The People"s Republic of China is a Socialist country under the leadership of the communist Party. In dealing with all religions, the government adopted a policy to protect the religious free- dom while requiring all religious activities to be limited within the descriptions set out in the Constitution, civil law and poli- cies. The government is trying to encourage all religions to adapt the socialist system. The Catholic Church has learned from his- tory that it can only survive when it conforms to the times and the environment. In China, specifically, it can only survive it matches the pace with the social development. The leaders of the Church have insisted that according to Vatican II"s Ad Gen- tes Divinitus: "The proper purpose of this missionary activity is evangelization, and the planting of the Church among those peoples and groups where it has not yet taken root‘ (#6)? They believe that, "the Gospel is a complete new rule that God has provided for humanity. Salvation is the everlasting mission andunchangeable. Yet, the spreading of the Gospel should be flex- ible. It needs to take consideration of different times, different countries, different races and their lifestyles and ideologies, as well as social systems. Adapting means not rewriting the Gospel or changing it, but interpreting it in a way that is acceptable to the local culture. The Holy Catholic Church was born in a sla- very system inherent in feudalism and capitalism. The Gospel that Jesus Christ preached incorporated Jewish culture and what Paul preached was in line with Greek culture, while the Gospel in the West has always adapted to the local culture. The 2,000- year church history, actually, is a history of church readjustment to culture and changing times. History has shown us that the Church has to fit into society and only if the seed of the Gospel is accepted by the local environment and local historical cultural tradition can it take root and grow and bear fruit. The old China was a semi-feudalist and semi-colonial country. The Chinese communist Party led the people and liberated China from this backward state and entered into a primitive state of a socialist system. It is a new question for the whole world to ponder, then, how to preach the Gospel in a socialist system.‘ (This is taken from Bishop Fu Tieshan"s speech to the 6th National Catholic Representative Congress on January 17 1998)? There is a beliefthat Catholics, both clergy and laity, have followed the example of the Apostle Paul, which is to "be all for all peoples‘ during the early years after the founding of the People"s Republic of China. History has proved that the choice for the Church in China to insist on the Three-Self"s is the right one. "After 40 years of pas- toral work, we understand that the Holy Catholic Church can not only survive in a socialist system, but also can develop and grow in a healthy way Therefore, we must insist that the Catho- lics in China should love the nation and love the Church at the same time and should adapt to the socialist system (op.cit.)?
On the other hand, the leaders of the Catholic Church in China also realized deeply that it was not enough to rely on past success, it has to keep up with the pace of time and enrich the content of the Three-Self"s‘ policy. Only by doing this can the seed of the Gospel grow and bear fruits. One of the important elements is to promote a more democratic church and carry out theological studies.