Amb. Wang (4th from left) with other guests in front of the poster of the book.
In the afternoon of Thursday, June 25, 2015, the Embassy of the Republic of China to the Holy See, in the person of Ambassador Larry Wang, commemorated the second wave of evangelization in Taiwan, which took place a little bit more than 150 years ago, by presenting the book “The Taiwan Story” in the presence of many guests, among which the Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Archbishop Savio Tai-fai Hon, the Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education, Fr. Friedrich Bechina, as well as representatives from Pontifical Universities and several female and male religious orders, about 50 people in total.
Ambassador Larry Wang greeted his guests with a sentence of the great Chinese scholar Confucius, who once said that “You never open a book without learning something.” Books enable mankind, among other thinks, to keep its memory, as the one of the many missionaries who came to Taiwan during the II wave of evangelization and have used their faith and theirs skills to engage in a dialogue with the local population and spread the Gospel. Ambassador Wang explained that the Dominican friars were the pioneers, and then other orders followed, such as the Society of the Divine Word and the Order of St. Ursula, and each gave its significant contribution to evangelization of the Island of Formosa.
He then told those presents that the book is a collection of the acts of a conference on “Taiwan Story: The Second Wave of Evangelization” which took place on October 12, 2009 at the “Angelicum” and introduced Rev. Prof. Alejandro Crosthwaite, the Deputy Rector of the Pontifical University St. Thomas Aquinas, not only as the book Editor, but also a key figure in organizing the conference back in 2009.
Ambassador Wang concluded his contribution by inviting Archbishop Savio Hon to take the floor. The Chinese prelate started by quoting another saying attributed to Confucius: “It is better to travel 10,000 miles than reading 10,000 books.” With those words, Archbishop Hon intended to pay homage to all those courageous missionaries who travelled long distances to provide dedicated and selfless services in charity, education and health in Taiwan amid many difficulties.
Rev. Prof. Crosthwaite was the third and last speaker. In his address to those presents, he mentioned the conference which took place in 2009 with so many esteemed guests, that celebrated the evangelization work of some religious orders in the Far East, as well as the compilation of this book which includes the papers presented at that conference by well respected missionaries and laymen such as Fr. Miguel Angel Sanroman OP, Fr. Paulino Belamide SVD, Mr. Peter Chiang of Vatican Radio, and Sr. Ellen Mary Mylod OSU. The Deputy Rector said that this book gives us a glimpse into the memories of the ancient and contemporary Christian missionaries in Taiwan, and their struggle to keep their mission alive in the midst of historical events. He added that it is thanks to their contributions that, today, the Catholic Church is well established in Taiwan and concluded his speech with the hope that this volume would ignite a passion for the continued work of evangelization.
Following the presentation ceremony, Ambassador Larry Wang invited all the guests to enjoy the Chinese buffet especially prepared for this occasion.
