There are nine Spiritan confreres in Taiwan in the parishes of St. John and the Holy Spirit Parish. They serve as parish priests for the locals from China and Vietnam, help in the orphanages and with other charities, offer community masses, and counsel married and engaged couples. The formation program currently has 19 students.The Spiritans in Taiwan offer a Vietnam children's education sponsorship program, and through a local university, an International Volunteer Students program to Tanzania.
- Fr. Cyr Ntadi from Congo/Brazzaville and Fr. Jose-Carlos Fereira from Portugal are the newest confreres.
- Fr. Joseph Okoro (Nigeria) is the parish priest, and he is assisted by Fr. Victor Silva (Portugal).
- Fr. Isaac Donkor (Ghana) is in the parish of Chudung.
- Fr. Victor is responsible for the campus ministry.
- Fr. Jean-Pascal Lombart (France) is superior of the circumscription and outreach to China.
- Fr. Binh Quach (Vietnam/USA) serves as Holy Spirit parish priest and married couples’ spiritual formation.
- Fr. Duc Luong (Vietnam/USA) is vicar of Holy Spirit parish. Along with working with Vietnamese migrants, celebrating Masses in Chinese and English, he has started Vietnamese Masses.
- Fr. Richard Acheampong (Ghana) is in residence at Holy Spirit parish while working in the parish of Toufen and also serves as prison chaplain.
Three years after the founding chapter of the Circumscription, we held an assembly in Hsinchu to celebrate our life together and review our experience as ‘foreign missionaries in Asia’. Moses Tang, a local entrepreneur and collaborator, had this to say during the assembly:
The Spiritans are an extremely patient and reliable organization. You will not easily change the direction you decide to go. You will keep doing the same job for a long time until the result comes out. People may move from one place to the other, but the mission will be carried on by others. Therefore I feel safe and reliable once your congregation decided to commit to a certain mission.
The relationship among your congregation members is good and harmonious. You treat each other politely and respectfully. The people in your group work together, support and encourage each other. It does not means there is no problem inside of your group, I believe, but the brotherhood in your congregation is still very mature.
You share a common vision that keeps expanding continuously. You are exploring new territories and new challenges. Though there are a lot of challenges and difficulties you will face, this adventurous spirituality makes your faith more resilient and your mind more flexible. You know how to rely on spiritual resources more than material resources. Though the result comes much harder and slower, it is more durable and more fruitful. This echoes the teaching of the Gospel.
Although there are cultural gaps between the original nations you came from and Taiwan, you are flexible and adaptable. I feel you respect the local people and our culture from the heart. I don’t feel you are arrogant in your thinking, though it is not totally absent! The diverse background of your group gave us a good example to learn how to treat equally people from different nations and appreciate the differences.
Formation of New Priests
There are 16 young men in the formation program, which is a five-year program, as aspirants and then as posulants. The aspirants learn English and look after themselves and their house. They attend catechesis, community Mass and Mass in the local church. They meet on an individual basis once a month for direction. They are expected to have their own spiritual directors. They attend a monthly seminar in our house in the countryside. The aspirants enjoy these weekends. It gets them out of the city and gives them a chance for rest and recreation. All the aspirants are expected to do pastoral work visiting orphanages, teaching the orphans and working with street children. The postulants are studying philosophy in the Dominican Institute.
Community Life
There are two fathers living in the original community house, Pat and Quoc. Fr. Pat is superior and spends much of his time teaching English to the students and in the local Pastoral Center. He is also involved in marriage preparation of foreigners who marry locals. Fr. Quoc is director of vocations and assistant director of postulants. The Fathers try to visit the orphanages regularly and help out financially in other charities, such as a hostel for single mothers, a home for severely handicapped people, and people who were affected by the severe flooding in the center of the country.
