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The Internal Development of the Taiwan Catholic Church: 1950s–1960s

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The Catholic Church in Taiwan

Part of the book series: Christianity in Modern China ((CMC))

Abstract

The “Y shape theory” in historiography is employed to discuss the development of the Taiwan Catholic Church between 1950 and 1960 with the massive influx of church personnel and other mainlanders into Taiwan. This chapter discusses the kaleidoscopic activities of the exiled priests in Taiwan both for survival and evangelical purposes with minimal financial assistance from the Church hierarchy. However, they spread throughout the island evangelizing all ethnic groups, not only the Taiwanese and mainlanders. The close relationship of the Catholic Church with the ruling Nationalist Party of that period was significant, providing much convenience to Catholic mission work but leaving behind long-term problems that last even today.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    “Y” Shape theory is a theory in historiography developed in Taiwan to explain the historical development of the Republic of China in Taiwan after the Nationalist Government moved there. The two streams of the “Y” shape denote how the history of local Taiwan and history of the Republic of China converged in 1949 becoming the main stream of historical development of the Republic of China in contemporary Taiwan. The discussion of the historical development of the Catholic church in Taiwan adopted this “Y” Shape theory.

  2. 2.

    Sanromán, Miguel Ángel . 2013. Meilidao: zhu de zhuangtian: Taiwan Tianzhujiaohui lishi.[the Island of the Lord: The History of the Catholic Church in Taiwan, 1859–1950]. Tainan: Window Press. On the Dominican mission activities among the rural population during the Qing dynasty, Japanese rule until the end of the World War II (WWII). Lardinois , Olivier et al. 2005 Huoli jiaoli: Taianzhujiao zai Taiwan yuanzhumin shihjie de guiqu xianzai weilai [A Living Church: Catholic Church in Taiwan Aboriginal World Its past present and Future.] Taipei: Kuangchi. This book discusses the conversion of Taiwan aboriginals after WWII.

  3. 3.

    In fact Fr. Lee Tianyi was the only Taiwanese priest working in Taipei . He is one of the three Taiwanese priests of that time.

  4. 4.

    Report from an interview with Fr. Nicolas in 2000. Fr Nicolas was educated in Rome and was awarded a Doctoral degree. He was the bishop’s representative of his original diocese in Shanxi. In Taiwan he was one of the three clerical members in the National Assembly.

  5. 5.

    Report from an interview with Fr. Nicolas in 5 April 2002.

  6. 6.

    In the following paragraphs there are discussions of this issue.

  7. 7.

    For example Fr. Xu Zheren to be the principal of the primary school for the children of the Air Force in Gangshan, Kaohsiung . Fr. Wu Zhenduo taught in Kaohsiung Middle School for Girls. Frs. Fang Hao and Gong Shirong taught in Taiwan University.

  8. 8.

    For example Fr. Edward Murphy S.J. made use of his own living quarters in National Taiwan University as a mass center for the university students. Fr. Fang Hao after working a few years in tertiary institutes was able to save up some money to purchase a small house near Taiwan University. He changed the house into a Catholic student activity center, and Mass center as well.

  9. 9.

    According to reports of senior Mainlander priests about the distribution of the Catholic population at that time even those clustered in the Greater Taipei district found the percentage of newly converted Catholics in Taiwan after 1949 was much higher than that of the Mainland Catholics who fled to Taiwan after 1949. This author does not agree with Richard Madsen, the American Sociologist, who held the opinion that the Taiwan Catholics were the Catholics baptized in the Mainland and came to Taiwan in the 1950s.

  10. 10.

    Fr. Fang Hao’s homily in the Requiem Mass of Cardinal Yupi “Yu gu shuji aiguo fangong shentilixing wuda heyi”: The late Cardinal Yupin’s patriotic anti-communist practiced five in one. Fr. Fang Hao remembered the political orientation of Yupin on the question of Church-state relations. Yupin held the opinion that it would be perfect if Church and state had harmonious relations. It would be disastrous if Church and state were in conflict. Therefore the functions of government and of the Church have to be clearly different and may not contradict each other.

  11. 11.

    For example in the editorial of “Central News” on 27 May 1952, it reported on the Catholic Eucharist Congress in Taiwan and introduced the anti-Communist approach of the Catholic Church. On 31 October 1953 it was recorded on the front page on the greetings and homage of Catholic Church with the military and civil servants to Chiang Kai-shek on the president’s birthday. It was a sign that the ruling Kuomintang regarded the Catholic Church as an important cohort of citizens. On 24 December 1956, the Christmas eve, the same Central News spent half of a page to introduce the Catholic Church to readers.

  12. 12.

    Until 1964 all the temples in Taiwan had to pay tax, only Christian Church buildings were exempt from property tax. United Daily News 20 September 1964, p. 2.

  13. 13.

    Interview with the Vicar General of Taipei Msgr. Chi on 7 August 2007. For this issue Fr. Nicolas also sent a letter to Propaganda Fide on 18 October 1957.

  14. 14.

    Report from an interview. However, Professor Kuo Wen-ban, a religious sociologist also held the opinion that the KMT had not launched a formal presence within the Taiwan Catholic Church.

  15. 15.

    In 1947, when the first Constitution was ready to be launched to the whole nation, the Nationalist Government chose 25 December, Christmas Day, to do so. Therefore Christmas Day became a national holiday to commemorate the Constitution. However this holiday was not honored during the period around the 1950s until, in 1960, the day of commemoration of the Constitution was relaunched due to pressure from Yupin in the National Assembly.

  16. 16.

    Mark 16:15.“Go out to the whole world; proclaim the good news to all creation”.

  17. 17.

    The Figure of Growth of Taiwan Catholics (1948 to 1969).

  18. 18.

    Fr. Peter Mertens, a Belgian missionary came to Taipei to be the secretary of Archbishop Joseph Guo. He was interviewed on 6 March 2003.

  19. 19.

    James Collignon MM 1981 The Catholic Church in Taiwan An Interpretive Essay from The Church in Taiwan Profile 1980 Pp. 399–406.

  20. 20.

    Jiang Fucong and Bao Zunpeng in 1963 were knighted by the Pope with the title of “Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great” as a token to thank them for their academic contributions to Catholic documentation and Catholic education. In the past. Celebrities like Lu Bohong, Wu Jingxiong and Xue Guangqian were also knighted by the Pope.

  21. 21.

    On 15 August 1954, Bao Zunpeng was baptized by Fr. Edward Murphy SJ. In 1959 he was entrusted by the current Jesuit Provincial to annotate the work of Xu Guangqi, the first group of Catholic officials in the Ming court. “1980 Xuwending gong moji de jiazhi [the Value of the calligraphy of Xu Guangqi]”, in Bao Zunpeng wencun [the complete collection of Bao Zunpeng], Taipei ; National Central Library. National historical Museum ed. Pp. 423–427.

  22. 22.

    According to the impression of a Catholic priest who had been working with the aborigine people for some time they seemed happy to take things as they came along and did not worry overmuch about planning ahead in life.

  23. 23.

    In 1910, the Japanese government in Taiwan had issued regulations concerning the Taiwan aborigines by separating them from Han Chinese and requesting them to surrender weapons. The Nationalist government in Taiwan employed the same regulations handed down from the Japanese to govern the aborigines until 1965 when a “Martial Law method of governing the mountain areas” was issued.

  24. 24.

    Almost 2/5 of the aboriginals were baptized as Catholics means some 100,000 aborigines out of 300,000 baptisms of Han people at the end of 1960s and early 1970s.

  25. 25.

    Report from the interview with Fr. Nicolas who was knowledgeable about this issue. The interview took place in 2000.

  26. 26.

    Recorded from the interview with Fr. Wang who was a diocesan priest from Beijing. The time frame mentioned by Fr. Wang was the 1940s. The interview took place on 11 March 2006.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Chinese Language Program, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Michael Chuan-sheng Chang

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  1. Michael Chuan-sheng Chang
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Francis K.H. So

  2. Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Beatrice K.F. Leung

  3. Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Ellen Mary Mylod

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Chang, M.Cs. (2018). The Internal Development of the Taiwan Catholic Church: 1950s–1960s. In: So, F., Leung, B., Mylod, E. (eds) The Catholic Church in Taiwan. Christianity in Modern China. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6668-9_3

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