Our Lady of the Assumption of Dawu - Hope and encounter paiwan in the new temple

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The parish of Dawu is dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption. In July 2026 he opened a new temple after more than five years of work. The celebration gathered Catholic prayer, Paiwan language singing and gestures created with materials and tools recognizable to the local community.

The first temple and an educational work

The National Cultural Memory identifies Father August Hensch as a builder of the first church of Dawu, consecrated and open in 1957. The set included residence, community rooms, dining room, student bedrooms and services for the training centre.

Education was of considerable weight. Young people from mountain areas could be accommodated and studied there; diocesan sources recall systems of help to continue their training. The ancient church was therefore simultaneously a liturgical place and part of a wider social network.

Farewell of the old building

In September 2020, the former church and the training centre were dismantled to prepare a complex that would meet current needs. The material disappearance makes especially valuable the photographs and testimonies preserved in cultural archives and Catholic publications.

Rebuilding does not erase memory. The history of the first building, of those who studied or lived there and of the faithful who held it must accompany the new temple. A community does not start again simply because they change their walls.

The new temple of 2026

The diocese officially announced the opening for the 4 July 2026. The news of indigenous television documents a celebration with over a thousand participants after more than five years of works.

The inaugural gesture replaced the conventional tape with a treadmill and the scissors with size tools. During the Mass it was sung in Paiwan language; the architecture incorporated elements of local culture and the image of the Virgin received traditional Paiwan dress.

These data come from a contemporary indigenous source. However, it is not for an outside page to decide the precise meaning of each motive. This explanation belongs to artists, responsible and faithful Paiwan who participated in the project.

The Assumption: body, hope and dignity

The Church welcomes that Mary, at the end of her earthly life, was brought in body and soul to the glory of God. It is not about him ascending by his own power as Christ, but a free action of God in the Mother of Jesus.

The Second Vatican Council presents Mary glorified as an image of the future Church and a sign of certain hope and comfort for the pilgrim people. The Assumption announces that death does not have the last word and that salvation reaches the whole person, also the body.

This faith requires respect for the specific bodies: those of the elderly, the sick, workers, women, children and persons discriminated against. It does not allow the present life to be despised in the name of heaven; it promotes the protection of human dignity while we wait for its fullness.

A parish that links seven communities

Dawu is the pastoral head of Dazhu, Xinhua, Shanghai, Nanxing, Senyong, Anshuo and Jialuoban. Five of these missions have Marian titles: two Immaculate, Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of the Rosary and Our Lady of Carmen.

The network crosses Paiwan communities and different municipalities in the southern Taitung corridor. The parish should not be understood as an isolated point on the map, but as a place from which an extensive human geography is accompanied.

Paiwan faith and culture

The new temple shows the will to celebrate faith with language, materials and forms close to the faithful. Christian inculturation is authentic when it does not use a culture as a decoration, but recognizes its members as subjects of ecclesial life.

The Marian image with paiwan clothing must be seen with that respect. It does not make Mary the exclusive property of a culture or unify the Paiwan people; it expresses the possibility of a community addressing the Mother of Jesus from its own history.

Verified location

La diócesis y GCatholic coinciden en la dirección de Bao’an Lane 2. La ficha cartográfica individual del templo sitúa el nuevo conjunto en 22.359225, 120.906199. The parish name, direction and satellite image converge in the same enclosure, so the marker is fixed there.

To visit

It is an active parish and a newly opened temple. It is appropriate to confirm hours by means of the published telephone, (089) 791-277. Permission should be requested before photographing people, celebrations, objects or Paiwan motifs and not publicly interpreting cultural elements without the voice of those who created them.

Prayer to Our Lady of the Assumption of Dawu

Mary raised to heaven, a sign of certain hope, accompanies Dawu and the paiwan communities of southern Taitung. Keep the memory of those who raised the first temple and bless those who have built the new one. Teach us to honor every body, every tongue and every people; support the families and lead them to the hope of resurrection in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sources consulted

• Diocese of Hualien: official call for the opening of July 4, 2026.
• Diocese of Hualien: parish, direction and pastoral network of Dawu.
• TITV, indigenous television: new temple, celebration and cultural presence paiwan.
• National Cultural Memory: first temple, community uses and disassembly of 2020.
• GCatholic: title, parish condition, jurisdiction, contact and missions.
• Catholic Weekly: memoria educativa y pastoral de Dawu.
• Holy See: Assumption as a certain hope and comfort.

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