Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Tai Pei (Agenzia Fides) - In an editorial entitled "Let’s move forward in 2012", Catholic Weekly, the weekly Catholic bulletin of the Archdiocese of Taipei in Taiwan invites the faithful to pray, reflect and act more in the new year, because "The Church may always be the light and salt, so that all may change in the light that leads to Christ".
The text reads: "thanks to the new strength and missionary zeal resulted from the celebration of the 150 years of evangelization in Taiwan, and the example of great Cardinal Paul Shan, we felt full of the Lord’s grace". So "we have the trump card to go forward with confidence. But we must pray more, to renew our lives and daily work"; "we have to reflect more, because the Church is made by men, and sometimes weaknesses and human limitations hinder the saving grace of God. Only a deep reflection and conversion allows us to have further blessings from God", "we must do more for democracy, we must act according to truth and justice of God, allowing the construction of a more just and fraternal society".
According to the statistics of the "Catholic Church Directory Taiwan 2010" of the Episcopal Regional Conference of Taiwan, the Church today, especially in Taiwan has 299,938 faithful (out of a population of 23,224,912 inhabitants) with 15 Bishops, 682 priests (259 diocesan and 423 religious), 93 religious brothers (33 local, 60 foreign), 1,053 women religious (775 Chinese and 278 foreign), two major seminars with 65 seminarians and a minor seminary with 21 students, 321 catechists, 51 deaneries, 378 parishes, 348 mission stations. The Church also runs 5 colleges and universities with 44,976 registered students, 1 catechetical school, 2 language institutes with 1,577 registered students, 4 professional schools with 3,321 registered students, 29 schools with 61,510 enrolled, 11 elementary schools with 8,287 enrolled, 167 kindergartens with 14,969 children, 41 colleges with 6,480 guests, 8 publishing houses, 2 weeklies, 17 monthlies, 2 radios, 10 hospitals with 2,665,377 patients, 7 clinics with 34,024 patients, 15 orphanages with 917 children, 20 nursing homes with 6,288 guests, 4 service centers for women and indigenous families with 7,500 guests. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 16/01/2012)
