At a loss for words

As I was getting the scoop this morning from the news outlet and the blogosphere, I ran into this story on Fr. Z's blog which he got from the Shanghai Times:

Aborted baby cries before cremation
By Wang Xiang | 2010-5-14

AN aborted baby declared dead by doctors in south China's Guangdong Province cried before he was due to be cremated, but died hours later as doctors refused to treat him.

A mortuary worker at Nanhai Funeral Home in Foshan City said the baby cried and scared him as he was about to throw the coffin into a furnace, Information Times reported today.

He opened the box and found the seven-month fetus moving, but apparently choking on some cotton wool in his mouth, the report said.

After the worker cleared his mouth, the baby yawned and breathed peacefully. Workers rushed him back to Guanyao Hospital which delivered the baby as medical waste earlier that day.

But doctors left him in the lobby, and confirmed after an hour that the baby died.

The vice head of the funeral house said Guanyao Hospital sent many aborted fetuses or still-born babies for cremation. This baby apparently survived an abortion at seven months, and he had videos to prove the baby was still alive before the cremation.

Hospital official Liu Sanhong said its staff checked the baby for an hour and made sure it was dead. Liu did not say whether the doctors tried to save the baby or not.

The body was later sent back to the funeral house. The report said all workers were ordered not to talk about the incident.

On March 31, at least 21 fetuses and dead babies were found dumped in a river in east China's Jining City.

Eight had tabs with clinic code numbers attached to their feet. The Affiliated Hospital of Jining Medical University responsible for the corpses said they were "medical waste."

Two hospital staffers have been detained while the director and deputy director of the hospital's logistics department were sacked. A vice president of the hospital was suspended.

Stories like this always strike a chord with me. My grandmother was half-Chinese who immersed me in the various aspects of the Chinese culture, full in its richness and wonder. However, it was also my grandmother who helped immerse me in the even richer aspects of the Catholic religion. It devastates me when I think of how Catholics are made to suffer by the Chinese government. And it also disgusts me when I see that the most fundemental teachings of Christ is violated, especially by a temporal, yet tyranical, organization of men. It sickens me.

Please pray for the conversion of the Chinese government and the Chinese people to Christ and His Church and the consecration of China to Our Lady of China, for it is through Mary that we come to Christ which lies the ultimate victory.

Hail, Holy Mary, Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ,
Mother of all nations and all people.
You are the special heavenly Mother of the Chinese people.

Teach us your way of total obedience to God's will.
Help us to live our lives true to our faith.
Fill our hearts with burning love for God and each other.
Stir up in our youth an unconditional giving of self to the service of God.

We call on your powerful intercession for peace, reconciliation and unity among believers and the conversion of the unbelievers in China and throughout the world,
for God's mercy is our only hope.

Our Lady of China, Mother of Jesus, hear our petitions and pray for us.
Amen.
(IMPRIMATUR: Bishop William E. Lori, S.T.D.; Diocese of Bridgeport. 2001)