The short-lived Catholic Central Bureau National Catalyst for cultural apostolate in China(1947-1951)

本書是研究在戰後中國成立的上海天主教教務協進委員會的首部專著。時值教廷在中國建立教會聖統制，並與國民黨政府展開正式外交關係，教務協進會在教廷駐華公使指導下，集合不同傳教修會的中外籍神職菁英，除了協調近140個教區的傳教活動，特別著重於文化傳教事業，運用現代媒體向城市知識分子傳播基督信仰的價值觀，抗衡唯物論者的反宗教宣傳。它又向全國推廣聖母軍，培育平信徒協助文化傳教，為使一旦神職人員無法履行牧職，天主教團體依然保持活力。最終，教務協進會在中共建國初年被取締，各項計劃未能實現，主要成員遭逮捕、驅逐或在拘禁期間殞命。儘管上海教務協進會鮮明的歷史角色結束，它卻在台北和新加坡開枝散葉，協調全球華人傳教工作，本書的敘述延伸至這兩個鮮少有人研究的機構。

This book may be called a groundbreaking work of research into the historical event of the Shanghai Catholic Central Bureau (CCB), which was an ecclesiastical executive organ set up by the Apostolic Internuncio after the establishment of Sino-Vatican diplomatic relations and the Catholic Hierarchy in post-war China. Besides coordinating missionary activities of nearly 140 dioceses administered by various religious congregations, it promoted a cultural apostolate with the use of modern communication media to guide people in the understanding of the Catholic faith and advise missionary work in the face of anti-religious propaganda by materialists. It also trained the laity through the Legion of Mary to sustain Catholic communities when the clergy was barred from its ministries. Eventually, the CCB could not establish its endeavor due to the Communist ban. Key members of the Bureau were arrested, expelled or died early in prison. Despite its vivid historical role of the CCB in Shanghai, this book also investigates its two “heirs” in Taipei and Singapore to organize the apostolate to the Chinese in diaspora.