Real testing time is at hand
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| Bishop Galvin at the Catholic Centre, Hong Kong, shortly after his arrival from Red China. He was welcomed by Fr McNamara to St Columban's and two Sisters of St Columban, Srs Aquinas and Gabriel, who are doctors on the staff of the Ruttonjee Sanatorium, conducted by the Sisters of St Columban. "I was so tired that I could hardly talk," wrote the Bishop. "I was given the most wonderful three or four cups of tea I have eve had in my life. I had come out from the Red curtain in a state of complete social undress, but no one minded in the least. Everyone was talking and no one was listening. It was a grand family affair." |
Dear Fr Connolly,
Let me thank you very sincerely for your cablegram of good wishes. I heard the sentence of expulsion on the morning of September 15 at police headquarters in Hankow. I was then taken back to my own city of Hanyang under escort and held there in my rooms under strict supervision until the afternoon of September 17, when I was moved back to police headquarters in Hankow, put on board a train in Wuchang shortly before midnight and escorted by three policemen to the Hong Kong border, which I crossed on September 19. There I was met by Fr McNamara.
The story of my expulsion is as follows, “You have been called here,” said the Chief of Police to me in Hankow,
“To be informed that the Government of China has decided to expel you from the country and that you are to
leave Wuhan within three days. The charges against you are these:
You have opposed and obstructed the establishment of an Independent Church in China; you have brought into being a reactionary organisation called the Legion of Mary; you have engaged in anti-patriotic propaganda; you have disobeyed the orders of the Government; you have destroyed the property of the people.
During the three days given to you to prepare for departure you are to make no inflammatory talks to anyone whatsoever; you are to observe strictly the directives of the Government, which will be made known to you from time to time; you are not to destroy any property either in your own room or in your Mission compound.”
In reply to a question from me, the Chief of Police made it clear that I had not been called to headquarters to ask questions or to make explanations, but to listen to the sentence of the Government.
Please ask the members of our Society and all our Mission friends to pray for the Church in China. I think its real testing time is at hand.
Sincerely yours,
Edward J. Galvin
- Taken from The Far East December 1952
