October 15, 2011 – 1:02 pm
Children in Catholic schools in the 1940s, 50s and 60s spent much time raising money to “ransom pagan babies”. But the work of the HCA, the Holy Child Association, was about more than baptism – it was about children helping children.
Links:
Holy Childhood Association – Official website of the HCA in the US
HCA Kids – website of the Holy Child Association with activities and information on the missions
Rerum Ecclesiae – Pope Pius IX’s encyclical on the importance of the missions and the work of the HCA
Account of one Catholic who met her “pagan” brother and how it inspired her faith
Mission Together – HCA website for the United Kingdom
Images and holy cards related to the work of the Holy Child Association in France in the late 19th and early 20th century
Audio interview with former Secretary General of the HCA
Sources:
Harrison, Henrietta. 2008. A penny for the little Chinese:The French Holy Childhood Association in China, 1843-1951. American Historical Review 113, no. 1: 72-92.
Manna, Paolo. The conversion of the pagan world: a treatise upon Catholic foreign missions. Society for the Propagation of the Faith, 1921
Robert, Dana Lee. American women in mission: a social history of their thought and practice. Mercier University Press, 1996.
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#260 – Pagan Babies for Christ
On 11 July 1742, Pope Benedict XIV issued the bull Ex Quo Singulari which addressed the issues of Catholic missionary activity in China and the Chinese Rites Controversy.
Following the example of Matteo Ricci, the Jesuit missionaries in China sought to present the Catholic faith in a way more compatible to traditional Chinese practices so as to encourage conversions in that country. One particularly problematic aspect of the Jesuit method of evangelization was in regards to Chinese veneration of their ancestors. The Jesuits taught that the Chinese practice was compatible with Catholic belief because it was a social and not a religious ritual. However other missionaries in China such as the Franciscans and Dominicans argued that the Jesuits were not teaching the Catholic faith properly and appealed to the pope. The other missionary orders wanted to present a Catholic faith and practice which would be exactly the same as it was in the countries of Europe.
In Ex Quo Singulari, Benedict XIV sided with the Franciscans and Dominicans against the Jesuits and forbade any further discussion of the issue. Papal policy led to a marked decline in conversions in China and indeed the Chinese Emperor would tell a visiting papal delegate, “You destroyed your religion. You put in misery all Europeans living here in China. You desecrated the honor of all those, who died long ago.” The Emperor would also ban all Catholic missionary activity.
In 1939, Pius XII would reverse this policy to permit the veneration of deceased family members and the Catholic Church would again begin to flourish until the Chinese Communist revolution in 1949.
On the Chinese Rites Controversy
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