In Taipei, the Kuangchi Program Service and the Guanachi Cultural Group, the radio-TV production center and the publishing house of the Jesuits of Taiwan, celebrated 50 years of its service to evangelization. In half a century they have made a noteworthy contribution to social, cultural and religious education following the principles of truth, goodness and beauty.
In 1958 Taiwan television technology was quite primitive, and especially Catholic TV. Fr Philip Bourret, an American, who had foreseen the great prospects mass media held in terms of social progress, and in particular for Catholic Church, founded the Kuangchi Recording Studio (today Kuangchi Program Service), for the production of radio and TV programs. In the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the evangelization of Taiwan, the department of social communications of the Bishop Conference of Taiwan has asked the Kuangchi Program Service to prepare a series of multimedia products (DVDs and CDs) for the apostolate of evangelization.
The launch of a new book, Jesuits in Hong Kong, South China and Beyond: Irish Jesuit Mission, Its Development 1926-2006, by Fr Thomas J. Morrissey, on the mission of the Jesuits in Hong Kong, especially in the field of education, has prompted Fr Alfred Deignan, an educator, to underline the challenges and opportunities for education in the territory. Hong Kong territory, after the handover to China, has and continues to experience many changes in the educational field, both at the secondary and university level. The Church is worried that new legislation will not give Catholic schools the opportunity to realize their goals. “Nobody likes too many changes – Fr. Deignan declared – but teachers are ready for changes”. He underlined the many improvements in the educational field and he added that there exists “a good opportunity to set up a Catholic university in Hong Kong, given the fact that the Church is building an institute that will offer diploma and degree courses by 2010”. (Source: SJ Electronic Information Service, December 22 2008)
