In Korea and China, rituals are practiced annually whereby people's ancestors (usually to the fourth generation) are summoned and food and prayers are offered to them.  The food is eaten after the ritual.  This practice was banned by the Church by Pope Clement XI in the 17th and 18th centuries.  In 1939 with the encyclical "Plane compertum est", Pope Pius XII revoked the ban of his predecessor and said that Catholics can perform ancestral rites.

What do you all think about that?  It was said by the Chinese and Korean's that Pope Clement's rule was due to the fact that knowledge of the ancestral rites was lacking in the West - it caused an almost complete stop in conversions to the Catholic faith and resulted ultimately in a severe and brutal suppression of Catholicism in Korea.  This trend reversed when Pope Pius XII made his ruling.

Also of interest is that when the first missionaries arrived in Korea they discovered people already practicing the faith (doing all the duties they could without a priest) because a great Korean philosopher read about the faith when he visited China and converted.  That first group have given us a large number of martyrs.

But now Presbyterianism is the most dominant Christian religion in Korea with Catholicism being miles behind.  Korea's confucian society seems to be extremely similar to Catholicism in many ways and I can't work out why there are so few Catholics - especially as Korea is a "Christian" nation with more "Christians" than any other religion.  Putting aside the fact that the modern Church hates conversions, why are there so many more presbyterians?

Hello:

It took me some time to verify the following information for myself.

On 8 December 1939, the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith promulgated the Instruction Plane compertum est (A. A. S., vol. xxxii. pp. 24-26), signed by the Prefect of the same Roman Congregation His Eminence Pietro Cardinal Fumasoni Biondi, after having obtained the express approval of Pope Pius XII in an audience granted on 7 December, regarding certain ceremonies and oaths in Chinese rites, circa quasdam caeremonias et juramentum super ritibus sinensibus.

As Rev. Fr. Henry Davis explains in his work, Moral and Pastoral Theology (vol. I., treatise V., ch. viii., p. 352; London and New York: Sheed and Ward, 1958):

Chinese Rites

The ceremonies in honour of Confucius are not religious. Catholics are not forbidden to be present at them. Pictures of Confucius may be placed in Catholic schools and saluted with a bow of the head. The presence of Catholic officials and students at public ceremonies which have the appearance of being superstitious is tolerated, provided their presence is passive and their marks of respect can be regarded as merely secular, otherwise they should make their intention known in order to preclude a wrong interpretation. Bowing the head and showing other marks of civil respect before images or a plaque of the dead is permissible.

The same Instruction declared superfluous the oath mandated by the Apostolic Constitution of Pope Benedict XIV Ex quo singulari (11 July 1742) whereby Missionaries in the Chinese Empire and its adjacent kingdoms and provinces pledged themselves to forbid the faithful to partake in these rites.

As the Instruction says, the Chinese government had expressly declared that such ceremonies are not inherently religious, nor was there a religious intention when it formulated and promulgated the edicts that prescribed these civic ceremonies. The ceremonies were meant as expressions of civic solidarity and honor of cultural heritage, commemorating the most celebrated ethicist of Chinese history (caeremonias, quae in honorem Confucii a publicis Auctoritatibus sive peraguntur sive iubentur, non fieri animo tribuendi religiosum cultum, sed hunc solum in finem ut foveatur et expromatur in virum clarissimum dignus honor et in traditiones patrum debitus cultus).

If there is danger of scandal when officials and students are obliged to partake in ostensibly superstitious ceremonies, the correct intention according to the profession and practice of the holy faith is to be expressly stated by the individuals in question (Si quando timeatur scandalum, declaretur recta catholicorum intentio).

It should be considered that Confucius was an ethicist who lived some four centuries or so before the preaching of the Sacred Gospel unto the heathen nations. As far as I know, his ethical teachings in themselves were not contrary to natural law.

I do not know how apt the analogy is, but there is a difference between admiring Plato and admiring Plotinus. The former lived before the preaching of the Gospel unto Greece and influenced the early Fathers in profound ways. The latter was a Neo-Platonic philosopher who lived after the preaching of the Gospel and was taught by an apostatized Christian. Although some passages of his Enneads are exceedingly beautiful, he cannot command the indulgence as Plato does for his purer works because Plotinus rejected the Gospel outright.

Very interesting topic.

It's also fair to note, I think, that the practice of burning incense and bowing to pictures of deceased ancestors, etc that is done universally in East Asia (regardless of religion) is no more a breach of the 1st Commandment than lighting a candle in front of such a picture. Of course, it can become "worship" but I've seen it done mainly as a form of reverence and, when practiced by Catholics, it is usually accompanied for prayers for that soul to be delivered from Hell and Purgatory.

I think that in East Asia, Confucius and the like should be given the same status as Plato, Seneca, etc in the West. I personally feel that if religious books (not of catechetical nature, but books for spiritual reading, such as most of St. Alphonsus's works) were translated by people with working knowledge of the Oriental philosophers, Catholicism would seem much less alien. What I mean is that: for example, St. Alphonsus references a lot of Greek and Roman philosophers, and historical figures that are well known in the West, but completely alien to the average peasant in the Orient. Instead of quoting Horace, I think that the translator would be wise in selecting a similar quote from an Oriental poet/philosopher, etc. Of course the integrity of the translation would be compromised, so there's that to consider as well.

Praying for one's ancestors is a holy thing to do. I'm not sure why Catholics in the West don't seem to share the tremendous reverence towards one's ancestors that is in the Old Testament and in the Orient.

re: presbyterianism. Protestantism is on the rise in the Orient in general. There wasn't even any Protestant activity in Vietnam until relatively recently (I would think the 20th century was the start; maybe even the later half of the 20th century - I'm not sure though, maybe I underestimate the Protestants) yet today Protestant churchs and Jehovah Witness churchs are popping up and competing with Catholic churchs in that country. You can even see this trend in the overseas Oriental populations. Protestant ethnic churchs are popping up all over the country. Mexican and Fillipino protestants are now a common (and disgusting) sight.

I've seen it done mainly as a form of reverence and, when practiced by Catholics, it is usually accompanied for prayers for that soul to be delivered from Hell and Purgatory.

This reminds me of the custom the Mexicans have of building altars for their dead for All Souls' Day, or of spending all night before the tomb of deceased parents and or other loved ones between All Hallows' Day and All Souls' Day. Those who seek to profess and practice the Catholic faith have maintained these customs because it is a very striking reminder that the duty mandated by the Fourth Commanded never really ends, for one must not only provide for one's parents in this life, but (more importantly than any material care) pray for them in this life and after their transit from this world.

I think that in East Asia, Confucius and the like should be given the same status as Plato, Seneca, etc in the West. I personally feel that if religious books (not of catechetical nature, but books for spiritual reading, such as most of St. Alphonsus's works) were translated by people with working knowledge of the Oriental philosophers, Catholicism would seem much less alien. What I mean is that: for example, St. Alphonsus references a lot of Greek and Roman philosophers, and historical figures that are well known in the West, but completely alien to the average peasant in the Orient. Instead of quoting Horace, I think that the translator would be wise in selecting a similar quote from an Oriental poet/philosopher, etc. Of course the integrity of the translation would be compromised, so there's that to consider as well.

Agree with the first sentence in this paragraph, which I why I drew that analogy with Plato and Plotinus. As for citing Classical Oriental Philosophers in works for the faithful for whom these would be culturally relevant, I also agree. In a translation of a work by a Saint, however, the best thing to do would be to translate the text faithfully and by means of footnotes and annotations, to have the philosophical citations properly contextualized and compared with the teachings of Oriental philosophers (who taught before the preaching of the Gospel, and whose philosophies correspond to what man can and ought to know by the light of reason and factual evidence of sensible phenomena).

Praying for one's ancestors is a holy thing to do. I'm not sure why Catholics in the West don't seem to share the tremendous reverence towards one's ancestors that is in the Old Testament and in the Orient.

One ought always to consider the following (the first person is rhetorically used): my great, great, great, great grandfather, who was born centuries ago, was a man like unto myself, subject to infirmity, temptation, and vanity (yet very likely better than me); therefore, I have to pray for him, though I know not his name, because he may be at this moment still paying the debt of his sins in Purgatory (if he died in the state of grace and still had penance to do). I cannot know for certain whether he is in Purgatory or not, but the best course of action is the most prayerful one: to pray for him, and all the faithful departed amongst my relatives and ancestors, whether or not their names are known to me, whether or not I lived to see them; I have a filial obligation to do so. God knows who they are, and so do the Angel-Guardians whose tutelage and patronage they enjoyed upon the earth. That quite suffices.

It is good to remember one's relatives and ancestors especially during the Consecration and Elevation, and the Memento for the faithful departed in the Canon of the Mass. They will certainly repay the favor if they are freed from the horrible prison of Purgatory by our suffrages. They will be celestial Patrons who are especially solicitous for us.

The Communion of the Saints: a very beautiful and precious dogma, and one that can enable us to practice charity in its purest and most perfect aspects.

It should be said here that Confucius was highly respected by the Jesuit missionaries, and they are, in fact, why his name is Latinized for us (from K'ung-fu-tzu, in the Wade-Giles spelling). They translated and brought his works back to Europe.

The decision of the Pope during the Chinese Rites controversy was a big mistake, in my opinion. If ancestor worship had been properly baptized and turned to rightful ends, as the missionaries did in Latin america or in Europe itself during the early Middle Ages, China could be a very different place right now, even a golden dragon in Christ's army.

Another reason for Christianity's failure to take hold in Asia would be its association with "foreign". It's kinda hard to help, because, well, it's true. In Japan's case, the shoguns saw what happened to the Philippines and how westerners colonized many of the same territories they brought missionaries to. So they clamped down. In China, the whole fiasco with Britain and the Opium Wars (which, in my opinion, is running head-to-head with the Irish potato famine in a contest for Lowest Moment in British Imperial History) did irreparable damage for Christianity's prospects in Asia.

Anyone who gives Confucius an honest reading knows that the work he holds in his hands, like those of Seneca and Aristotle, is pure gold. It represents the finest flowering of the pagan intellect in the absence of Divine Revelation. Those who adhere to such works without guile or pretense are much closer to the truth than your average modernist, apostate Westerner, however much the latter may refer to and think of himself as a "Christian."

I would even (with the strongest possible cautions) urge Catholics to acquaint themselves with these books. That might sound like an odd kind of statement, but I think there are solid reasons for it. Here's why.

Over the years I have come to the belief that one can never really understand Christianity unless one has first been an honest pagan. By "honest paganism" I mean that one should have lived some and suffered some in the world, and have come to an intellectual understanding of the distinction between material and immaterial things. He should come to see that the world is a brutal place and offers no guarantees; that the forces of nature and the "dominion" of the strong operate on colossal, wasteful, and tragic scales, and it is nothing to his purpose to complain or even to wonder why this is so: It is so. He should recognize that in the face of this immense tragedy of existence, where every possible sin and perfidy is ready to hand, that true kindness, true courage, true mercy, true nobility of soul -- in short, a charity that actually costs you something, that is backed up with blood and guts and expects nothing in return but to love the form of goodness -- is the purest thing a man can aspire to in this life, a spark of divinity not to be quenched by all the filthy torrents of hell. By this spiritual askesis he ought to have purged himself of all sentimentality and vain philosophizing, which amounts to naught but barren and tiresome word-jugglery. Then he should frankly avow that while he is not perfect and cannot be so, from that moment on he will do his best to be worthy of fame and honors.

Anyone who gets to this point is ready to meet Christ as He really is; as the God-man, the Man from Heaven. Even though he never expected such a being to show up in his life, he will recognize Him when He does as the One he was trying to serve all along, and he will be able to do nothing but fall on his knees with St. Thomas and exclaim, "My King and my God!"

This nobility is precisely what modernism is lacking with its wan rationlisms. This is the reason why the Counciliar religion was able so easily to destroy the Roman Catholic faith, for very few people still held it. They were modernists and socialists all, and they viewed Christianity only as a proto-socialism which needed to be purged of its mythological and metaphysical elements. They could not understand the Holy Mass as a sacrifice, because they very idea of sacrifice had lost all meaning to them.

But to the honest pagans it has not. The pagans at least understand that earthly life is but dust and ashes; that sentimentality cuts no ice; that "there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophies." They understand the need for penance and reparation, and they are not impressed by empty blandishments about the dignity of man (they are far too sober and realistic for that). They are the new Nathaniels, the "true Israelites in whom there is no guile." We should all strive to recapture that spirit, that childlike unprepossessiveness without which no one will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

I don't see why Confucianism should not be used as a preparatio evangelium in China. If there was ever any merit in the Vatican II Council's blasted interest in ecuмenism, it should have insisted on just such a project. But obviously this would have to be undertaken by solidly formed men who really knew and believed the faith; otherwise you end up with a missionary effort composed entirely of Thomas Mertons, which is pretty much what happened instead.