A new book recounts the life and work of a prominent Dublin-born
Columban missionary who ended up in solitary confinement in a Chinese
jail for his efforts to evangelise the country.
From Navan to China has been compiled from the notes, letters and
diaries of Fr Aedan William McGrath who was born in Dublin in 1906,
ordained in 1929 and only died in 2000.
Fr McGrath worked as a missionary with the Legion of Mary in China
through almost three decades from the 1930s until he was expelled by the
communist regime in 1954.
After his ordination, he volunteered to join
the Columban mission and travelled the then arduous journey with
several other Irish priests and nuns and was put in charge of a remote
outpost at Hangyang in Hupey province.
The district had no Catholic Church and Fr McGrath walked, cycled and
rode on horseback to outlying mission stations, sometimes sleeping on
the way in straw huts. The mission strove to bring Catholicism to a
China that was torn by civil war and the World War 2 invasion by the
Japanese.
In 1947, Fr McGrath was assigned to spread the Legion of Mary
throughout the whole of China and, with the support of the local
archbishop and many priests and religious, its influence spread rapidly.
But the real difficulties for him, the Legion and the Columban
mission generally arose after the victory of the Communist-led forces in
1949 and the Legion of Mary became a proscribed organisation.
The
authorities set up a government-controlled so-called Patriotic Church
and Fr McGrath led a campaign to inform Catholics about its nature.
This led to a counter-campaign led by state-controlled newspapers and
Legion of Mary members were forced to register with the police.
Two
years later, Fr McGrath was arrested by the authorities and served
almost three years in prison, mostly in solitary confinement, before his
eventual expulsion and return to Ireland.
Upon his return, he was greeted at a reception in the National
Stadium by Sean T. O'Kelly, then President of Ireland and other noted
public dignitaries.
From Navan to China: The Story of a Chinese Irishman by Aedan W. McGrath SSC is priced at €10.80.
SIC: CIN/IE