Our mission in Taiwan
Taiwan marked a new beginning for the Bethlehem Missionaries after their expulsion from China. What started as a refuge became a lasting mission, combining pastoral work with education, healthcare, and service to local and indigenous communities.
In the 1950s, Taiwan became a new area of activity for the missionaries who had been expelled from China. The initial hope of an early return to the mainland soon faded and a successful missionary presence developed in Taiwan.
From Exile to Fruitful Mission
Altogether 36 SMB priests and brothers worked in Taiwan. In addition to building up Christian communities, they also dedicated themselves to the development of skilled trade with the founding of an industrial high school and a vocational training centre.
The work of the SMB, with a view to handing over, has borne fruit in the Taiwan Region. Altogether, to date, the diocese has produced 26 priests, 2 of them Bishops.
The population which was very poor at the beginning has profited from the founding of a hospital. Later the training of church leaders became a priority of their work.
In Taiwan, the Bethlehem missionaries also visited the indigenous ethnic groups, some of whom lived in extremely remote areas. In doing so, they got to know their languages, their cultures and their ways of life, which were being jeopardised by rapid change. They treated the indigenous people with great respect and campaigned for their interests, which initially went against the wishes of the state but was later appreciated. The missionaries documented the languages and cultures of the indigenous people in various publications in order to record this wealth, which was threatened with extinction, in writing.
Still an active community today
The presence of the Bethlehem Mission Society in Taiwan continues. Two SMB confreres serve at Taitung: Father Josef Eugster, district superior, whose pastoral ministry and internationally known school of foot reflexology remain active; and Brother Augustin Büchel, bursar and administrator of the Regional House.
The Regional House has become a place of retreats and days of reflection for parishes and religious groups, from the diocese of Hualien and from across Taiwan. Each morning the Eucharist is celebrated in the house chapel — sisters from the city and a few lay faithful regularly join the small community.
In 2005 Karl Stähli and Laurenz Schelbert visited Qiqihar, the first mission area of the Mission Society in the far north of China. They became aware of the great shortage of possibilities for further training for pastoral workers, and the Taiwan Region of the SMB introduced further training courses for Chinese priests, nuns and lay-leaders.
