MEETING PLACE FOR MISSIONS
AN idea conceived in a Chinese prison cell has developed into an unusual publication now circulating throughout the missionary world. The founder and editor of " Christ to the World " is Fr. Francis X. Legrand, a Scheut Father from Belgium, who spent 25 years in China and was finally expelled after 32 months in prison.
The sub-title of this quarterly is "International Review of Apostolic Experiences "-a very apt description. Fr. Legrand explains it as a meeting place to Jet missionaries know " what we are doing to bring Christ to the non-Catholic world."
" I had three y ears to think about this," he said, referring to his imprisonment. Even before being jailed, he had felt the need for such a publication, in which missionaries could exchange their experiences on an international scale.
The publication did not take long to start, said Fr. Legrand, since he had worked out the plans for it while in prison. From his 05511 experience, he had found how helpful it was to know what others had done.
He recalled that in China missioners had been looking tor new ease to make contact with non-(' hristians. 1 hen he read in a magazine about a correspondence coLiPie that had been suceessfulls conducted in India.
When a similar I.:001st' was started in China, " people said It was impossible." Fr. Legrand said. " It will have no success because these people are not like the Indian people, interested in mysticism."
But. after one year, 4.500-iforrChristians were taking the correspondence course. " It showed me the usefulness of pooling our experiments," he continued. "We would never have had a correspondence course in China if it had not been started in India."
"Christ to the World " is now published in English and French,
and Fr, Legrand hopes there will soon bc Spanish and Italian editions. It does not aim at a large circulation, but seeks to "attract the attention of people who go to the non-Christians."
" We are working for ourselves; we are working for the Catholics and we forget the pagans," he said.
lf sufficient Catholics are interested in propagating the faith among the non-Christian nations, then they will be better Catholics; we will keep our Catholics, and we will get the non-Christians coming to Christ."