Benedict XVI appointed the new archbishop to replace Mgr Joseph Cheng Tsai-fa, who resigned for age limits. Mgr Hung Shan-chuan, 64, was bishop of Kiayi.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – The Pope appointed the Bishop of Kiayi Mgr John Hung Shan-chuan, SVD,  as the new archbishop of Taipei to replace Mgr Joseph Cheng Tsai-fa, whose resignation Benedict XVI accepted for age reasons.

Mgr Hung Shan-chuan was born on November 20, 1943, on Penghu Island, in the diocese of Kiayi. He entered the novitiate at the Society of the Divine Word (Verbites) in the Philippines in 1967, and made his perpetual profession becoming a priest in 1973.

He studied education and was a parish priest in Chuchi and Kiayi (1975-1977). He also served as secretary for the Lay Council and the Commission of Evangelisation of the Bishops’ Conference as well as national chaplain for Young Christian Workers (1979-1981).

He has a PhD in Counselling from the Catholic University of America in Washington (1981-1986), and was associate professor, dean of students and in charge of the Catholic Chapel at Fu Jen University (1986-1987). He served as national chaplain for prison and lay ministries in the diocese of Taipei (1987-1991), and was director of the Fu Jen Catholic School in Kiayi as well as chaplain at the Catholic University in Taipei (after 1992).

Pope Benedict XVI appointed him bishop of Kiayi on January 16, 2006.

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