Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Tai Pei (Agenzia Fides) - The affective and effective communion of bishops, evangelization, promotion of vocations: these were the central themes of the Fall Assembly of the Regional Bishops' Conference of Taiwan, held December 7 to 11 in the Diocese of Tai Chung, in Nantou. According to information sent to Fides from the Secretariat of the Regional Bishops' Conference,the Fall Assembly was attended by 8 Bishops in Taiwan, as well as Msgr. Paul Russell, representative of the Holy See, and Cardinal Paul Shan, Emeritus of Kaohsiung and Honorary Chairman of the Conference.
Before the workshops officially began, Bishop Russell took up the call made by Cardinal Jozef Tomko, Special Envoy of the Holy Father for the closing celebrations of the 150 years of evangelization, speaking of the beauty and value of the “collegiality of bishops” and explaining its two important features: ‘effective’ and ‘affective’ collegiality.
In addition, Cardinal Paul Cardinal Shan (Honorary Chairman of CRBC) shared with the bishops some of his recent personal experiences of evangelization. Although the Church in Taiwan has a small number of Catholics, as well as lacks priests and religious vocations, Cardinal Shan still remains full of hope about the future of the Church for he sees everywhere people who are hungry and thirsty for spiritual values. Thus, he encouraged all the bishops to set clear goals for the work of evangelization on a daily basis and place promotion of vocations on their pastoral agenda for the coming year.
The Bishops also shared some of their personal experiences of evangelization and pastoral care and addressed some economic, pastoral, and administrative issues. They also reflected at length on the plan for evangelization for the Year 2010, invoking the Holy Spirit, who has always been present in the life of the Church, to continue to protect their mission. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 17/12/2009)
