Foreign Languages and Literature, National Taiwan University

 

Theresa c. Liu, Ph. D

（焦宝进）， Class of 1963

 

 

During the years I studied in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature (DFLL) at National Taiwan University (NTU), I took an incredibly large number of courses taught by Catholic priests.  Several Benedictine nuns from Jinmen Street (金门街) also taught in DFLL but I was never a student of theirs. The courses I took from the priests included Father Edward Murphy's (牧育才神父）English Conversation, Father James Thornton's （陶雅格父） English Composition and Prose and Shakespeare, Father Marcello Andre （袁国柱神父） and Father Orozco's Spanish, and Spanish Literature respectively.  I also took Father Burg's （朴神父）French I,  Father Albert O'Hara's （郝继隆神父） Sociology, Father Dong's （董守纲神父） Introduction to English Literature, and Father Joseph Kung's （龚士荣神父） Latin , which was offered in the College of Medicine .   Since I was a rather timid teenager from Kaohsiung back then, I rarely raised my hand in class and constantly lived in the fear of being called upon by them.

 

Outside of class, it was a different story.  I had frequent contact with these priests in the context of church activities. This is because I attended daily Mass at “Beda Shu Yuan” (伯达书院) where most of the priests resided.  “Beda Shu Yuan” was actually a part of university housing for NTU faculty.  It was only a five-minute walk from the Third Women’s Dormitory, where I stayed from 1959-1963 . The Jesuit Province in Taiwan added a row of bedrooms for the priests in the back of “Beda Shu Yuan” which were off limits to visitors and a library in the front which was also used for receiving visitors and for conferences.  The original Japanese style frame structure was turned into a chapel.  I recalled having to remove my shoes in the foyer and putting on a pair of straw slippers before entering the chapel for Mass or Eucharistic adoration.  Since I had no family or relatives in Taipei, I naturally spent a large amount of free time at “Beda Shu Yuan,”  particularly on weekends. After choir practice on Friday evenings, Father Murphy would treat us with American candies or biscuits during the break, which I always enjoyed. The Solidarity met in the library on Saturday evenings.  Of course Sunday morning was the climax of all the activities I was involved with because the choir got a chance to show off their singing.  In those days the Mass was said in Latin, so we sang all the prayers in Gregorian chant in Latin.  We also sang hymns composed by Mozart, Beethoven and others.  

 

One might ask who brought these priests to Department of Foreign Languages and Literature (DFLL) to teach English, French, Spanish, and other courses?  It was our beloved department chair, Pro. Yin Qian-li (英千里).   Like his father Ying Lian-zhi (英斂之)，founder of Beijing’s Catholic Fu Jen University,  Professor Ying was a prominent Catholic in China back in the ‘30s and ‘40s.   After all, it was a Belgian Vincentian missionary in Tianjin (天津) named Father Lebbe (雷鸣远神父) who took Ying to Europe for schooling when he was only 13 years of age.  When Catholic church in China was persecuted following Mao’s establishment of the Communist regime, all foreign priests and nuns were first imprisoned and later expelled from Mainland China.  This happened in the early '50s. The priest instructors who taught at NTU had spent several years in various cities in China prior to arriving in Taiwan.  Fathers Murphy, O'Hara, and Thornton were Jesuit missionaries from the California Province.  Father Burg, a Canadian Jesuit, came from the French- speaking Quebec Province.  Fathers Andre and Orozco were Spanish Jesuits. The formal name of the Jesuits is the Society of Jesus (S.J.).  It is an international religious order for men within the Catholic church that was founded by Ignatius of Loyola nearly five hundred years ago.  The Jesuits are best known for their exemplary work in secondary and post-secondary education worldwide.  In the United States alone, the Jesuits are the sponsors of 26 universities and colleges including Boston College and Georgetown University.  Our present pope, Pope Francis, is a Jesuit from Argentina.

 

After graduation in 1963, I moved to Hualien (花莲) and taught English there for a year.  When I returned to Taipei to make preparation for pursuing graduate work in the United States, “Beda Shu Yuan” had closed down.  The Jesuits returned the building to the university administration and moved into a brand new building on 罗斯福路三段 called Cardinal Tien Education Center (耕莘文教院).  Though the new building was much more spacious and still close to NTU, it was not as cozy and intimate as 伯达书院。  I met Father Thornton in the new building and we both lamented at the loss of the old one.  A glowing letter of recommendation from him helped me gain admission to FordhamUniversity in New York City.  Twenty some years later, while attending a national conference in that city, I learned through a mutual friend that Father Thornton was working in New York.  We quickly met for coffee and dessert.  He said that he was forced out of NTU because of lack of a doctoral degree.  Shortly after our visit, Father Thornton became the pastor of the Chinese Catholic Community in San Jose, California, where I visited him once before he died in 1993 at the age of 84.

 

Here is what happened to my Spanish teachers after graduation.  A few years after my graduation, Father Andre was transferred to Tainan to work with college students in a Jesuit-run dormitory.  He was highly praised and dearly loved by those who knew him in that context.  Later he suffered from lymph cancer and died in Spain.  Incidentally, Father Andre's two brothers were also Jesuit priests.  One was a missionary in Japan, and the other, in Brazil.  After his father died, his mother entered the convent and became a nun.  On the day she professed her vows, all her three sons were present at the ceremony.  Father Orozco did not remain in priesthood for long.  He married a woman who was two years behind me in DFLL.  I heard that they moved to Spain and raised several children there.  The former Father Orozco is dead now.

 

Father O'Hara died in Taichung in 1983 at the age of 76.  I recalled on a warm and humid summer day in New York City in the late ‘70s (I forgot what year this was), I saw Father O'Hara in the United Nations. We both were tourists.  You can imagine what a pleasant surprise this was to both of us.  Father Murphy became the pastor of Cardinal TienEducation Center after leaving NTU.  A health conscious man all of his life, Father Murphy was often seen jogging in the NTU sports field when he was well into his 80s. He died in Taipei in 2005 at the age of 93.

 

In August of 2012, I made an eight-day Ignatian retreat at Manresa House in Zhanghua, Taiwan.  When the hot sun went down and the air was filled with a gentle breeze, I often took a leisurely walk outside to the Jesuit cemetery.   Fathers Thornton, O'Hara and Murphy's names were all engraved in gold on a black granite plaque and their graves were found nearby.  I stood silently in front of each grave to offer a prayer.  Their voices, faces, and physical statues gradually came back alive in my memory decades after I last saw them.   Wasn't it only yesterday when I was sitting in Father Thornton's class watching him pace the floor while lecturing.  His black leather shoes were always shining and his feet were as big as a boat. 

 

Fathers Thornton, O'Hara, Murphy, Andre, Orozco, Burg, Dong, and Kung, your students from the Class of 1963 of DFLL gathered in Las Vegas on September 23, 2013 for their 50th anniversary of graduation.  We paid a particular tribute to you for the knowledge and skills you passed on to us.  Most importantly, we are grateful for your love of Chinese people and for your love of us as your students.    May you all rest in peace.