Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Taipei (Fides Service) - With a series of events and initiatives Catholics in Taiwan recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of the arrival of Carmelite Sisters. According to Christian Life Weekly, Taipei archdiocese bulletin, on October 15, Feast of St Teresa of Avila, Archbishop Cheng of Taipei presided a solemn mass at the local Carmelite convent. On 17 October Cardinal Paul Shan, Bishop of Kaohsiung, celebrated a solemn Mass of thanksgiving attended by more than 400 people and more than 20 priests concelebrated.
The local Catholics voiced their gratitude for the service of prayer and assistance guaranteed by the Carmelites in Taiwan, since their arrival in 1954. Their arrival was in actual fact a response to a call launched in 1926 by Pope Pius XI who urged religious men and women to go on mission.
A young Carmelite nun, Sister Teresa in a convent in San Francisco California heard the Pope’s call and decided to devote her life to mission in China. In May 1954, as soon as historic conditions permitted, 7 Sisters (3 Americans, 4 Chinese) set out for the diocese of Hsin Chu on the island of Formosa (today Taiwan). In 1957, Teresa’s dream came true; the first Carmelite convent was opened. As Cardinal Shan underlined in his homily, “the arrival of those nuns was an event in the history of the Church in Taiwan”, which deserves to be worthily celebrated.
(Agenzia Fides 6/11/2004 Righe: 27 Parole: 291)
