A number of Catholic church services catering to Filipinos in Taiwan have been temporarily suspended or churches have implemented special measures to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
From yesterday, St Christopher’s Church in Taipei, which sees more than 1,000 Philippine churchgoers daily on weekends, is to be indefinitely closed for pastoral and social purposes.
Father Edward Pacquing, the church’s parish priest, said that it is a preventive measure after an undocumented foreign caretaker was confirmed as Taiwan’s 32nd case.
Pacquing was referring to an Indonesian woman, who was hired to care for an older man. She was on Wednesday confirmed to have COVID-19, a few days after the man was diagnosed with the virus.
“This is for the benefit of the majority of our local and global community,” Pacquing said.
Perla Lupo, a Philippine member of the church, said that she agreed with the temporary closure.
“When we protect ourselves we are not protecting solely ourselves, but we are also protecting others,” she said. “The lesser the infections, the better care [those with the virus] can have.”
All public Sunday Masses under the Hsinchu Diocese — Hsinchu City, Hsinchu County, Taoyuan and Miaoli County — are also to be suspended, the diocese said in a statement on Thursday.
Among those is Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢), which is to suspend Mass on Sundays (10:30am, 12pm, and 6pm) indefinitely beginning today, said the Hope Workers’ Center, a mission that supports migrant workers.
Meanwhile, Tanzi Catholic Church in Taichung is to hold Mass, but worshipers would be required to wear a mask, and have their temperature checked and hands disinfected upon entering the church, Father Joy Tajonera said.
St Joseph the Worker Parish in Kaohsiung’s Nanjhih District (楠梓) and Holy Family Catholic Church in Tainan’s Shanhua District (善化) are implementing similar measures.
FEW REMAIN: Conservationists tried to stop the demolition, but to no avail, and the owner cannot be fined, as the structure was not listed as a historical building One of the few remaining Japanese colonial-era granaries in Taiwan was dismantled by its owner on Friday, prompting outrage from conservationists. The granary, which was at No. 16, Lane 11, Hangzhou S Rd Sec 1 in Taipei, belonged to Taiwan Takushoku Corp during the colonial era, conservationist Chang Wan-lin (張琬琳) said, adding that she and others had been collecting information to reapply to have the building protected as a historical structure. During the colonial era, the granary served the area from Monga (艋舺) to what is now Songshan District (松山) in the north, she said. “Back then the eastern part
SEEING THE POSITIVE: A majority of respondents in Taiwan said that they favored Trump because they think Taiwan-US ties would improve with him Among eight Asia-Pacific countries and regions, only Taiwan prefers US President Donald Trump over his challenger, former US vice president Joe Biden, in the upcoming US presidential election, a survey released on Thursday showed. According to the poll published by UK-based market research firm YouGov, 42 percent of Taiwanese favor Trump in the Nov. 3 election, while 30 percent back Biden and 28 percent have no opinion. In contrast, respondents in Malaysia favor Biden over Trump 62 percent to 9 percent, and in Singapore by 66 percent to 12 percent, the survey showed. Biden also led Trump in Australia (60 percent to 21
TROUBLEMAKER: The missiles, capable of striking up to 2,000km away, would likely be used to deter other nations from coming to Taiwan’s aid, a legislator said The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has reportedly deployed advanced hypersonic missiles along China’s southeast coast, which Taiwan’s missile defense system might have difficulty intercepting, an analyst said yesterday. Citing an unnamed military source, the South China Morning Post said that the missile bases on the coasts of China’s Fujian and Zhejiang provinces have been upgraded and are stocked with DF-17 missiles, equipped with hypersonic glide vehicles. “The DF-17 hypersonic missile will gradually replace the old DF-11s and DF-15s that were deployed in the southeast region for decades,” said the source, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. “The
Hong Kong air traffic controllers turning away a Taiwanese flight last week might have been China’s first move in a broader campaign to restrict Taiwan’s air access to its outlying islands, a retired air force general said on Saturday. The government needs to establish a response plan in the event that aircraft are denied entry to Flight Information Regions (FIRs) en route to Kinmen and Matsu, among others islands, retired lieutenant general Chang Yen-ting (張延廷) said. The Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of the Interior, as well as the Straits Exchange Foundation and Mainland Affairs Council, must
RSS