Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kaohsiung (Agenzia Fides) – A hymn of thanks to the Lord for the past year, the active commitment to evangelization as a plan of life for the new year 2010, based on the Word of God who calls all to conversion and the invitation to be united to achieve the goal: these are the four main issues addressed in the Pastoral Letter for the new year of 2010, from Archbishop Peter Liu Cheng-chung, Bishop of Kaohsiung, who was granted the title of Archbishop ad personam by the Holy Father Benedict XVI on November 21, 2009 . In his letter, the Bishop of Kaohsiung illustrated the 4 topics listed in 10 points summarizing the year 2009 and pointing to the great missionary outlook for 2010, following the evangelizing zeal of the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the evangelization of Taiwan, in which the Diocese of Kaohsiung took center stage, as it is the site of the landing of the first missionaries in Taiwan.
Recalling the events of the year that has just ended, Archbishop Peter Liu began by thanking Cardinal Paul Shan, who was also his predecessor, for his example given to all and mentioned the Church's participation in The World Games 2009 in Kaohsiung with the work of evangelization of the world of sport, the solemn celebration of the 150th anniversary of evangelization, and then the teaching of the Pope on the importance of the Word of God
As for the new year, he says: "The diocese opened the new year with the day of the Word of God," as the closing of the celebrations of 150 years of evangelization is the beginning of the new evangelization. Thus, the diocese reiterates that the Word of God and the conversion of all are the primary missions of evangelization and this is why the St. Paul Center of Evangelization was established. Finally, Archbishop Peter Liu invites all the faithful to follow the teaching of Cardinal Shan and Cardinal Tomko, Special Envoy of the Pope for the celebration of the 150 years of evangelization, devoting themselves to the new evangelization and placing the goal of reaching 2,000 new baptisms each year. However, in order to achieve all this, concluded the Bishop of Kaohsiung, we must turn our gaze towards the Virgin Mary, invoking her: "Holy Mary, Star of Evangelization, intercede for us before God." (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 23/01/2010)
