TAIPEI (UCAN) -- Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Chung An-zu of Taipei as the bishop of Chiayi in southwestern Taiwan.

The Holy See Press Office made the announcement on Jan. 24. Chiayi diocese, based 200 kilometers south of Taipei, has had no bishop since Bishop John Hung Shan-chuan, its former prelate, became Archbishop of Taipei last Nov. 25.

Bishop Chung, who is to be installed on March 1, told UCA News on Jan. 25 that since he was born in Yunlin county, which Chiayi diocese covers, he thinks the Catholics there will readily recognize and cooperate with him.

He also said evangelization is his first priority because Chiayi has few Catholics. The diocese, which covers Chiayi city as well as Chiayi and Yunlin counties, has 17,820 Catholics among its 1.58 million people. According to the Holy See Press Office, 41 priests and 81 Religious are serving there.

The need to spread the Gospel is urgent, but "Catholics and priests must be given good formation before they can do so," said Bishop Chung, 55.

Last year, Pope Benedict XVI declared a Pauline Year -- from June 28, 2008, to June 29, 2009 - to mark the saint's 2,000th birth anniversary. Since the Pauline Year starts this year, Bishop Chung noted, he will urge Catholics in Chiayi to learn about the missionary spirit of Saint Paul through Bible study.

Bishop Chung remarked that the year or so he served as Auxiliary Bishop of Taipei was "good training" for him, but "now as an ordinary," he has "to rely" even more "on God." He also said he will ask Archbishop Hung to share with him the latter's experiences in leading Chiayi diocese.

During the period Chiayi had no bishop, Father John Baptist Wu Chung-yuan of Chiayi, former secretary general of the Taipei-based Chinese Regional Bishops' Conference, was the diocesan administrator.

Liao Wen-tung, president of the Council of Lay Apostolate of Chiayi diocese, told UCA News on Jan. 25 that local Catholics are happy to hear about the new episcopal appointment since Bishop Chung is a native of Yunlin.

Liao observed that since Catholics in Chiayi are aging, he hopes the new bishop of Chiayi will make evangelizing young people a priority and "use different means to attract them to the Church."

However, the lay leader added, Bishop Chung's pastoral experience in metropolitan Taipei may not help much in Chiayi diocese's more rural situation because the lifestyle prevailing in each place is so different.

Bishop Chung was born on Aug. 7, 1952, and ordained a priest of neighboring Tainan diocese in 1981.

In 1992, he obtained a doctoral degree in moral theology in Rome, after which he taught in Taiwan Catholic Regional Seminary. In 1998, then-Bishop Joseph Cheng Tsai-fa of Tainan appointed him chancellor of Tainan diocese.

The bishops' conference in Taiwan made Father Chung seminary rector in 2000. Three years later, he returned to Tainan diocese and was made episcopal vicar to the Penghu Islands. Before he was named auxiliary bishop on Oct. 31, 2006, he was serving as chaplain of Fu Jen Catholic University in Taipei county.

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