When I realized my time as Vocation Minister would end, I asked myself, “What sabbatical experiences could I seek out that would be meaningful to me as a Vincentian priest?” After some reflection, I decided on three components: a missionary experience, a 30 day retreat, and a program for renewal and theological updating. I settled on the second and third parts, but wondered where I’d find this ‘missionary-type’ experience. Vincentian China Experience, 2004: An Awe-Inspiring Journey
By John T. Maher, C.M., Eastern Province, USA
“It is our vocation to go, not just to a parish or a diocese, but all over the world, to set people’s hearts ablaze as did the Son of God when he walked upon the earth.”
St. Vincent de Paul
Then, news of the ‘Vincentian China Experience’, a biannual event of the China Province crossed my desk, and I was instantly hooked. It combined my desire to visit a place I had wanted to see since schoolboy stories of St. Francis Xavier, with a curiosity to know more of the work of confreres in my province who served in China decades ago. So I signed up, made travel arrangements, and waited to make the longest journey of my life.
What I experienced was not only a boyhood fulfillment or satisfying my curiosity about confreres who served in China, but a once in a lifetime journey into worlds unlike any I’d seen before. Taiwan and China, once just places on a map, became living icons of missionary faith, ministerial perseverance, and an unwavering witness of hope. Confreres in this province hail from China, Taiwan, Ireland, Holland, Poland, Indonesia, India, the Philippines, and the USA. No matter what age or background, our confreres in the China mission imbue a missionary spirit that is both edifying and infectious.
Taiwan, named the Isha Formosa by the Portuguese, is an island only 240 miles long but one that 23 million people call home. Our confreres serve in cities and rural areas, ministering to the Chinese as well as the native aboriginal peoples. Older confreres fled mainland China to Taiwan after the expulsion of foreign missionaries in 1949 by the communist government. (In mainland China, they referred to this as the ‘liberation’, and I wanted to ask, “Like when you ‘liberated’ us from our parishes and people?” But the virtue of prudence, so dear to the heart of St. Vincent, won out!)
The ‘Vincentian China Experience’, organized by our confrere John Wang, C.M., (the first native Chinese provincial), warmly welcomed our group of four. Besides me, there were two Indonesian confreres; Aloysius Didit and Hardo Iswanto, and in mainland China, we were joined by an Australian confrere, Michael Walsh. Our two ‘faithful navigators’ from the province of China were Pawel Wierzbicki (of Poland originally), and Charles Pan, a native Taiwanese. Pawel and Charles were the ‘go-to’ guys who did a terrific job of accompanying and guiding our group.
And ‘guide us’ they did! From the serpentine city of Taipei, to the smaller but similarly chaotic cities of Koahsiung, Tainan, and Taitung, into the rural districts of Tawa, Chinlun, and Sze-Hu, and eventually into mainland China, Pawel and Charles ably navigated Taiwan’s terrain, language, and the morays of Chinese culture (and cuisine!) with an ease and familiarity that made our trip seem, at times, effortless. They gave us a terrific melding of the religious, social, historical, and cultural milieu of the peoples of Taiwan and China. Also, our pastoral and sightseeing experiences were augmented by several fascinating power- point presentations by Pawel, Charles, and John Wang.
In visiting our various parishes and community houses in Taiwan, we learned how quickly the Church developed there after the 1949 exodus from China. In just a decade, churches, schools were built and missions begun. Vincentians from China, Holland, and USA (Midwest Province) came together to ‘fan the flame’ of Catholic faith among the Chinese immigrants and Taiwanese. Their mindset was like that of Taiwan’s formative leader, Gen. Chiang Kai-Shek: Taiwan was but a stopover on the eventual road back to reclaiming the mainland. He dreamed of returning to the capital, Nanking (not Beijing!)
Quo Vadis, given today’s present realities? Well, many of the church buildings and their physical plants, built as ‘temporary’ structures, need renovation and repair. Additionally, the Catholic population in Taiwan remains very small: 1-2% at best, with half coming from members of aboriginal tribes evangelized by Catholic missionaries. Yet, the confreres’ pastoral ministry throughout Taiwan remains diverse and vibrant.
After Taiwan, we arrived in mainland China, a ‘different’ leg in this fascinating journey. Large cities groaned with people, traffic, and pollution, and ancient historical sites I had only dreamed of seeing (including the ‘Great Wall’ and the Forbidden City). It was an amazing experience. For me, the most interesting and intense moments came in seeing the tension and dichotomy between the ‘official’ church of the government-sponsored, (AKA ‘Patriotic Church’) and remnants of the Diaspora known as the ‘unofficial’ (or ‘Underground Church’).
Speaking with members of both groups in several meetings, I was inspired and saddened by what I saw: two disparate groups, suspicious of each other; yet trying to live their Catholic faith with integrity and commitment. As I see it, the Chinese government’s energy would be better spent in unleashing the power of compassion besides capitalism, in order to make China a just and equitable society. I guess I am still an idealist at heart!
Since the wonderful weeks of ‘Vincentian China Experience’, I have returned to Taiwan and China often through my photos and in conversation. I’m often asked, “What was THE highlight of your trip?” And my mind goes back to a Sunday Mass I celebrated at a small parish we staff in Kang Shan, Taiwan. It was in English as most congregants were Filipinos working in sweatshop-like factories. They sang with a joy that was so real.
As we lunched together, they spoke of the harsh, difficult lives they led: long hours, low wages, and no job security. But, they radiated faith, and spoke proudly of what our Vincentian parish meant to them- a place of community, comfort, and hope. They were living those wonderful words of St. Vincent: “If God is the center of your life, no words will be needed. Your mere presence will touch hearts.” They who had so little had it all. Being with them for those brief hours was a bit of heaven on this cruel earth.
