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Episcopal Diocese of Taiwan

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Diocese of Taiwan

臺灣聖公會
Coat of arms of the Diocese of Taiwan
Coat of arms
Location
CountryTaiwan
Ecclesiastical provinceProvince VIII
(formerly Nippon Sei Ko Kai)
Statistics
Congregations15 (2023)
Members1,216 (2023)
Information
DenominationEpiscopal Church
CathedralSt. John's Cathedral, Taipei
Current leadership
BishopLennon Yuan-Jung Chang
Website
episcopalchurch.org.tw

The Episcopal Diocese of Taiwan (traditional Chinese: 臺灣聖公會; simplified Chinese: 台湾圣公会; lit. 'Episcopal Church of Taiwan') is the Anglican diocese in Taiwan and a member diocese of the Episcopal Church of the United States. It was established in 1954, five years after Chinese Episcopalians fled from mainland China to Taiwan following the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949.

Early leadership included American military chaplains connected to The Church of the Good Shepherd or St. John's,[1] but in 1965 the Diocese elected its first Chinese bishop. In late 2019 Lennon Yuan-Jung Chang was elected the sixth Bishop of Taiwan, and was consecrated on February 22, 2020.[2]

It is a diocese of Province 8 of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.

History

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Chungshan Presbyterian Church (originally the Taisho-cho Anglican Church during the Japanese Rule) in Taipei

From the earliest origins of Anglicanism on Taiwan (in or before 1895) until 1945, the island was part of the Nippon Sei Ko Kai Diocese of Osaka.[3] As the presence of American Episcopalians on the island grew, the island came under the jurisdiction of the Episcopal Diocese of Honolulu until 1954, when it achieved some independence — the 60th anniversary of this date was celebrated in 2014.[3] In 1961, Taiwan was organised into a missionary diocese of the Episcopal Church (USA); and in 1988 it was accepted as a full diocese of the church.[3]

Parishes

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The Church of the Good Shepherd in Taipei

Parishes of the diocese:[4]

Church Address
Epiphany Church 7, Lane 105, Section 1, Hangzhou South Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City
Advent Church 499 Sec.4 Danjin Road, Tamsui District, New Taipei City (inside St. John's University)
St. John's Cathedral (Diocesan Cathedral) 280, Section 2, Fuxing South Road, Daan District, Taipei City
Church of the Good Shepherd 509 Zhongzheng Road, Shilin District, Taipei City[5]
St. Thomas Church 86 Minyou Street, Linkou District, New Taipei City
Holy Trinity Church 163 Tung Ming Road, Keelung City
St. Stephen's Church No. 29, Aly. 6, Ln. 168, Zhonghe Rd., Zhongshan Dist., Keelung City
St. Luke's Church 1-6 Ming Hsin Street, Hualien City[6]
Episcopal Church in Hsinchu 12 Guanxin N. Street, Hsinchu City
St. James Church No. 23, Section 1, Wuquan West Road, West District, Taichung City[7]
St. Peter's Church 8 Hsin Chung Street, Chiayi City
Grace Church 24 Lane 550 Tsung Te Road, Tainan City
All Saints' Church 5 Chieh Shou Road, Gangshan District, Kaohsiung City
St. Paul's Church 200 Tzu Chiang 1st Road, Sanmin District, Kaohsiung City
St. Timothy's Church 3F. No. 262 Chung-hsiao 1st. Rd. Sinsing District, Kaohsiung City
St. Mark's Church 120 - 11 Chung Hsiao Road, Pingtung City

Bishops

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From 1954 until 1960, Harry S. Kennedy, Bishop of Hawaii, had direct care of Taiwan; from 1961 until 1964, Charles P. Gilson, Suffragan Bishop of Honolulu, was delegated care of the missionary diocese and was resident on the island.[3]

Further bishops of the missionary diocese were:

Since full diocesan status was granted, the bishops diocesan have been:

Charles P. Gilson

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Charles Packard Gilson (Chinese: 吉爾生; September 3, 1899, Portland, Maine – August 11, 1980, New London, New Hampshire),[8] was consecrated a bishop at St Paul's Cathedral, Detroit during the Episcopal Church's 1961 General Convention. He had been missionary-in-charge at Taipei since 1958 when Convention elected him Suffragan Bishop of Honolulu in order to be the bishop resident on Taiwan. In 1964, his geographical jurisdiction (but not his post as Suffragan) was shifted to Okinawa.[9]

Lennon Yuan-Rung Chang

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In this Chinese name, the family name is Chang/Zhang (張).

Lennon Yuan-Rung Chang (given name Yuan-Rung/Yuanrong, English name Lennon; Chinese: 張員榮) was consecrated a bishop on February 22, 2020 at St John's Cathedral, Taipei.[8] Deaconed in 1995 and priested in 1999, he served as Chaplain of St. John's University (Taiwan) (1997–2016) and then as Vicar/Rector of Advent Church (on the same campus); he was also an associate professor of Mathematics at the university (1983–2016). Chang was elected bishop diocesan on August 3, 2019[2] and was duly consecrated and installed in 2020 by Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop (assisted by co-consecrators: Lai Jung-Hsin, then-Bishop of Taiwan; Bob Fitzpatrick, Bishop of Hawaii; Nathaniel Makoto Uematsu, Primate of Nippon Sei Ko Kai; Haruhisa Iso, Bishop of Osaka; and Greg Rickel, Bishop of Olympia).[10] He served briefly as coadjutor bishop and succeeded as bishop diocesan automatically upon Lai's retirement in March 2020.[2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Taiwan," https://episcopalchurch.org/diocese/taiwan accessed February 10, 2020
  2. ^ a b c "Lennon Yuan-Rung Chang elected next bishop of Taiwan". Episcopal News Service. August 5, 2019. Archived from the original on May 14, 2021. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d Schjonberg, Mary Frances (September 17, 2014). "House of Bishops begins historic meeting in Taiwan (Section: History of Anglican and Episcopal Churches on Taiwan)". Episcopal News Service. Archived from the original on January 4, 2022. Retrieved January 2, 2022.
  4. ^ "台灣聖公會". www.episcopalchurch.org.tw. Archived from the original on 2008-09-16. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
  5. ^ "台灣聖公會牧愛堂 - 首頁".
  6. ^ "台灣聖公會". www.episcopalchurch.org.tw.
  7. ^ "台灣聖公會". www.episcopalchurch.org.tw.
  8. ^ a b "Bishops of the Episcopal Diocese of Taiwan, 1954–2020" (PDF). Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Archives. May 11, 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 4, 2022. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
  9. ^ "Retired Bishop Gilson Dies". Episcopal Archives. August 21, 1980. Archived from the original on January 4, 2022. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
  10. ^ "Lennon Yuan-Rung Chang consecrated and installed as bishop of Taiwan". Episcopal News Service. February 25, 2020. Archived from the original on March 6, 2021. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
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