When Archbishop Paul Yü of Nanking attended the Second Vatican Council in 1965, Pope John XXIII proposed the development of the Chinese Catholic Church on Taiwan due to the situation of the Church on Mainland China. Part of this development would be to re-establish Catholic schools such as the Catholic University in Peking on Taiwan as well as creating a Chinese episcopal conference. Therefore, the Chinese Catholic Bishops Conference (天主教中國主教團) was established in 1967[3] and would serve as the national bishops' conference for all territories claimed by the Government of the Republic of China. In 1973, bishops from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and the Philippines gathered at Fu Jen Catholic University for the inaugural meeting of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences. In 1998, the conference adopted its current name to reflect the geopolitical situation and remains the only Chinese episcopal conference sanctioned by the Vatican.[1]
Organizational structure
The conference is led by a president, vice president, and secretary-general. The Secretariat, the highest administrative unit, contains the following 10 commissions:
Aborigine Apostolate
Clergy
Subcommittee on Ongoing Priest Formation
Subcommittee on Seminaries Education
Doctrine of the Faith and Catechetical Instruction
Sub-Commission of Bible Apostolate
Chinese Catholic Federation for the Bible Apostolate
Subcommittee on Catechesis Research
Subcommittee on Theology Research
Catholic Charismatic Renewal Service Team
Education and Culture
Evangelization
Subcommittee on Family
Subcommittee on Laity
Subcommittee on Youth
Interreligious Dialogue and Ecumenical Cooperation