Sat, Apr 16, 2005 page2

• Dutch father surprised by Chen's invitation to the Pope's funeral

  • By Melody Chen / STAFF REPORTER
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  One of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) five-man official delegation to attend Pope John Pope II's funeral last week was a Dutchman.

  Father Jan van Aert of the Catholic Church and St. Anne's Home in Tienmu received a call from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) at 3:30pm on April 6 inviting him to join Chen for the Pope's funeral. He could hardly believe his ears.

  The ministry told van Aert that Chen's delegation would depart for the Holy See the next day but did not say when the flight was. Unsure about what he had heard, the 70-year-old priest brought two children from St. Anne's Home with him to attend a memorial mass for the Pope at Taipei's Holy Family Catholic Church that evening.

  

  Father Jan van Aert of Tienmu Catholic Church and St. Anne's Home, left, President Chen Shui-bian and Father Hsing Chao-ming, right, on the president's charter plane.

  PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

  The ministry called again late that night, telling van Aert to meet other members of the president's delegation at the ministry building on Thursday at noon. Delegation members included Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen (陳唐山), Taipei Grand Mosque Imam Ma Shiao-chi (馬孝棋) and Father Hsing Chao-ming (幸朝明).

  "Before Wednesday, I had absolutely no idea that they would choose me to join the delegation. Certainly it is not because I am the best father in Taiwan. I can count many fathers who do a better job than me. But I happily accepted the invitation," van Aert said in an interview.

  Born in the Netherlands in 1935, van Aert had longed to become a Catholic priest since he was a kid. Believing life as a servant of God is "great and meaningful," he entered a monastery at age 20 and was ordained as a father when he was 26.

  Van Aert joined the Vincentian Fathers and Brothers and wanted to do missionary work in Brazil. However, as there were already more than 80 clergymen in Brazil, van Aert changed his plan and decided to come to Taiwan, where the Catholic priests were said to be aging.

  In 1962, a year after his ordination, van Aert arrived in Taiwan and spent his first year learning Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese) in Hsinchu.

  "The first tongue I learned in Taiwan was not Mandarin, but Hoklo," he said.

  The priest did not begin studying Mandarin until six years later, as his supervisor in Taiwan advised him not to start his language study in Mandarin. The supervisor was concerned that once van Aert could speak Mandarin, he would no longer want to learn Hoklo.

  "My supervisor said if I started with Hoklo, I still had to learn Mandarin later no matter whether I liked it or not. To live in Taiwan, Mandarin is a necessary tongue to learn. I appreciated his advice," van Aert said.

  When van Aert used Hoklo on the plane to the Holy See, the president was delighted. Upon his return to CKS International Airport last Saturday, Chen, in introducing the father to the press, began by praising his "standard Mandarin and Hoklo."

  "Father Jan van Aert, who was born in the Netherlands and came to Taiwan when he was 27, started his language study in Hoklo. He has been here for 43 years and sees Taiwan as his home. He is a loving angel to many handicapped children," Chen said when explaining why he picked the Dutch father to be in his delegation.

  Chen lauded van Aert as an "unknown hero who promotes the power of reconciliation and faith in peace."

  For van Aert, Jesus Christ has been his strength in difficult times. "I pity people who do not know the Lord. They have little comfort in their sufferings," he said.

  Apart from shepherding the Tienmu Catholic Church, van Aert is also the director of St. Anne's Home, which accommodates around 40 seriously retarded children who were either abandoned by their parents or were transferred to the shelter by hospitals or charities.

  Father Gerard Beunen and Sister Petronelly Keulers started St. Anne's Home in 1972. The shelter, located in the compound of the Tienmu Catholic Church, has often faced shortages in money and caretakers in the past, but its situation has been improving recently.

  Van Aert has been director of St. Anne's Home since 1996. He said recently the shelter has received a lot of donations and he is looking forward to expanding the charity projects. Doing a mission in Taiwan, van Aert admitted, is difficult because people are pretty well off.

  "My job," he said, "is to tell people the gospel. No matter whether people choose to believe in Buddhism or Christianity, they have to think seriously about what they believe."

  For your information

  Father Jan van Aert

  * 1935: Born in the Netherlands * Entered a monastery at age 20 and ordained at 26 * 1962: Arrived in Taiwan * 1972: Co-founded St. Anne's Home in Tienmu * 1996: Became director of St. Anne's * 2005: Part of a presidential delegation to the funeral of John Paul II
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