Our Parish in Taiwan for Easter 2023: Letter from a Missionary

Posted On April 26, 2023

Recently, Fr. Joe Matteucig, former Shrine Director at Our Lady of Fatima Shrine in Holliston, who worked many years in the United States, wrote to us from his parish in Taiwan. His letter is slightly edited to make it more understandable to those who may not know the other Xaverian Missionaries he refers to.

Hi Carl,

“I hope this note finds you well, in good health, with peace and serenity in your heart. How are you doing? How are you and your family doing after the “return home of your mom Carolyn”? I hope and pray for the peace gift of the Risen Lord to be in your hearts. How is life in Holliston coming along? I know there are some new additions, and I am sure Br. Kornelius will feel at home and be a great community addition. How are the guys doing? What about Francis and Adolph? I know Adolph is in assisted living, doing OK I hope… Francis is still in good health at 90? Rocco and Pietro? And then all of our great friends:

Susan, Tara, Manuel, Ari and Jen and Leticia and Joe and Linda Javorsky, Mary and Joe Vadakekalam, Joe and Jean Apicella, Rosemary Rainsford, and many other precious friends (I apologize for now writing… but I hope to improve in the future… keep hope alive). How is your ministry coming along? I follow your creativity and involvement through the Xaverian Factor E-Newsletter (Mary is doing a great job….). Thank you, Carl, for keeping this vision and ministry alive…

As you can see from the photos, I am sending you… I am still among the living… The photos are of this year’s Holy Week. We had two baptisms… It has been a great encouragement (I am sure you experienced the same) to see the joy of their “encounter” when for me and maybe for many of us, this “encounter” has become a routine.

I am grateful for this ministry and the grace to see God at work in many people… As you know, I am the parish pastor since Edi is on his sabbatical year in Italy. So I divide my time between community life, parish, RCIA in both parish and catholic hospital, helping in the Archdiocesan Lay Pastoral Center (especially accompanying young workers), etc… never a dull moment around here… You might have heard me say this before: I hope that with all this running, I will never forget the for who/whom and for what I do all this…

Speaking about our presence in Taipei, besides me, there are two other confreres (we hope to see Fr. Edi back in December). Fr. Fabrizio, besides pastoral ministry, continues to teach Bible at the Jesuit School of Theology and follows several bible study groups… since last May, Fr. Innocent (from Congo) has joined the group and is doing well with this Chinese Language and cultural studies… a great addition to our group.”

Joe