Taipei (AsiaNews) - Who are the leading figures of missionary work in Taiwan? Nuns? Certainly. Priests? Of course. But who are the main players? Here are some examples.
Mhike is a 40-something, half Japanese and half Filipino, married to Cecile, an ethnic Hakka Taiwanese, with two children in high school.
He helps out with immigrants, who usually integrate well, but can sometimes fall victims to unscrupulous employers. "That is a small number," he said. "Controls are good and things are getting better". When asked whether he is a practicing Catholic, he said, "Yes!"
"You know. My wife is even more Catholic than me. Her brother is a Buddhist monk but she chose to be baptised three years ago. . . . I did not ask her. I did not want to cause frictions in the family, but that's the way it went. It was her choice. And now she is making sure the kids grow up bearing witness to the faith and respect others."
"There are no Catholic schools in the area. We do not live in the city. But my wife and the kids were able to convince the school principal to allow Christmas activities arguing that we are a multicultural society." Now the entire school is decked out and preparing a benefit afternoon with Christmas carols. "We must thank our second child for this. He is a real leader," said Cecile.
Taiwan is an island with fewer and fewer young people, but more and more immigrants seeking work, especially as homecare workers for the elderly. For Christians, this is not bad news. At least 100,000 Filipino Catholics live on the island and they are the best missionaries for the word of Jesus.
In Zhongshanbei (中山北路), a famous street in Taipei, three teenagers aged 16 to 19 were baptised at Easter. Who was the witness of faith to them? Their Filipino nannies.
With parents absent for work almost all day, children grow up with their Catholic caregivers, and normally a strong bond of trust develops between parents, children and nanny. The latter inevitably passes on her values, faith included.
Nora has worked as a nanny for a long time. Anne's parents "gifted" a daughter to her, and totally trust her. Anne, 14, goes to catechism with Nora each Saturday evening.
"She was baptised three years ago," Nora said. "I was very happy. Stranger still, her parents were even happier. I bet they'll convert too. What can I do about it? If Jesus attracts people, it is not my fault," she said jokingly.
For Advent and Christmas, Anne and her parish group are helping two Indonesian immigrant families who are in dire straits.
"Speaking with these people, who are often simple people, without a formal education, you feel that they speak about Jesus and the Church as something natural," said Chen Gulian (陳谷聯), who is charge of catechesis at Xinchu parish.
"For them, it is not about proselytising, but it is about what they are. Children and teenagers are very curious. They start to ask about Jesus, where he went, why he didn't come to Taiwan, why they put him in a manger."
All these are simple things, testimony to simple and honest lives, like those of their nannies with whom they establish a mother-child relationship. For all these reasons, and a thousand more, Christmas in Taiwan is more and more popular, truly linked to the coming of Christ.
