Vatican City (Fides Service) - Following the annual Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, which raised considerable hope for the future of China, Fides Service spoke with Cardinal Paul Shan Kuo-shi, Bishop of Kaoshiung, Taiwan, who was in Rome to take part in the activity of the Post-Synod Committee which appraises the implementation in Asian countries of the guidelines issued by the Special Synod for Asia. Jesuit Cardinal Shan Kuo-shi was born in mainland China, in 1923. He entered the Society of Jesus in Beijing in 1946. He was ordained a priest in the Philippines on March 18, 1955 and appointed Bishop of Hwalien in 1980. In 1991 he was appointed Bishop of Kaoshiung. he has been entrusted with a number of important tasks by the Holy See and for the FABC Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences.

Your Eminence, do you think that after the 16th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party There will be any changes? What changes would you like to see?
Mainland China's policy of opening has brought progress, many Taiwan businesses have opened branches in mainland China, particularly since China joined the World Trade Organisation. We see that every new generation of Communist political leaders is more open and gives more freedom. We hope that the fourth generation will commit itself even more to religious freedom and open policy. The new leaders must realise that the Church has never had political, economic or military ambitions. Our goal is the common good, the good of the people of China. We wish only to help the country progress and grow. In the past we worked with mainland China in education, health care and charity work, the work that the Catholic Church carries out everywhere, not only in China. This is why I would say to the new leaders that they need not fear the Church. All we ask for is freedom of belief and freedom to practice our religion.

Your Eminence, please tell us about the Church in Taiwan. What are the main problems?
The Church in Taiwan is small, although it has 143 years of history. Due to scarcity of personnel and communication at the end of the 1940s there were less than 10,000 Catholics in Taiwan. In the 1950s and 1960s the Church developed and that was our golden age. There were over 1,100 priests and many churches and health care institutions were built. The Church was able to work in the fields of education, health-care mission and pastoral. In recent years, with technological progress, Taiwan society became more industrialised, urbanised and consumer. People think only of material thing, neglecting the spiritual side of life and the Church also felt this tendency. For example the clergy is elderly and the over number has decreased. Today we have over 600 priests, but 400 are elderly, only a little more than 100 are under 60 years old. We have about fifty seminarians. A lack of vocations is one of our problems. Fortunately our Catholic laity are deeply committed, at present they are 300,000. They take an active part in the Church. We give special attention to their formation.

In this context what are the concrete pastoral plans of the Church in Taiwan?
In 1988 we held a Congress of Evangelisation to plan pastoral activity in the last years of the 20th century. In 2001 we held a Congress of the new Century and New Evangelisation, during which we drafted a pastoral plan for the new millennium, underlining the role of the laity in the life of the Church.
This year we have focused on the family, to help it be a centre which irradiates faith, hope and charity. We asked the faithful to decorate a corner of their home with religious symbols and to create a religious atmosphere in the family. We also asked families to promote prayer, Bible reading and sharing and to evangelise among their friends and neighbours. We suggested that each Catholic family should meet a non Christian family share the faith: adults with adults, children with children. We must use every opportunity to share the Good News as soon as possible.
Our Bishops' Conference is aware of the importance of the family, As the Pope has told us many times, the family is an important subject and object of evangelisation. We have decided to follow this line for the future keeping the family as the main object of evangelisation, renewed according to the new demands of the social context.
We also give maximum attention to inter-religious dialogue. We have behind us more than 60 years of inter-religious dialogue, which has developed. We have carried out mission among the local people. So far the Church in Taiwan has had a local Bishop, and local priests, nuns and seminarians. We have a local congregation of nuns, the Sisters of Saint Martha, one of the Sisters is Han the others are all from Taiwan.

Your Eminence you are a member of the Post-Synod Committee which appraises the implementation in Asian countries of the guidelines issued by the Special Synod for Asia. To what extent has the Church in Taiwan achieved this goal?
The main task of the Committee is to appraise the implementation in Asian countries of the guidelines issued by the Special Synod for Asia. The Synod was held in 1998 and the Pope promulgated Ecclesia in Asia personally in India on 6 November 1999. The Church in Taiwan immediately translated the document into Chinese and distributed it to Hong King, Mainland China and oversees Chinese communities. We can say that the Church in Taiwan is following closely guidelines issued by the Synod.

What about cooperation between missionaries and local clergy? Would you say that the Church in Taiwan once a receiving Church is now a sending Church?
The missionary congregations working in Taiwan are also having difficulty with vocations, and scarcity of personnel. Their work of evangelisation has always been very important for the local community. With regard to mission, the local Church, for its part, despite the scarcity of vocations, feels a deep need to be missionary. Mission ad gentes is a duty of every local Church and it is also a sign of the vitality of a Particular Church. If a Church loses its spirit of mission ad gentes, it loses its vitality. (Fides Service 22/11/2002)