Ruin And Havoc Wrought

SANCTUARY AT SHANGHAI
Missionaries Deny Stories Of "Red" China
The China Information Committee of Hankow has issued a paper entitled " Catholics and the War in China."
Sufferings of the Chinese Catholic missions are described in detail and special tribute is paid to the work of Fr. Jacquinot, who established the Nantao Safety Zone at Shanghai. " Thus far no Japanese soldier has dared venture across the threshold of the chapel in violation of the Japanese commander's order."
Dealing with the Japanese accusations of Communism in the Chinese Army, the paper quotes the view of Fr. Vincent Lebbe about the Red Army which surrendered to the Chinese Government: "The 8th Route Army (formerly the Red Army) has entirely given up its belief in Communism."
" Out of all proportion to their numbers the Catholics have rendered inestimable humanitarian service to the victims of Japanese aggression since the beginning of the present invasion of China," the paper begins. " The name of Father Robert Jacquinot, head and literal founder of the Nantao Safety Zone at Shanghai, has become synonymous with the most courageous and self-sacrificing devotion to the cause of refugee relief in this outraged country."
This zone shelters nearly a quarter of a million women, men and children. Colonel Oka, head of the Japanese forces in Nantao, was persuaded to issue an order guaranteeing the safety of anyone seeking shelter in the Catholic Church in the area.
" 'A church should be a sanctuary from all harm,' the priest told the Japanese commander. The appeal was successful : Colonel Oka wrote the edict and delivered it to the people of the church in person. Thus far no Japanese soldier has dared venture across the threshold of the chapel in violation of that order. And a valuable talisman it has proved to many an unfortunate who in terror of the harsh treatment meted out by the invaders has sought safety within its protecting walls."
Examples of Destruction
Japanese bombers have wrought the greatest destruction in the Catholic Missions: " Many of the holdings of the Jesuit Mission Lie in the areas extending from Shanghai to Wusih on the ShanghaiNanking Railway and from Shanghai to Kashing on the Shanghai-HangchowNingpo Railway, where some of the fiercest fighting of the whole war has occurred. In these areas the Mission has suffered terrific losses."
" At Pootung, in the Shanghai district, church properties are almost in complete
ruin. At Pootung Point, Lohkatsu district, the church and the residence of the priest were hit by shells, while at Changkalu, also in Pootung, the home of the father as well as the boys' school was destroyed. In Kingkahong, also in this district, all that remains standing of the Catholic Mission's property are the bell tower and scattered remnants of wall. The church was completely wrecked as well as many other buildings in the vicinity.
Holy Family Convent Destroyed
" Other centres in which mission property has been destroyed include Kakeuve, Moantsiea and Fouka. In Shanghai proper, the war has ravaged Mission properties both inside and out side the foreign-controlled areas. At Hongkew, Father Kearney stated, the Holy Family Convent was practically destroyed, and in the Yangtszepoo area the buildings of the Salesian fathers were wrecked; and the Sacred Heart Hospital there, run by 12 foreign sisters, was badly damaged by bombs dropped by four Japanese planes, seven hundred patients being almost miraculously rescued at the time."
" At Paotingfu, capital of Hopei, the mis sion centre, which was one of the best in China, was totally destroyed by Japanese bombs, and the Catholic Hospital at the West Gate was also struck six times. In the Apostolic Vicariate of Seinhsien under the French Jesuits in Hopei the Japanese dropped 30 bombs at different times on the Cathedral there.
" At Shihchiachwang, junction of the Peiping-Hankow and Chengtai Railway, the Catholic church was hit by two bombs. The Cathedral at Kashing was bombed three times and totally destroyed by the Japanese. Its loss is estimated at $100,000.
" In addition, 80 infants in the asylum run by the Catholic mission there were killed in these air raids and more than twice as many more injured. During the battle of Hsinkow in Northern Shansi the Japanese troops looted and ransacked the church at Hsuankang near Hsinkow. In Sungkiang, south of Shanghai, the Catholic Middle School was bombed by the Japanese and seven persons were injured."
Mgr. McGrath, Prefect Apostolic of Lishui, believes that the work for the war-victims overshadows every other mission work of the Church just now in the distressed areas of China.
The " Red Army"
Dealing with a different point the report goes on:
" The accusation that the country has gone red which Japan has hurled against China, especially since the surrender of the Red Army to the National Government and its reorganisation into the 8th Route Army, was emphatically refuted by a Catholic father recently interviewed in Hankow."
Fr. Vincent Lebbe, a Belgian who had been in the midst of the. soldiers of the 8th Route army is reported as saying:
" The 8th Route Army has entirely given up its belief in communism, its only belief now being in the sanctity of the territorial integrity and sovereign rights of China as an independent nation which it has risen like one man to defend. All thoughts of their former doctrine are now lost in the one concentrated thought of resisting the Japanese aggressors.
" It is because I am willing to die for
China that I have joined the Chinese army, and yet after all these months courting death on the battlefields I am still living, robust with the spirit of youth despite my age." The priest said that he has had many narrow escapes. Once he. was in a house with several of his associates caring for the wounded soldiers. The house was hit by a bomb, and all its inmates were buried under the debris but, as though a miracle had been performed, they all came through without serious injury. Another time, a shell landed right in front of Father Lebbe. It ploughed into the ground and showered him with mud and earth, but he escaped unscathed. He feels that divine protection is guarding his work for China's cause.
In spite of all these narrow escapes, Father Lebbe expressed great anxiety to return to the front. He came to Hankow, he said, to raise funds for his work.
This is not the first time that Father Lebbe has joined the Chinese army to do rescue work. During the Japanese invasion of North China in 1933, he was engaged in similar war service. with 400 men under him, among the troops of General Sung Cheh-yuan, former commander of the 29th Army. in 1936 he was in Suiyuan working under General Fu Tso-yi, Chairman of Suiyuan Province, with a Rescue Company of 500 men under his leadership.
Father Lebbe received his early education in a high school at Ypres, Belgium. Later he entered Lazarist Philosophy College at Paris, and upon graduation joined the Gregorian University in Rome. Soon after finishing his first year there he accepted a request to perform mission work in China.
Thus are the Catholics, laymen and clergy alike, giving their best energies and material resources toward succouring the wounded, alleviating suffering and assisting the unfortunate people of China in their magnificent resistance to invasion and enslavement by ruthless, megalomaniacal imperialists.
CREDIT TO PARENTS Ampleforth Head on Scholars' Success
At the annual college exhibition held at Ampleforth last week, the headmaster, Fr. Paul Neville, 0.S.B., emphasising the need of co-operation between school and home, said that according to modern psychology two-thirds of the success of a young scholar was due to the parents, and a third, or less than a third, of the credit was claimed by the school.
Discussing the School Certificate Examination, Fr. Neville said that while the examination in itself was not a bad one, it was rpgrettable that it should be the sine qua non of admittance to various positions.
A point in its favour was that it had given them the means of stimulating boys at an age when it was extremely difficult to stimulate them.
It was high time, he said, that they returned to the high ideals of some of the monasterial and cloistral schools.
Abbot's Jubilee
Fr. Neville, in a tribute to the Abbot of Ampleforth (the Rt. Rev. J. E. Mathews, O.S.B.), stated that it was fifty years since he had been ordained to the Order.
The Abbot in his address said that they had not been able to carry on with the church building scheme this year. In thanking the subscribers he made particular mention of the generous help of the Guild of St. Lawrence which had subscribed £9,760 to date.