20 - 天主教會台灣主教團

V.308-2010
and South America was held in Mexico. Last September, the program for all
of Asia was held here in Taipei. The program could have been anywhere in
Asia, but we chose to have it in Taipei. It was really an extraordinary, oncein-a-lifetime
event.
4. Msgr. Ambrose Madtha, former Vatican chargé d'affaires in
Taiwan, said The Church's "coming of age" in Taiwan can also be seen
in the reduced number of foreign missionaries present Taiwan. Has
there been more Taiwanese missionaries
I would agree with my predecessor that the Church in Taiwan has "come of
age". It has come of age in so far as it is not dependent on outside financing
to run itself and its charitable works. The Church in Taiwan is selfsupporting.
It has "come of age" in the sense that the Catholic Church in Taiwan
has an impressive number of institutions which give excellent service to
everyone, without discrimination. I brought a copy of the most recent
Taiwan Catholic Church Directory for 2010. As of December 31, 2009,
there are 299,938 Catholics in Taiwan, 15 bishops, 682 priests, 93 religious
brothers, 1146 Sisters, 65 seminarians, 321 catechists, 378 parishes, three
Catholic universities, 29 secondary schools, 11 elementary schools, and 167
kindergartens. The church administers 10 hospitals, 7 clinics, 15 orphanages,
20 nursing homes, and 19 centers for handicapped children. This is really
an impressive number of high quality institutions of which the Church in
Taiwan can be justly proud. I am proud of the Church in Taiwan.
As for the number of foreign missionaries, my office is keeping a careful
watch on the numbers of priests. I made a review of the statistics for the
past 10 years. In 2000, there were 339 Chinese priests and 325 foreign
priests. In 2004, there were 360 Chinese priests and 366 foreign priests. In
2007 there were 326 Chinese priests and 356 foreign priests. In 2009, there
was one more in each category: 327 Chinese priests and 357 foreign priests.
From 2000 to 2007, the number of Chinese priests and foreign priests in
Taiwan is just about equal. From 2007 until now, there are 30 more foreign
priests than Chinese priests. These statistics indicate that the number of
priests in Taiwan is fairly stable, and the ratio of Chinese priests to foreign
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