“Heading for Indonesia after 19 years on Taiwan” from the November 29, 1973 Door County Advocate
Father Baudhuin
Heading for Indonesia after 19 years on Taiwan
By LINDA ADAMS
“Priests, clergymen and missionaries in particular are becoming almost a dying species,” Sturgeon Bay-bred missionary Father Robert Baudhuin said here recently. “The secular world has become all too attractive and, in comparison to the past, few are making the church their life’s work. But like other dying species we must be preserved,” he maintains.
For nearly two decades Door county residents have followed the career of this dedicated priest as he preached the Gospel to over 3,000 mountain people living in Taiwan.
Son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Sylvan Baudhuin, he was ordained at St. Joseph Catholic church in 1954 after completing his work at Maryknoll Seminary in New York.
FR. BAUDHUIN
Because the Taiwanese are now largely a Christian people Father Baudhuin recently applied and was accepted as one of four missionaries to bring the teachings of the Roman church to the people of Indonesia. That means he will be responsible for establishing a Catholic mission in a part of New Guinea known as West Irian.
Father Baudhuin first Went to Taiwan in 1954 with a goal of establishing the church as the nucleus of the mountain community in hope that it would give the natives a purpose in life. A modest man, the priest is reluctant to give himself a pat on the back but merely said that he felt the people of his parish could now carry on alone.
“After living with people for 20 years you hate to leave your friends behind,” he reflected, “but there comes a time when you have to step back and let them assume some of their own responsibilities.”
No new priest will replace Father Baudhuin but arrangements have been made for a neighboring priest to incorporate Father Baudhuin’s parish with his own.
Looking back on the transitions in Nationalist China he has seen in the past two decades Father Baudhuin explained the trend toward urbanization. “The people are moving from the mountains to the cities and therefore all new missionaries are establishing themselves in the-cities and not the mountains.”
Father Baudhuin revealed that there is no longer a great need to convert the population to Christianity as the majority of the people have been Christianized in the past 25 years.
He also explained that since the Communists took over mainland China there has been an abundance of priests and ministers settling in Taiwan. For these reasons he doesn’t feel he is neglecting the souls of those he will leave behind in Taiwan.
On Dec. 1 Father Baudhuin will go to the Maryknoll Seminary in New York where he will meet with the other three priests elected to start missions in Indonesia. Although the differences in the two nations are great the priest feels that his 19 years in the Taiwan mountains will lend a hand in his adjusting to the new mission and its people.
In January he will report to the main missionary base in Jakarta for a training course in the native tongue and then will move on to West Irian. There have been Dutch priests working in Indonesia for years but Father Baudhuin and his group will be the first American missionaries to infiltrate the country.
With his slow and articulate speech Father Baudhuin explained why he volunteered to start all over again in a new country. “The church was established in Taiwan and I didn’t feel they needed my services as much as an area that didn’t have anyone to speak the Gospel.
“I couldn’t see myself becoming a pastor in an American community so when the superiors said there was a need to bring the Gospel to Indonesia I volunteered for the job.”
Discussing various aspects of the ever-changing church, Father Baudhuin voiced several strong opinions. The opening remark was prompted by a question asked if there was still a need for missionaries abroad. Father Baudhuin explained that many peoples of the world were not raised in the Judaic culture and there are not presently enough missionaries to reach them.
As for changes in the ritual of the Mass Father Baudhuin recognizes it as a wise move on the part of the church to adapt to the culture of the people it serves.
Giving an example of the importance of adaptation Father explained how it was necessary to incorporate some of the traditions of his Chinese parish into the mass in order for it to be more meaningful. “In a neighboring parish the natives set new words to their drinking songs and used them throughout the mass. If you consider the mass a meal and a joyous occasion then the songs are very appropriate.”
When asked if missionary priests consider themselves progressive, having had folk masses long before they were ever heard of in the states, Father Baudhuin replied “We are progressive but it is the result of necessity.”
He went on to explain how little meaning the traditional Latin mass had for a recently civilized people.
Father Baudhuin expressed the view that he is not too alarmed at the dissent in the modern church as he feels it is needed to purify the church and bring it down to the essentials of the faith. “If there was never any criticism in the church there wouldn’t be any change for the good of the people’s needs,” Father declared.
Although he has spent less than two years in the United States during the past 19 the amiable priest is well informed on current world affairs and trends. He said he was aware of Watergate when he was in Taiwan but said he didn’t realize how serious it was until he returned to the states.
Not wanting to become embroiled in a political conversation Father Baudhuin was reluctant to express his views on the present political scandal. He did state that this crisis in the American government is making a strong impression on those in the outside world.
“The very fact that United States citizens are allowed to speak out so freely about their government impresses foreigners how strong the democracy is here in the United States,” the priest explained. “Those people (the Taiwanese) are use to the workings of kings, emperors and dictators and they were awed by the democratic freedoms that exist here.”
Father Baudhuin went on to say that it seems odd to the Nationalists that a government that flourishes on freedom of the press, speech and religion would openly recognize a nation that allows none of these freedoms. He implied that many of Taiwan’s citizens felt slighted by the president’s recognition of Red China. But he posed the question “What exactly is meant by recognition?”
He said many in Taiwan believe China is seeking the friendship of the US to use as a threat against Russia in case of war. American recognition of Red China appears to many overseas as proof that U.S. loyalties would lie with China. He did emphasize that that was speculation of those abroad.
Father Baudhuin sees dissent in government as similar to that in the church, “People must be able to distinguish between the presidency and the president.” He explained that he hopes no harm comes to the office as it will endure long after a particular man is gone.
Similarily he had this to say about the Roman Catholic church: “If the people don’t bring their problems to the priests they will never know that the parishioners aren’t fulfilled and satisfied with the church.”
Father Baudhuin reemphasized that the office of the president, like the structure of the church, will endure into the future while those who administer in these positions will be here for a short while.
In closing Father Baudhuin said he was looking forward to his new mission even though he knows there will be many trials.
When asked about getting homesick the good humored priest only smiled and said he missed the states most when there was thunder and lightning. As if to answer my puzzled look he went on and explained that China has very little thunder and lightning storms as compared to the abundance of them in this area.
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
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