of the Legion

John Dong and his apologetic speech  

John B. Gao and the national congress on Catholic education

John Mao and his fight for the Overseas Student Service

 5 Three-Self Reforms and the CCB

– The origin and course of state-church friction –

Opposition between Catholic and Communist ideologies

Religious policy of Chinese Communists

The Three-Self Reform Movement

The CCB’s three responding documents

 6 A Tool of the Imperialist Riberi”

– Ban on the CCB and the Legion of Mary –

The first arrest: François Théry

Suspension of the CCB and press attack

Mass arrest of the CCB directors

Crackdown on the Legion of Mary

Tragic death of Jozef Vos

Imprisonment of McGrath and Legrand

7 Aftermath and Continuation

– The CCB’s final days in Shanghai and reestablishment after 1952 –

The CCB chapel and playground

The fate of Bishop James E. Walsh

Riberi restored the CCB in Taiwan

The Singapore Catholic Central Bureau

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index