Option for China: The Sustained Dialogue Mission of Verbiest Foundation-Leuven. Dialogue with Atheist China, with the Church in China, with the Holy See

Abstract

The CICM Missionaries lived their “Option for China” for ninety years among Chinese and Mongols in North China. After the CICM was expelled from China in 1950 their “Option for China” was in crisis. In 1983 they created the Verbiest Foundation-Leuven (VF) to revive and update the “Option”. In 2004 an ill-advised attempt to withdraw the CICM from the VF failed. The CICM and VF insisted on remaining faithful to their “Option for China” while continuing evangelization among the Mongols in Outer Mongolia. Today the VF is an Institute of missionaries, priests and faithful from East and West promoting dialogue and friendly encounters with China.