Episcopal Diocese of Taiwan

The Episcopal Diocese of Taiwan (), also known as the Taiwan Episcopal Church, is the Anglican diocese in Taiwan and a member diocese of the Episcopal Church of the United States. It was established in 1954, five years after Chinese Episcopalians fled from mainland China to Taiwan following the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949.

Early leadership included American military chaplains connected to the Church of the Good Shepherd or St. John's,"Taiwan," https://episcopalchurch.org/diocese/taiwan accessed February 10, 2020 but in 1965 the Diocese elected its first Chinese bishop. In late 2019 Lennon Yuan-Jung Chang was elected the sixth Bishop of Taiwan, and was consecrated on February 22, 2020.

It is a diocese of Province 8 of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. In 2024, the diocese reported average Sunday attendance (ASA) of 669 persons.

Keith Chen-Cheng Li elected seventh Bishop of Taiwan on May 9, 2026.

History

From the earliest origins of Anglicanism on Taiwan until 1945, the island was part of the Nippon Sei Ko Kai Diocese of Osaka. As the presence of American Episcopalians on the island grew, the island came under the jurisdiction of the Episcopal Diocese of Honolulu until 1954, when it achieved some independence — the 60th anniversary of this date was celebrated in 2014. In 1961, Taiwan became a missionary diocese of the Episcopal Church (USA); and in 1988 it was accepted as a full diocese of the church.

Parishes

Parishes of the diocese: Church Address Epiphany Chapel 7, Lane 105, Section 1, Hangzhou South Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City Advent Church 499 Sec.4 Danjin Road, Tamsui District, New Taipei City (inside St. John's University) St. John's Cathedral (Diocesan Cathedral) 280, Section 2, Fuxing South Road, Daan District, Taipei City Church of the Good Shepherd 509 Zhongzheng Road, Shilin District, Taipei City St. Thomas Church 86 Minyou Street, Linkou District, New Taipei City Holy Trinity Church 163 Tung Ming Road, Keelung City St. Stephen's Church No. 29, Aly. 6, Ln. 168, Zhonghe Rd., Zhongshan Dist., Keelung City Christ Church No. 33, Chongyi 3rd St., Pingzhen District, Taoyuan CitySt. Luke's Church 1-6 Ming Hsin Street, Hualien CitySt. Matthew's Church No.152 Sanmin Road, Zhubei City, Hsinchu CountySt. James Church No. 23, Section 1, Wuquan West Road, West District, Taichung CitySt. Gabriel's ChurchNo. 208 Sec. 1 Chongde 2nd Road, Beitun District, Taichung CitySt. Peter's Church 8 Hsin Chung Street, Chiayi CityGrace Church 24 Lane 550 Tsung Te Road, Tainan CityAll Saints' Church 5 Chieh Shou Road, Gangshan District, Kaohsiung CitySt. Paul's Church 200 Tzu Chiang 1st Road, Sanmin District, Kaohsiung CitySt. Timothy's Church 3F. No. 262 Chung-hsiao 1st. Rd. Sinsing District, Kaohsiung CitySt. Mark's Church 120 - 11 Chung Hsiao Road, Pingtung City

Bishops From 1954 until 1960, Harry S. Kennedy, Bishop of Hawaii, had direct care of Taiwan; from 1961 until 1964, Charles P. Gilson, Suffragan Bishop of Honolulu, was delegated care of the missionary diocese and was resident on the island.

Further bishops of the missionary diocese were: James C. L. Wong (1965–1970; ; formerly Bishop of Jesselton) James Pong (1971–1979; ) Pui-Yeung Cheung (1980–1987; )

Since full diocesan status was granted, the bishops diocesan have been: John C. T. Chien (1988–2001; ) David Jung-Hsin Lai (2001–2020; ) Lennon Yuan-Rung Chang (2020–present; ) Keith Chen-Cheng Lee (bishop-elect)

Charles P. Gilson Charles Packard Gilson (; September 3, 1899, Portland, MaineAugust 11, 1980, New London, New Hampshire), was consecrated a bishop at St Paul's Cathedral, Detroit during the Episcopal Church's 1961 General Convention. He had been missionary-in-charge at Taipei since 1958 when Convention elected him Suffragan Bishop of Honolulu in order to be the bishop resident on Taiwan. In 1964, his geographical jurisdiction (but not his post as Suffragan) was shifted to Okinawa. Lennon Yuan-Rung Chang

Lennon Yuan-Rung Chang (given name Yuan-Rung/Yuanrong, English name Lennon; ) was consecrated a bishop on February 22, 2020 at St John's Cathedral, Taipei. Deaconed in 1995 and priested in 1999, he served as Chaplain of St. John's University (Taiwan) (1997–2016) and then as Vicar/Rector of Advent Church (on the same campus); he was also an associate professor of Mathematics at the university (1983–2016). Chang was elected bishop diocesan on August 3, 2019 and was duly consecrated and installed in 2020 by Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop (assisted by co-consecrators: Lai Jung-Hsin, then-Bishop of Taiwan; Bob Fitzpatrick, Bishop of Hawaii; Nathaniel Makoto Uematsu, Primate of Nippon Sei Ko Kai; Haruhisa Iso, Bishop of Osaka; and Greg Rickel, Bishop of Olympia). He served briefly as coadjutor bishop and succeeded as bishop diocesan automatically upon Lai's retirement in March 2020.

Episcopal Diocese of Taiwan

Bron en licentie