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Making disciples of all nations: Bishop Carlo van Melckebeke and his apostolate to overseas Chinese 1953–77
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2023
Abstract
This article investigates the understudied mission of Bishop Carlo van Melckebeke CICM as Apostolic Visitor for the Chinese overseas from 1953 to his retirement in 1970. Although Chinese had settled overseas from as far back as the twelfth century, the Catholic Church never had a significant presence among these communities, except in British colonial era Singapore-Malaya. Following the mid-twentieth century forced exodus of Chinese seminarians and Western missionaries from the mainland after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Holy See responded by redirecting missionary efforts through the initiatives of Bishop van Melckebeke and his colleagues to this major ethnic group scattered across the world. This article deals with this unprecedented apostolate to these diasporic communities, in a substantially different manner from previous scholarship on Catholicism in China in terms of notions of institution, and the framing of missionary activities, networks, and resources. Based on archival resources, media reports and interviews, it recounts how the Office of Apostolic Visitor and the Singapore Catholic Central Bureau extended their mission beyond the politics of the Cold War, and organised a variety of ministries to serve the overseas Chinese population residing on five continents.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © The National University of Singapore, 2023
Footnotes
The author would like to express sincere thanks to the two anonymous reviewers and the participants of the 13th International Verbiest Conference, Leuven, August 2021, whose comments and suggestions helped improve and clarify this manuscript.
References
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13 Dirk van Overmeire, ed., Elenchus of CICM in China 1865–1955 (Taipei: Witness Monthly, 2008), p. 581.
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17 Melckebeke, En mongolie, pp. 4–5; McCarthy, ‘Red threat’.
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19 ‘Un évêque expulsé de Chine’.
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22 ‘Un évêque expulsé de Chine’.
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24 Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, ‘Directives’, attachment to the ‘Decretum’, 5 May 1953, Archief Scheutisten – Generalaat, KADOC-KU Leuven, BE/942855/1262/5224.
25 Taylor, ‘Visiting the “overseas Chinese”’, pp. 157, 159.
26 Karl Bringmann, ‘Bishop of exiled Chinese Catholics throughout world protects flocks from Reds’, NCWC News Service, 16 Sept. 1957.
27 Taylor, ‘Visiting the “overseas Chinese”’, p. 159.
28 Bureau du Visiteur Apostolique, ‘Positions Respectives de S.E.R. Mgr. Paul Yu Pin et du Visiteur Apostolique’ [Respective positions of Archishop Paul Yu Pin and the Apostolic Visitor], 5 Mar. 1958, Archief Scheutisten – Generalaat, KADOC–KU Leuven, BE/942855/1262/5224.
29 ‘Overseas Chinese hold Red regime “tragic but passing”, Apostolic Visitor declares’, NCWC News Service, 28 Mar. 1960.
30 Tong Li, ‘Wang Shouli zhujiao fangtan’ [Interview with Bishop van Melckebeke], Hai Sing Pao, 22 Oct. 1977; ‘Tuidong huaren chuanjiao, zuji bian wudazhou’ [Promote missionary work among Chinese, leave footprints on five continents], Hai Sing Pao, 11 Sept. 1980.
31 Liew, Clement, ‘A survey of the development of the Singapore Chinese Catholic mission in the 19th century’, BiblioAsia 3, 4 (2008): 17Google Scholar.
32 Ren, ‘Tushu shengwu bu nianwu zhounian jinian’ [25th anniversary of the department of books and religious objects], Hai Sing Pao, 8 May 1980.
33 Liew, ‘A survey’, pp. 15–16.
34 ‘Shanghai junguanhui jieshou renmin yauqiu, mingling tianzhujiao jiaowu xiejin weiyuanhui, tingzhi yiqie huodong tinghou checha chuli’ [Shanghai Military Control Committee accepted the people's demand to order the Catholic Central Bureau to stop all activities and wait for a thorough investigation], People's Daily (Beijing), 16 June 1951.
35 More details about the CCBs in Shanghai and Taipei can be found in Yee-ying, Bibiana Wong, The short-lived Catholic Central Bureau: National catalyst for cultural apostolate in China (1947–1951) (Taipei: Taipei Ricci Institute, 2021)Google Scholar.
36 C. van Melckebeke, ‘Singapore–Hongkong’, Missions de Scheut, 1 (Jan.) 1956, p. 14.
37 In the early 1960s Indonesia had the largest Chinese population (2.29 million) in Southeast Asia, of whom 70,217 were Catholic, according to statistics compiled by Melckebeke's office in 1961. Office of the Apostolic Visitor, ‘Quanqiu huaqiao renkou yu huaqiao jiaoyou renshu tongji’ [Statistics of global overseas Chinese population and the number of overseas Chinese Catholics], 20 Jan. 1961, Sin Touo Sheng 34 (1 Mar. 1961): 43–4.
38 ‘Xinjiapo huawen wenhua chuanjiao shiye’ [Chinese-language cultural apostolate in Singapore], Hai Sing Pao, 24 July 1975; ‘Gonghe Haixingbao yinqing’ [Congratulations to Hai Sing Pao's silver jubilee], Hai Sing Pao, 8 May 1980. In the early 2020s, Hai Sing Pao had a circulation of about 4,000.
39 Lo Kuang was a native of Hengyang, Hunan province. He studied philosophy, theology and canon law at the Urban College in Rome. After becoming a priest in 1936, he taught Chinese philosophy at the college for 25 years, and served concurrently as ecclesiastical consultor of the Embassy of the Republic of China to the Holy See between 1943 and 1961. ‘Luo Guang zongzhujiao jieshao’ [An introduction to Archbishop Lo Kuang], website of Fuda wenwu guan [Museum of Fu Jen University], http://www2.mcsh.kh.edu.tw/resource/oc/happy_kids/f/fp/fp-5.htm (last accessed 12 Oct. 2021).
40 ‘L'apostolat dans la diaspora chinoise’, Missions de Scheut, 11 (Dec.) 1958, p. 45; ‘Chinese-language cultural apostolate in Singapore’, Hai Sing Pao, 24 July 1975; Paul Li Tong, ‘Haiwai huawen jiaohui kanwu yilan’ [Overview of overseas Chinese Church publications], 14 Oct. 2006, Xinde bao (Shijiazhuang), https://www.xinde.org/show/45745 (last accessed 4 Aug. 2021).
41 ‘L'apostolat dans la diaspora chinoise’, p. 46; Ren, ‘25th anniversary of the department of books and religious objects’, Hai Sing Pao, 8 May 1980.
42 A similar project run by the Shanghai Catholic Central Bureau had instructed thousands of unbelievers and strengthened the Catholic faithful who had lost contact with priests during the early years of the Chinese Communist regime.
43 ‘L'apostolat dans la diaspora chinoise’, pp. 46–7.
44 Ibid., pp. 44–5; Zhong, ‘Jiaoyi hanshou nianwu zhounian’ [25th anniversary of the religious instruction by correspondence], Hai Sing Pao, 8 May 1980; Zhang Bigang, ‘Jiaoyi hanshou huigu yu qianzhan’ [Religious instruction by correspondence looking back and forward], Hai Sing Pao, 22 May 1980.
45 This section disappeared after the journal's office was moved to Taiwan.
46 Melckebeke, ‘Singapore–Hongkong’, p. 15; Van Overmeire, Elenchus of CICM, p. 439.
47 ‘Wang Shouli zhujiao Shi Houde shenfu xiangji shishi’ [Bishop van Melckebeke and Father Schotte pass away on successive days], Hai Sing Pao, 11 Sept. 1980.
48 No indication of currency in the report. In any case the Singapore dollar's exchange rate against the US dollar was about 2.5 in 1975. ‘Nanyang jiaowu chujin she qing chengli ershi zhounian’ [Singapore Catholic Central Bureau celebrates 20th anniversary of establishment], Hai Sing Pao, 29 May 1975; ‘Singapore exchange rate against USD’, CEIC Data, https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/singapore/exchange-rate-against-usd (last accessed 8 Oct. 2021).
49 Rigg, Jonathan, ‘Exclusion and embeddedness: The Chinese in Thailand and Vietnam’, in The Chinese diaspora: Space, place, mobility, and identity, ed. Ma, Laurence J.C. and Cartier, Carolyn (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), p. 106Google Scholar.
50 Paul Pang, ‘Peng Baolu zichuan’ [Autobiography of Paul Pang] (2009), chap. 14, Chinese OFM Online, http://www.ofm.org.hk/500-ofmTW/520-friars/friars-bio/PQRST/pang-paul/index-paul-pang-autobio-4.htm (last accessed 4 Aug. 2021); ‘Wang Shouli zhujiao shengping nianbiao’ [Chronicles of Bishop Carlo van Melckebeke], Hai Sing Pao, 11 Sept. 1980.
51 ‘L'apostolat dans la diaspora chinoise’, p. 46; Melckebeke, ‘Singapore–Hongkong’, pp. 14–15.
52 Lo Yu and Wu Yan, ed., Zhongguo dalu tianzhujiao sishinan dashiji 1945–1986 [Forty years of history of Catholicism in mainland China] (Taipei: Fu Jen University Press, 1986), p. 7.
53 ‘Belgian bishop named to organise far-flung apostolate among refugees from Red China’, NCWC News Service, 11 May 1953; ‘Chuanxinbu weiren Wang zhujiao wei dongnan yazhou shichayuan’ [The Sacred Congregation for Propaganda Fide appoints Bishop van Melckebeke as Visitor to Southeast Asia], Kung Kao Po (Hong Kong), 24 May 1953.
54 Tong Li, ‘Tui'er buxiu Wang zhujiao’ [Bishop van Melckebeke retires without rest], Hai Sing Pao, 27 Oct. 1977.
55 ‘L'apostolat dans la diaspora chinoise’, pp. 44–5; Father Paul Tong Li, interview by the author, 17 Mar. 2018, Church of the Sacred Heart, Singapore.
56 Pang, ‘Autobiography of Paul Pang’, chap. 14.
57 Tong, ‘Bishop van Melckebeke retires without rest’, Hai Sing Pao.
58 Office of the Apostolic Visitor, ‘Statistics of global overseas Chinese population’, pp. 42–53.
59 Melckebeke, ‘Singapore–Hongkong’, p. 14; ‘L'apostolat dans la diaspora chinoise’, pp. 44–6.
60 Motte, Joseph, History of the Catholic Church in China, trans. Hou, Joseph Tarc (Taipei: Kuangchi Cultural Group, 1971), p. 174Google Scholar.
61 Office of the Apostolic Visitor, ‘Statistics of global overseas Chinese population’, p. 53.
62 Peter S. Li and Eva Xiaoling Li, ‘The Chinese overseas population’, in Routledge Handbook of the Chinese diaspora, ed. Tan Chee-beng (Abingdon: Routledge, 2013), pp. 20–21.
63 Bishop Chen moved from the Zhengding diocese in Hebei province to southwestern China in 1947, and subsequently to Hong Kong in 1949. Church life suffered great harassment when the Nationalist and Communist armies fought one another around Zhengding and other cities of strategic importance in northern China.
64 ‘Jiaoting zhushi Huaqiao chuanjiao gongzuo, wei Chen zhujiao tuidong haiwai jiaowu’ [The Holy See attaches importance to missionary work among Chinese residing abroad, appoints Bishop Chen to promote the overseas apostolate], Kung Kao Po, 12 July 1953.
65 Bishop Chen barely survived a car accident in Saigon en route from Hong Kong to Europe. Bishop van Melckebeke had a long conversation with him in Leuven a day after the news was published. In his memo attached to the newspaper clipping, he noted that Bishop Chen ‘seemed to ignore this appointment’, which had not been discussed during their conversation. Bishop Chen eventually went to Sao Paulo, Brazil, to work among Chinese immigrants in 1956. Although he died three years later, several of his priests continued to run a Chinese parish and a school with 400 students, and provide a medical and healthcare service for the 4,000 Chinese living in the vicinity of the church compound. Note by Bishop Carlo van Melckebeke attached to news clipping of Kung Kao Po, 12 July 1953, Archief Scheutisten – Generalaat, KADOC–KU Leuven, BE/942855/1262/5224; ‘Huigu fuwu huaren lichen, Baxi jinian Zhongguo shenfu de Ba wushi zhounian’ [Looking back at the history of service to the Chinese, Brazil commemorates the 50th anniversary of the arrival of Chinese priests], Huasheng Bao (Beijing), 3 July 2006, http://www.chinaqw.com/news/2006/0703/68/34851.shtml (last accessed 2 Aug. 2021).
66 Secretary of the British Legation to the Holy See, ‘Protocollo’ to Secretary of the Sacred Congregation for Propaganda Fide, Feb. 1952, Archief Scheutisten – Generalaat, KADOC–KU Leuven, BE/942855/1262/5224.
67 Comber, Leon, Templer and the road to Malayan independence (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2015), p. 19CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
68 Comber, Templer, p. 1; Carolyn Cartier, ‘Diaspora and social restructuring in postcolonial Malaysia’, in Ma and Cartier, The Chinese diaspora, p. 81.
69 Comber, Templer and the road to Malayan independence, p. 53; ‘Gerald Templer: The smiling tiger’, website of National Army Museum (London), https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/gerald-templer-smiling-tiger (last accessed 5 Aug. 2021).
70 British Legation to the Holy See, excerpt from memorandum to Propaganda Fide, 6 Sept. 1952, Archief Scheutisten – Generalaat, KADOC–KU Leuven, BE/942855/1262/5224.
71 British Legation to the Holy See, excerpt from memorandum to Propaganda Fide, 3 Oct. 1952, Archief Scheutisten – Generalaat, KADOC–KU Leuven, BE/942855/1262/5224.
72 CO 1022, SEA 307/3/02, no. 62, 12 May 1953, quoted from John Roxborogh, ‘The Roman Catholic Church in Malaysia to 1990’, in Christianity in West Malaysia, a denominational history, ed. Robert Hunt, Lee Kam Hing and John Roxborogh (Selangor: Pelanduk, 1992), p. 13.
73 Roxborogh, ‘The Roman Catholic Church in Malaysia’, p. 13.
74 Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, ‘Obstacles du point de vue des Prêtres Chinois’ [Obstacles from the point of view of the Chinese Priests], attachment to the ‘Decretum’, 5 May 1953, Archief Scheutisten – Generalaat, KADOC–KU Leuven, BE/942855/1262/5224.
75 Chen Fang-chung, Yu Bin shuji zhuan [Biography of Cardinal Yu Pin] (Taipei: Taiwan Commercial Press, 2001), pp. 43–69.
76 Ibid., p. 189.
77 Chen, Biography of Cardinal Yu Pin, pp. 161–79; ‘Rev. Paul Chan’, in A memorial collection of Rev. Paul Chan, S.T.S., J.C.D, ed. Wang Qingyu, Anne Huang and Chen Benmei (2017), n.p.
78 ‘L'apostolat dans la diaspora chinoise’, pp. 44–5.
79 Taylor, ‘Visiting the “overseas Chinese”’, pp. 162–3.
80 Bureau du Visiteur Apostolique, ‘Positions Respectives de S.E.R. Mgr. Paul Yu Pin et du Visiteur Apostolique’, 5 Mar. 1958.
81 Father Paul Pang, interview by the author, 21 July 2021, Franciscan House, Taishan, New Taipei City; Xiaowei, ‘Xiang nin—Wang Shouli zhujiao’ [Thinking of you—Bishop Carlo van Melckebeke], Hai Sing Pao, 13 Aug. 1981.
82 Tong, ‘Bishop van Melckebeke retires without rest’, Hai Sing Pao.
83 Bringmann, ‘Bishop of exiled Chinese Catholics throughout world protects flocks from Reds’.
84 Bureau du Visiteur Apostolique, ‘Positions Respectives de S.E.R. Mgr. Paul Yu Pin et du Visiteur Apostolique’, 5 Mar. 1958.
85 Peter S. Li and Eva Xiaoling Li estimate the overseas Chinese population in 1970 at 15,098,000, whereas the Office of Apostolic Visitor estimates it at 25 million. Li and Li, ‘The Chinese overseas population’, Routledge handbook of the Chinese diaspora, p. 20; ‘Pope urges prayers for church in China’, NCWC News Service, 15 June 1977.
86 In 1969 there were 241,813 Catholics in Hong Kong (the majority being Chinese). ‘Statistics of the Diocese of Hong Kong, from 30 Sept. 1968 to 1 Oct. 1969’, Hong Kong Catholic Diocesan Archives, https://www.archives1841.hk/Statistic/1969-C.htm (last accessed 4 May 2020).
87 Motte, History of the Catholic Church in China, p. 175.
88 The conversion of Chinese Filipinos to Catholicism began in the 17th century under the Spanish colonial government's carrot-and-stick policy. In 1953, the ministry was entrusted to Bishop Juan Bautista Velasco Díaz O.P. (1911–85), a Spanish Dominican missionary who was expelled from his diocese of Xiamen (Fujien province, China) and moved to Manila. He organised about 100 Chinese priests and missionaries from China to serve a network of Chinese parishes, mission stations and schools in the Philippines. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of Manila in 1955, and retired in 1984. ‘L'apostolat dans la diaspora chinoise’, p. 46.
89 Charbonnier, ‘Les Chinois de la diaspora’, Études, p. 24.
90 The estimated population of Taiwan was 14 million according to the 1970 Census. ‘Lici pucha gaiyao biao’ [Summary table of all previous censuses], Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan, R.O.C. (Taiwan), https://www.dgbas.gov.tw/public/Attachment/5327111072F ZJFA2L.pdf (last accessed 4 May 2020); Chao Chung-wei, Beatrice K.F. Leung and Bibiana Y.Y. Wong, eds, The Catholic Church in Taiwan, vol. 1 (Taipei: Kuangchi Cultural Group, 2020), p. 3.
91 Ivar S. McGrath, ‘Chinese priests seen returning to Formosa’, Catholic Standard and Times, 19 Aug. 1960.
92 Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I was only able to access an incomplete collection of Hai Sing Pao from 1975 onwards and Sin Touo Sheng bimonthly from 1955–61. Hence I am unable to discuss the challenges faced by the Chinese Catholic communities in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia during and after the Second Indochina War (1955–75). Sporadic reports on post-1975 persecution of Christians in these Communist states appeared in Hai Sing Pao. A report in February 1980 revealed that a majority (at least 73 per cent) of the Vietnamese ‘boat people’ were ethnic Chinese, to whom the apostolate among overseas Chinese would extend its pastoral care. ‘Haiwai huaqiao liqiu shiying, yi chengwei qiaojudi gongmin’ [Overseas Chinese strive to adaptation in order to become citizens of their host countries], Hai Sing Pao, 18 Feb. 1980.
93 Taylor, ‘Visiting the “overseas Chinese”’, pp. 164–5.
94 D.S. Lourdusamy to Carlo van Melckebeke, 22 Sept. 1977 (Rome), Prot. 4120/77; Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, ‘Decretum’, 26 Sept. 1977, Prot. 4296/77, Archief Scheutisten – Generalaat, KADOC–KU Leuven, BE/942855/1262/5224.
95 ‘Chronicles of Bishop Carlo van Melckebeke’, Hai Sing Pao, 11 Sept. 1980; ‘Wang Shouli zhujiao xianzai kangfu zhong’ [Bishop Carlo van Melckebeke is now recovering], Hai Sing Pao, 4 Mar. 1976; Xiaowei, ‘Thinking of you—Bishop Carlo van Melckebeke’, Hai Sing Pao.
96 Archbishop Chung is a native of Hubei province in China. He studied at the seminary in Macau, and was ordained a priest of Kuching in Sarawak, Malaysia, in 1954. Between 1963 and 1966 he studied in Rome and obtained a doctorate in canon law. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, in September 1970, and subsequently bishop of Kuching in March 1975. ‘Chong Wanting rongying Gujin zongzhujiao’ [Chung Wan-ting elevated to archbishop of Kuching], Hai Sing Pao, 8 July 1976.
97 Peter Chung to C. van Melckebeke, 20 Oct. 1977 (Singapore); C. van Melckebeke to Peter Chung, 21 Oct. 1977 (Singapore), Archief Scheutisten – Generalaat, KADOC–KU Leuven, BE/942855/1262/5224.
98 Pang, ‘Autobiography of Paul Pang’, chap. 14; ‘Pang Baolu shenfu bei wei huaren chuanjiao chu zhuren’ [Father Paul Pang appointed director of the Office for the Promotion of the Overseas Chinese Apostolate], Hai Sing Pao, 31 Dec. 1981.
99 Father Paul Pang, interview by the author.
100 ‘Ding Shuren mengxi zai Luoma juren shishi’ [Monsignor Ting Chu-jen died suddenly in Rome], Hai Sing Pao, 29 May 1984.
101 Father Pang Yaohua was a cousin of Father Ting and also from Jilin province. He fled to Hong Kong in 1949 and then studied philosophy in Manila and theology in Montreal, Canada. Ordained a priest in 1957, he worked in New York for a year and then was invited by Archbishop Olçomendy to Singapore in 1958. ‘Peng Yaohua shefu jinduo yinxi’ [Father Pang Yaohua celebrates silver jubilee of priestly ordination], Hai Sing Pao, 17 July 1982.
102 Father Paul Tong, interview by the author.
103 Xiao Yonglun and He Guozhang, ‘Xinjiapo huawen jiaowu’ [Apostolate to Chinese-speaking Catholics in Singapore], Witness Blog, http://verbiestfoundation.org/edcontent_d.php?lang=tw&tb=6&id=4155 (last accessed 7 Aug. 2021).
104 Father Paul Tong, interview by the author; ‘Bishop Carlo van Melckebeke, CICM’, History of the Catholic Church in Singapore: The virtual exhibition, https://history.catholic.sg/bishop-carlo-van-melckebeke-cicm/ (last accessed 17 May 2023).
105 ‘Xinjiapo zongjiaoqu fabiao huawen jiaowu diaocha baogaoshu’ [The Singapore archdiocese publishes survey report on the apostolate of the Chinese-speaking Catholics], Hai Sing Pao, 12 June 1984; Yen Hsiu-ching, ‘Dong Li shenfu tan shicheng huaren jiaowu’ [Father Paul Tong talks about the apostolate for the Chinese in Singapore], Shantao Catholic Weekly, 13 May 2001; Xiao and He, ‘Apostolate to Chinese-speaking Catholics in Singapore’, Witness Blog.
106 ‘Bishop Carlo van Melckebeke, CICM’.
107 ‘About us’, Carlo Catholic Society, https://carlo.org.sg/about-us/ (last accessed 4 Aug. 2021).
108 Father Paul Tong, interview by the author.
109 Charbonnier, ‘Les Chinois de la diaspora’, Études, p. 25.
110 Li and Li, ‘The Chinese overseas population’, Routledge handbook of the Chinese diaspora, pp. 20–25; Laurence J.C. Ma, ‘Space, place, and transnationalism in the Chinese diaspora’, in Ma and Cartier, The Chinese diaspora, p. 19.