Anthony Xu Jiwei has been ordained Bishop of Taizhou, having received both papal mandate and government recognition.

His ordination took place at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral at Taizhou city on July 10, attended by 500 people. It was conducted by Bishop Joseph Li Mingshu of Qingdao with Bishops Joseph Zhao Fengchang of Liaocheng, Joseph Xu Honggen of Suzhou and Joseph Han Yingjin of Sanyuan, who are all in communion with the pope.

The open community now has one bishop, four priests, eight nuns and three deacons.

Bishop Xu becomes only the second bishop of this diocese in Zhejiang province, filling a position that has remained vacant since Bishop Joseph Hou Jo-shan, one of China’s first ever native bishops, died in 1962.

Several Catholics and priests who attended the ceremony expressed the hope that the new bishop would work to develop the Church.

“The diocese has 25 churches and mission points, but only about 3,500 regular churchgoers,” one said. "Priority should be given to spreading the Gospel."

“Historical reasons have hindered development here,” said Bishop Xu, who was the diocese administrator for 11 years before his ordination. “The cathedral, bishop’s house and other church properties were confiscated in the late 1940s and for a long time there was no clergy; they had to be brought in from other dioceses.”

The prelate told ucanews.com that the local Church is still in a challenging situation and asked for support and prayers.

Born in 1935, Bishop Xu’s vocation path was interrupted when he was jailed for five years, then sent to a reform-through-labor program from 1960. After his sentence was revoked in 1985, he refreshed his seminary studies and became a priest in the same year.

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