The first National Catholic representatives‘ Congress was held in Beijing from July 15th to August 2nd, 1957. This was the first meeting of such in the Chinese history. Among the 241 repre- sentatives, 11 were bishops, four Papal delegates, 58 Auxiliary and Assistant Bishops, 84 priests, one seminarian, nine nuns and74 lay people. They came from 137 dioceses with a total Catho- lic population of three million. They discussed a new agenda for the Chinese Catholic Church, especially the Vatican"s attitude toward China"s politics and how Catholics should be more patri- otic. Pi Sushi, the Bishop of Shenyang, said: "The action that is derived from patriotism is the external expression of obeying God"s commandment. It is not sinful but an achievement, as well as a virtue. It should be encouraged rather than punished. Any kind of punishment that is unjust and invalid should not be accepted and therefore should be ignored. This is a matter of principle.‘ According to Catholic theology, he thought, the pun- ishment should be imposed on evil rather than good; there wasno punishment if there was no sin; civil law needed submit to divine law. Therefore, being patriotic was not sinful.
