A 1959 Image of the Modern Church

Li Wei-han was a leader in the Chinese Communist Party from its foundation in 1921. From 1944 until his eclipse in December 1964, he was Director of the Party’s United Front Work Department.

Li Wei-han wrote THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND CUBA: A PROGRAM OF ACTION for the new Communist Party in Cuba formed by Fidel Castro. The document was published in Spanish by the Foreign Languages Press of Peking for the Latin-American Section of the Liaison Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Many years ago, the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, published this plan and reported it had been used against the Catholic Church in China, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Poland and Cuba.

The secret plan to take over the Catholic Church in Cuba was issued in 1959--several years BEFORE Vatican II. In hindsight, the Church following Vatican II seems to have implemented the Red Chinese plan with the disastrous results that we see today.

One Chinese recommendation was to set up a Bureau of religion in Cuba to impose "the procedure of 'democratic centralization' on the Church." Some might say the the National Conference of Catholic Bishops is similar to the religious Bureau recommended by Li Wei-Han.

Another selection from the Chinese document refers to using special laws against Catholics

who protest. They must be thought as unpatriotic criminals obeying the imperialistic instructions emanating from the headquarters of the Catholic Church, the Vatican.

Are traditionalist Catholics who protest against wayward churchmen and activities targeted for discipline, while heretics and apostates escape punishment for their misdeeds?

The document says that occasionally a "two steps forward, one step backward" approach must be taken when people are psychologically torn between the Church and the government. Some would say this tactic also has been used whenever Catholics become too uncomfortable with liberal changes in the Church.

When the People's Government is performing the 'one step backward,' it must proclaim that it is .... in deference to the wishes of the masses that it is setting up Committees of reform in the associations, so that the patriotic masses can express their views more directly in the running of Church affairs.

The above paragraph, if slightly modified, could easily refer to the many committees that have been enrolled in the management of Church structures since Vatican II.

A further quote,

It is important that the ecclesiastical authorities and the Bishops should assure the masses that religion has become purer as a result of being liberated from criminal and unpatriotic elements.

There are a number of ecclesiastical authorities who have proclaimed the Catholic religion is more pure because of being liberated from unreasonable and old-fashioned Church laws of the past.

Does the following paragraph remind you of words that assure Catholics that they can coexist with the modern sinful world?

The task of our militants is to convince the masses that individuals can have their own religion without the Vatican having the right to dictate in the affirms of all the Churches in the world. Our militants must also explain the principle of the coexistence of patriotism and religion. In this way the masses are alienated from those who take their cue from the Vatican, and the way is opened for the establishment of an independent Church.

...we must accumulate all the arguments necessary to convince the Catholic intellectuals that a break with the Vatican is a step forward and not a step backward. ...The masses are but tenuously linked to the Vatican in their religious practices.

The most important paragraph of Li Wei-Han's document that describes tactics to destroy the Catholic Church in Cuba relates to making optional the practices that were formerly considered mandatory for a good Catholic.

Once the time comes when the posts of responsibility in ecclesiastical affairs are in our hands, and their incumbents are docile to the will of the People's Government, we shall proceed to the progressive elimination of those elements of the liturgy which are incompatible with the People's Government. The first changes will affect the sacraments and the prayers. Thereafter the masses will be protected against any pressure or obligation to attend Church services, or practice their religion, or organize societies with some devotional purpose. It is notorious that when the practice of religion becomes simply a matter left to the individual's sense of responsibility, it is gradually forgotten. The rising generations will succeed the older, and the religion will become merely an episode of the past, important only as a topic to be considered in histories of the world Communist movement.

Ask yourself whether the changes since Vatican II did not almost totally eliminate the sacrifices required on Fridays and during Lent and Advent, many devotions and reverential practices, the number of Holy Days, the need for Confession before Communion, etc.