Asia

Filippine - Macao - Taiwan

The decision to begin a Comboni Missionary presence in Asia was taken in the 1985 General Chapter. The same Chapter affirmed that “the main goal of (this) opening is first evangelization, without excluding mission and vocation promotion as integral parts of the charism” (Chapter Acts, nn.144-146).

At first, the General Council assigned five confreres to form one community. Two of the four priests and the brother reached Manila (Philippines) on January 4, 1988; the other two priests arrived on the following July 11. They later came to form two communities on September 9, 1990: the Comboni Mission Center (CMC), for mission promotion, publications – the first issue of World Mission Magazine had appeared in March 1989 - and as the residence of the Representative of the Superior General; and the Daniel Comboni Seminary (DCS), for postulancy formation and vocation promotion.

The Comboni Missionaries in Asia subsequently became a Delegation on January 1, 1993. The newly established Asia Delegation was entrusted to the intercession of the Japanese martyrs (one of whom, St. Lorenzo Ruiz, was a Filipino) and St. Daniel Comboni, who, when a student, was inspired by the story of those martyrs. Later on, a Novitiate house was officially opened on September 9, 1993, in Calamba, diocese of San Pablo, province of Laguna.

The outreach to China began in January 8, 1991 with the arrival of the first confrere in Hong Kong; the first community of Hong Kong/Macau was then formally established in January 6, 1992, for the study of the Cantonese language and first evangelization among the Chinese of Macau.

In 1997, three confreres were sent to Taipei to study the Mandarin language. After a period of practice and immersion, the community of Taipei was established on March 15, 2002, with the task of first evangelization at the Jen Ai Catholic Church in the center of Taipei. Meanwhile, in the year 1997, the community of Macau began missionary work in the northern part of the enclave, Iao Hon, where the newly built St. Joseph the Worker Church was consecrated on May 1, 1999. The same year also saw the beginning of Fen Xiang for the outreach to Mainland China.

In view of strengthening mission promotion work through a base in the southern part of Metro Manila, the Comboni Mission Center (CMC) moved to a newly built-house in Sucat, Parañaque, in 2002, where also the Residence of the Delegate was eventually moved three years later.

The Novitiate in Calamba was temporarily transferred to the Daniel Comboni Seminary in 2004 and to the new house built in place of the old Delegation House in 2007. In the same year, a community was formally opened in Cebu, for mission promotion and vocation promotion in the South of the Philippines, but was suspended three years later for lack of personnel and officially closed in 2011. In 2010, the Novitiate was also temporarily suspended and the novices sent to the Continental Novitiate of Sahuayo, in Mexico.

In 2007, the second community in Macau (St. Zhao Rong) was established in the month of March, tasked with the outreach to Mainland China. In November 2010, the community of Taipei moved to the working class area of Wugu, taking up missionary work in St. Anne Parish. At present, the community has also been entrusted with the pastoral care of a parish in Huilong, where there was a former colony of lepers.

November 16, 2012 is another relevant date in the history of the Delegation, as the first confrere moved to Ho Chi Minh City. This was the first step for a presence in Vietnam in view of Vocation and Mission Promotion. The presence was consolidated in June, 26, 2015 with the formal erection of a community in Ho Chi Minh City. Three candidates from Vietnam have already joined the group of Filipino candidates in the Daniel Comboni Seminary.