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From Xaverian Mission Newsletter by Fr. Edi Foschiatto, s.x.Nov. 15, 2010
Mission in Taiwan: pastoral support, social ministry, dialogue
Recently I was home with my family in Italy and naturally many
friends and family are curious about our work in Taiwan and China. Let me share
with you a little of what the Xaverian Missionaries are doing in the Far East.
The Xaverians came to the island of Taiwan (once called “Formosa”) twenty years
ago. During this period a number of Xaverian priests came to work. Today Father
Fabrizio Tosolini of Italy and Father Paulin Batairwa of the Congo work with me
at our parish.
In the beginning years, there was much enthusiasm and good will. We studied the
language, looked for a house, found work, and with friends, we purchased
furniture, and other necessities to make a home. God then helped us to move
towards three directions in the way of the mission: the ministry in our parish,
social ministry, and dialogue with the predominate faith here, Buddhism.
Here is the first thing to do in mission: pay attention to life experience and
the project that God has already gifted us with. A big help on being missionary
in Taiwan comes from a saying from our Founder, Blessed Guido Conforti: “Seek
God, love God, and see God in everything.”
Our pastoral support to the Taiwanese Church led us to accept the parish, St.
Francis Xavier. The Xaverian Missionaries built this parish in the 1970’s and
then was returned to the diocese when we left Taiwan in those days. It is a
small parish community, like most of the Christian communities of the island.
Among the 23 million people, those that are Catholic are less than three hundred
thousand.
We live the ordinary life of every parish with the celebration of the Eucharist,
prayer and devotion, always adding a touch of our very familiar style typical of
Xaverians everywhere. At the end of Sunday Mass the community drinks tea
together, in order to get to know one another better. At Christmas and Easter,
for birthdays and name days, for baptisms and communions, we also have lunch
together as a parish.
Little by little, we began to reach out the poorest in the city. We helped the
Aboriginal communities living in the mountains. We maintain a twinning
relationship with a village in the mountains after a devastating earthquake
struck the area and we helped rebuild the church. Now we are helping children
and young people of the village with scholarships for school. We recently began
the work of inter faith dialogue.
Father Paulin, who recently completed a doctorate in religious studies has
created a new way of interfaith dialogue: the dialogue of life. Often we host
Buddhist monks and Buddhist nuns to dinner with us. Since Buddhist monks and
nuns do not eat meat, we had to adjust the menu.
Throughout these years our congregation has not only developed our parish work
here in Taiwan, but we also prepare other Xaverians to work in mainland China.
Two of our fathers teach archeology and musicology at the University of Beijing
and we have other Xaverians working in special programs with handicapped
children.
We are grateful to the Lord for all his grace in all that has been done.
