The date of the national conference was postponed for three months, obviously because more preparation and persuasion were needed. Although the Chinese Communists claimed that over 200 local "Catholic Patriotic Associations" were already organized before then, only 240 Catholic bishops, priests, nuns and laymen participated in the national conference which began in Peiping on June 17, 1957. Ten days later, under the personal supervision of Ho Cheng-hsiang, director of the "Bureau of Religious Affairs" of the "State Council," the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association" was born, and Archbishop Pi Shu-shih of Shengyang was elected its chairman.
A strange feature of the "Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association" is that the national body has no jurisdiction over any of the local organizations. Perhaps Peiping wants to avoid the impression that a national Catholic Church has been set up to take the place of the Vatican, or may be it is simpler for the regime to exercise individual control over the local associations than working through a national headquarters.
This could be seen from the regulations of the "Heilungkiang Catholic Patriotic Association" adopted by the "Catholic Congress of Heilungkiang" on July 6, 1959. It provides that the "highest organ of this Association is the Catholic Congress of Heilungkiang," which meets once every two years to elect officers and hear reports. No reference whatsoever is given the "Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association" at Peiping in all the ten articles of the regulations.
The aim of the "Catholic Patriotic Association" is also interesting, if the Heilungkiang regulations should be the standard text. Article Three says: The aim of this Association: To unite the clergy and the laity, promote the spirit of anti-imperialism and patriotism, positively participate in socialist study and socialist construction, assist church members to carry out self-reform, demand world peace, and assist the government in implementing the policy of freedom of religious belief."