TRANSCRIP? CF PRESS CONFURAVCE BY MARYANCLL BISHOP JAMS EDWARD WALSH, N.M., 26TH JULY, 1970. - GUR LADY UF MARYKNOLL HOSPITAL, HUNG KONG, Introduction by Pather McCormack: It hardly needs saying that this is bishop Mames udward Walsh of haryknoll who came to China in 1918 with the first group of Naryknoll missioners and who worked in South China from 1918 to 1936 at which time he was elected the second Superior General.of the Naryknoll Fathers and he occupied that post until 1946, and in 1948 he returned to China to take up his duties as he had been appointed by the Iloly See Director of the Catholic Conference in China. He waalictetore in Shanghai from 1948 on until his release from imprisonment on Friday.of last week. We are certainly extremely happy and elated and it's difficult to find the appropriate word to describe our feeling upon his release after so long an imprisonment, unjust imprisonment, and we're just very grateful to Almighty God that he is back with us once again. If Bishop Walsh was guilty of.any crime it was the crime of loving the Chinese people so much that he was willing to give himself entirely for them. Bishop Walsh now has a statement that he would like to read first and then will answer the questions that presented to him by Mr. Coleman, the agreement is that Mr. Coleman will ask all the questions; The doctors feel that Bishop Walsh, because of his condition, is rather weak and he tires very-rapidly these days, and so we want to limit the strain on the Bishop as much as we possibly cen. The question period will be as brief as we can make it and a half hour at the most. Bishop Walsh I'm very happy to be free once again. I never thought I would ever see the day of my release. I felt that I would not live long enough to complete my sentence of 20 years, and that I would die in prison. It is a bit hard for me to believe even now that I have been released. I have no bitterness toward those who tried and condemned me. I just could never feel angry with any Chinese. I felt that way almost from the day I first set foot in China in 1918 and it has just grown stronger with the years, even during my imprisonment. I love the Chinese people. I must admit that I find it hard to justify the severity of the sentence meted out to me, for I was not a spy either for the U.S. Government. or for the vatican. I came to China in 1918 as a priost and missioner for the purpose of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Chinese people and tending to their spiritual and material needs. I can tell you in all honesty and sincerity that I have never spent a day during my 40 Years on Chinese soil in doing anything but that. It should be obvious that from the time. of my arrest until my release ay experiences have been varied. It hasn't all been sweetness and light. There were periods of harrassment and personal suffering. The monotony of daily confinement in a small room for twelve years, waking up cach morning and trying to plan how I would occupy my day so as to maintaimmy sanity and ideals as @ priest and missioner to the Chinese people was especially hard to bear. AtY the same time I'm grateful to Almight God that for the most part I was treated with basic human dignity and given the basic necessities. Right now I find myself rather weak physically and I tire quickly. My Mary“ knoll Superiors have decided I should rest here in the Hospital for a few weeks and then return to my home land. I'm ready and willing to do as they ask, That has been a guideline for me all my life. I'd like to sec my brothers and sisters once again and all of my old Maryknoll confreres who have borne the heat and burden of the missionary day with me for so long. I'm beginning to suspoct that many changes have taken place in all walks of life since I last had contact with the outside world. I feel a bit like Rip Van Winkle waking up after a long sleop. I'd like very mich to visit our Holy Father, my superior as Christ's vicar, and hope to do so when I can travel. I'm more than grateful for all the love and care which has been given to me here in Our Lady of Karyknoll Hospital since I arrived a few days ago. I want to express my heartfelt thanks to the Doctors and lurses and to all the Hospital staff. I can't possibly answer them all individually, but I want to express my thanks to all those who have sent me telegrams and personal letters conveying their best wishos and joy. I'm just a bit bewildered by all the fuss and attention that has followed my release. After all I was only doing my duty as a priest and shepherd by staying with my flock.- Question period : lir. Coleman - Bishop Walsh. We We Cc. We Although you were no doubt very tired on the Wednesday, fhursday, and Friday you were travelling to Hong Kong, were there any particular changes you noticed in Shanghai, Canton or the Chinese country side since 1958? No, I didn't notice any particular changes. ‘The only changes I noticed wore the fact that I spent the night in Canton in a magnificent new hotel of recent construction. I saw from just a general glimpse of the city that it had grown since my old days in Xwongtung. And I also got that impression when I passed over the border I saw Hong Kong for the first time I got the impression that it had grown very mich also. But it was just a vague general impression that's all. Getting to your trial. what were the specific charges brought against you by the Chinese Communists? This is a three part question and I'll give you the other two parts also. Were you allowed any defense at your trial? and what form did the trial take? A young lawyer was appointed to be my defense attornoy in the trial. The trial was held in the Municipal Court in Shanghai. I forget the street it's on, but it's in the downtown business section; and it was a very large room, with the judges and the judges’ bench-about a half dozon of thom, and the prosecuting attorney on one side of the room and the defense attorney on the other and interpreters who translated everything into English; and thon there was a large hall and an audience of somo hundreds of people in the room also. Did you feel that your defence lawyer did you any good? Why, no. I am sure he was a kindly good man, but ho admitted everything and really he condemned mc just as roundly as the proscouting attorney did, saying that everything they charged against me was, of course, true. But that, on the other hand, since I was an old man and some of these things had happened years before that I should be givon a little bit of leniency. That is what the defense consisted in. This question has to do with your interrogation. And again it has’ several parts; What sort of interrogation did the Chinese use against you? How long did this interrogation last? Both as individual sossions and from the time it was first used until it ceased? One year and a half it was. It began the night of my arrcst in Christ the King Church. They came in about 6 o'clock in the evening, they told me I was under arrest, had me cat @ bite of supper and thon started the first interrogation, which went on for about five hours. This was solely concerned with the financial question about my having assisted a Chinese missionary to bring in some money from Hong Kong for usc in Church purposes. And then at Ll o'clock that night, I was taken to the House of etention, where I stayod for one year and a half. And from then on, the interrogation wont on morning, noon and night. Occasionally, they would skip a day. I suppose they would get tired themselves. But it was interrogation in that intensive form for that entire ycar and a half, from October, 18, 1958, when I was arrested, to March 18, 1960 one year and a half later, when I was sentenced to twenty -years in prison. Now, the interrogation concerned every possible thing under