Foreigners in religious groups share experience as religious activities in Taiwan suspends

Entry to places of worship will be prohibited under the current nationwide Level 3 COVID-19 alert until June 28, Ministry of the Interior (MOI/內政部) announced on June 9, which thus posed challenges to religious groups for immigrants and migrant workers in Taiwan.

St. Christopher’s Church (聖多福天主堂) in the Zhongshan District has long been a place where immigrants, foreign students, and migrant workers can gather. However, after the epidemic outbreak in Taiwan, John thiet (艾德華), Priest of the church said in an interview that the church has followed the government’s order and delayed all the physical activity.

Foreigners in religious groups share experience as religious activities in Taiwan suspends. Image courtesy of St. Christopher’s Church.

“If the activity cannot be delayed, we then use the internet to broadcast it online,” John thiet said.

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John thiet also mentioned that the church has now opened a Facebook fanpage and welcomes Catholics, migrant workers, and foreign students to consult their difficulties or concerns by an online way, which has made a good performance. “They can text us whenever they have any concern and difficulty, or need help,” he said.

Foreigners in religious groups share experience as religious activities in Taiwan suspends. Image courtesy of St. Christopher’s Church. 

Mr. Lee is an Indonesian Christian who often goes to Bread of Life Christian Church in Taipei (台北靈糧堂) for worshiping. “Because of the serious condition of epidemic this year, all the church gatherings have all been moved online, and we have to use the technology to perform our online worshiping, which actually has the advantage of allowing more people to join in,” he said.

“The church’s management is also very strict now. If you must go to the church and deal with things, you must make the “conduct name registration” (實聯制) and take temperature, and our online-worship broadcasting on Sunday also maintains with only five staffs. Although it is very inconvenient, we still cooperate with the government’s regulations and hope that the epidemic in Taiwan can get better,” Lee added. 

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Taipei Grand Mosque (台北清真寺) is also closed now. The mosque not only shares scriptures and keynotes on its Facebook fanpage, but also reminds its members to seize the opportunity to pray and take good epidemic-preventing measures. 

Those who are interested can receive more information on Taipei Grand Mosque Facebook fanpage.