Update to Response to Information Request CHN17667.E of 20 June 1994 on the language and letterhead used in correspondence between officials of the underground Roman Catholic Church and their members [CHN18074.E]

Additional information on the above-mentioned subject could not be found among the sources currently available to the DIRB in Ottawa. According to a 30 June 1994 letter from the Apostolic Nunciature in Ottawa, the DIRB request for information has been forwarded to the competent office of the Vatican. Any reply will be forwarded to you upon receipt.

Attached please find two documents mentioning the use of Latin within the Catholic Church in China. These documents may be of interest to you.

According to a 1989 China Review article, masses in China were still being conducted in Latin (Dec. 1989, 17). In 1992 the Director of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops Office of Missions reported that Chinese language was being gradually introduced at masses, but Latin was still being used by elderly Catholics and within the Church (China and Ourselves Mar. 1992, 11). This information was corroborated by a member of the Congregation des soeurs missionaires de l'Immaculée Conception in Montréal who is familiar with the situation of the Catholic Church in China (21 July 1991). This source added that Latin users are mostly elderly Catholics priests in their seventies or eighties who were trained by the Vatican (ibid.). Further information could not be obtained.

This response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References

China and Ourselves [Toronto]. March 1992. Vol. 17, No. 1. Lucien Casterman. "L'Eglise de Chine : une Eglise vivante, une Eglise souffrante."

China Review [Hong Kong]. December 1989. Brenda Christian. "Faith An Opiate or an Analgesic."

Member of the Congrégation des soeurs missionnaires de l'Immaculée Conception, Montréal. 21 July 1994. Telephone interview.

Attachments

China and Ourselves [Toronto]. March 1992. Vol. 17, No. 1. Lucien Casterman. "L'Eglise de Chine : une Eglise vivante, une Eglise souffrante," pp. 10-14.

China Review [Hong Kong]. December 1989. Brenda Christian. "Faith-An Opiate or an Analgesic," pp. 16-18.