A dozen foreign priests, nuns, missionaries and pastors were honored at the Presidential Office Building yesterday for their decades of dedicated service to Taiwan.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) conferred the Order of Brilliant Star with Violet Grand Cordon to each of the 12 religious workers, saying that their work had brought serenity and peace to Taiwan.
On behalf of the public, Ma expressed his deepest gratitude to the honorees for their service in the areas of education, charity and social service.
According to the Presidential Office, the 12 religious workers have each served for at least 40 years in Taiwan, and one of them, 102-year-old Canadian priest Etienne Georges Beauregard, has been in Taiwan for 68 years.
At the ceremony, Ma highlighted their achievements, including the establishment of St Joseph’s Hospital in Yunlin County, which was cofounded by Dutch priest Antoine Pierrot 60 years ago.
Pierrot often drove the hospital’s ambulance and helped fix medical equipment in the facility, Ma said.
Responding on behalf of the honorees, Pierrot thanked the president for bestowing “such a great honor” on them.
The other honorees are nuns Theresa Kastner of the Netherlands and Miljenka Schnetzer of Sweden; US missionary Juanelva Rose; US pastors David Alexander and Daniel Freeman; and priests Brendan O’Connel of the US, Andres Diaz de Rabago of Spain, Yves Moal of France and Gian Carlo Michelini and Giovanni Rizz of Italy.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS