5447(IV)_'Upright Citizens and Good Christians' in practice in our Tainan school - Taiwan
August 18, 2020
Tainan, Taiwan, 18 August 2020 -- Interview with Fr Philip Huang.
What does it mean for you to live as aCatholic Church minority in Taiwan?
Taiwan society is multi-religious made up of folk religions, Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity and other small groups. The Catholic Church among other popular religions is very small; the total number of Catholics has been below 1% of the population for a long time. Even the Protestants are three or four times more than Catholics. However, the charitable works of the Catholic Church for the poor and the minorities (such as schools, hospitals, centers for mentally challenged and physically disabled children, nursing home for the aged) are well known and very much admired by the local people and appreciated greatly by the government. The presence of the Catholic Church in Taiwan is meaningful.
Nevertheless the parishes, aside from the services of charity, also introduce to faith and offer catechesis when taking care of the faithful. The Catholic Church seems not to be paying enough attention to or getting more involved in social life, such as politics, social justice, gender and environmental issues. The Catholic Church in Taiwan, though it is small, has a lot of opportunities for services and for spreading the Good News. It should make the image of God and the plan of creation clear to all and educate and stimulate the conscience of humanity. I think what we should be doing is to continue the charitable works and at the same time attempt more dialogue and collaboration with other religions for promoting peace, justice and the well-being of all the people in Taiwan.
How do you strive to educate the Don Bosco's Way in the large Tainan Salesian School?
Our school is facing two main challenges, spiritual and economic (financial). First of all, there are very few Salesians working in the front line in the school therefore we do not have enough witness and influence, and consequently it is hard to create the traditional healthy and cheerful Salesian atmosphere. When the Salesians are either aged or few, we expect help from the collaborators and we would like them to become our true Lay Mission Partners. Although we have begun a plan of forming the collaborators some years ago, until now we are still evaluating and adjusting, I would say due to both external and internal difficulties it is undergoing a long process before it will bear fruit. Secondly, Taiwan suffers from a low birth rate for the last 10-20 years. It affects many aspects of society including education. The common fact is that the schools have been reduced to a smaller size and most of the private schools are lacking students. The number of students in our school dropped drastically in the past years; this year the whole school population is only a half of that in 2010. Due to this, the school's income is not enough hence the financial pressure.
How do we face the challenges and still be able to animate and educate Don Bosco’s Way? I think the solution is simple yet demanding. First of all, we need future-oriented vision of administration to make our school economy healthier and sustainable. Secondly, the Salesians who are working or living in the school have to be more visible and present among to the students in order to show good example. In this way we could form our collaborators with suitable strategies to make them true Lay Mission Partners. Third, trying to find out and form good and active students to be the driving force to be good examples and leaders of the hundreds of Salesian school youth.
Our situation here is no better or worse than during Don Bosco’s. In his time, he did not have enough resources nor personnel at the beginning. He was trying very hard by himself, and later on relied on his first collaborators, students and benefactors came to help him. I think Don Bosco is without doubt our guide and model in these challenges here in our school in Taiwan.
How do you witness and proclaim Jesus among majority of non-Christian students?
Taiwan celebrated 150th anniversary of the presence of the Catholic Church only in 2009. After 150 years of evangelization, there was established a stable hierarchy of the Church with 7 dioceses and many charitable organizations by religious congregations or by dioceses. Yet, the total numbers of the Catholics is still less than 1% of the population of the country. The reality is that in any Catholic organization the majority of the staff is non-Catholic. It is precisely the case of our school, the percentage of the catholic teachers, staff and students are below 1%. It is not easy to work in this kind of catholic school while the environment of the campus may not really be catholic. However, if we think more positively, there are plenty of opportunities every day to communicate the Catholic faith and truth and bring Jesus to them, every day we have “Good News” for them. Thanks be to God, there is religious freedom and the education is not totally controlled by the government. There is no religious subject in the curriculum provided by the government and is not allowed to add some, however, we could still evangelize by programs, activities or personal encounter. We always talk about Jesus or let Jesus talk freely.
We experience many positive and joyful moments in our daily work and encounter. They know the Salesians here for their growth, and real good, not just to have more members of their group. People might not accept your “preaching” easily but they would not refuse if you do good to them. There was one time during break I went out of the office to a certain corner in the school to see the students (not really interacting with them). A certain unfamiliar male student surprisingly came to me with a fantastic smile, saying, “I have not seen you for a long time!” “Really? Am I not always in the school?” I replied. I know what he meant - not that I was absent or I could not be seen in the campus, but what he was suggesting was to meet them individually more often and be close and care for them. Sometimes, you are really frustrated for there seems nobody is interested in knowing Jesus and the Catholic faith after serious preaching and labouring. Yet, God knows, there is no waste of time and energy. What you sow, by word or example, will surely grow and bear fruit in due time according to God’s good pleasure.
There are many challenges in terms of evangelization in our school. But probably the most difficult one is inculturation. It is very easy for the locals to perceive certain religious ideas or the ideas of afterlife with the terms taken from Taoism and Buddhism and the folk religions in the culture. For Catholic ideas, there is translation in Chinese language, but in practice it is used and known mostly only in Catholic circles, not in the popular culture. The Protestants in certain aspects are more involved and influential in society, have more religious terms well-known to the locals and already integrated in the culture. At times, you really struggle to find examples to introduce and explain fundamental Catholic ideas and mysteries to our teachers and students . Yes, we are really still the territory of the first evangelization. Please, remembers us in your prayers!
