He was working in Chunking when the Communists took control of that city and McGrath was prohibited from further action, although he then returned to Shanghai and continued his mission.
In Shanghai in September 1951, he was imprisoned for two years and eight months by the regime, spending most of that time in solitary confinement and endured torture.
Instead of being executed, he was expelled from China in 1954 and returned to Ireland, where he was greeted upon arrival by President Seán T. O'Kelly, Taoiseach Éamon de Valera, John A. Costello amongst others.
[5] Father Aedan McGrath returned to Ireland in 2000, and he made a TV show which aired in November and attended his last Legion of Mary council meeting in December.
[6] He died on Christmas Day 2000, one month short of his 95th birthday,[7] and is buried in the Columban Dalgan Cemetery.