and a pastoral letter supporting the Church workers were read in all Catholic churches on 31 May 1987. The Church also held a special Mass for the detainees and their families. All this led to a build-up of tension between the Church and the government. Meeting with Lee Kuan Yew On 2 June 1987, a meeting was arranged between Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and Archbishop Gregory Yong as well as nine other Catholic Church representatives who had been cleared by the Internal Security Department. Lee was concerned about the reaction of the Catholic community to the detentions. When Yong asked for proof that nine of the detained church workers had been involved in a clandestine communist network, Lee interrupted him by saying, "It is not a practice, nor will I allow subversives to get away by insisting that I've got to prove everything against them in a court of law or evidence that will stand up to the strict rules of evidence of a court of law." In a press conference given immediately after the meeting, Yong said that he accepted the Internal Security Department's evidence against Cheng and was satisfied that the government had nothing against the Catholic Church when they arrested him. Yong said, "That the man himself [Vincent Cheng] admitted that he was using the Church...I think this is one of the biggest reasons why I have to accept the Government's statement. ...After going through the depositions made by the person concerned himself, I have no way of disproving this statement." Lee stressed that the government upheld freedom of religion but would not tolerate the use of religion for subversive activities. However, two years later in 1989, speaking in court during the defamation suit launched by the government against the Far Eastern Economic Review, Father Joachim Kang gave a different account of the meeting. One of the Catholic priests who was present at the meeting, Kang said that Lee Kuan Yew was dismissive of Vincent Cheng and the detainees, saying they were "stupid novices" and calling Tan Wah Piow a "simpleton". Instead, Lee turned the spotlight on four priests: Fathers Edgar de Souza, Joseph Ho, Patrick Goh and Guillaume Arotcarena. Edgar D'Souza was the associate editor of The Catholic News and press liaison officer of the Church; Joseph Ho was the chairman of the Justice and Peace Commission; Patrick Goh was the national chaplain of the