Keelung, Taiwan. This past August 19th in Keelung, Taiwan, the Parish of Our Lady of the Assumption celebrated its 60th anniversary. The Claretian Missionaries arrived there a little more than three years ago.
The festivities began on Monday the 13th with a mass presided over by our native Claretian, Fr. Peter Chao, and each day afterwards by a former pastor. On the occasion of the celebration a banner was placed on an outside wall of the church. In addition, Joseph Cheng, a young Claretian designed a logo made-up of the number “60”, a star representing the crown of Mary, the moon representing the Virgin. Inside of the number “6” are four Chinese characters which say: Holy Mary Ascends to Heaven. The “0” in the form of a heart shows the parish as being founded in 1952 by the Congregation of the Disciples of the Lord (CDD) until the arrival of the CMFs, also appearing is the Sea of Keelung with a small island typical of this place.
The Eucharist of Sunday the 19th was presided over by the Archbishop of Taipei, Bishop John Hung, SVD, at which there were five infant baptisms and four adults receiving the Sacraments of Christian Initiation, as well as eight more adults receiving Confirmation. At the end of the mass the archbishop blessed a beautiful statue of Our Lady of the Assumption of China that was painted by Lin Chung-Yu (a parishioner) and which is now adorned on the wall of the Parish.
The church was replete with a final liturgical celebration by the Youth CMF – Taiwan with a musical celebration, giving thanks for the assistance they received for their trip to WYD-Madrid. The festival continued with anabundant and delicious luncheon shared family style.
