ASIA/TAIWAN - Permanent married deacons need to be promoted to meet present and future demands of evangelization

Tai Pei (Agenzia Fides) - Married permanent deacons should be promoted in Taiwan to meet current pastoral needs, to face the ageing of the clergy and the shortage of vocations to priesthood: this was decided during the Spring Meeting of the Regional Episcopal Conference of Tai Wan. According to the Catholic Weekly of the Archdiocese of Tai Pei, the Bishops present at the meeting analyzed the current situation by identifying the urgency of permanent deacons. According to them, "after nearly half a century of evangelization, the particular Church in Taiwan has never established the permanent diaconate for married men. Instead, there have been permanent deacons in Hong Kong and Singapore for a long time, and have more experience." So it was decided that the Archdiocese of Tai Pei will act as "pilot diocese" for this purpose, inviting the diocese of Hong Kong to send an expert to give help. In addition, the Regional Episcopal Conference of Tai Wan has already sent its members to Hong Kong to study their experience. According to the Bishops, permanent deacons in the future will take care of the churches that have no resident priest, among the more than 600 churches on the island of Taiwan. At the same time, the Church of Taiwan will also respond to the needs of specific areas, of which the priests cannot deal with such as financial administration, construction, information etc.. So future married permanent deacons will be asked to obtain a second degree after that of philosophy and theology. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 07/05/2012)