The History of Sacred Heart of Jesus Hsinchu Church

Dec. 1953, purchase land at the current site of Ximen Street, Hsinchu City.

Apr. 1954, Fr. J. Brennan rent a private house in Zhon-shan Road and began to preach

Jun. 1954, the Bishop of Eugene Fahy, S.J invited the Sisters of the Carmelite Monastery from the United States to come to Taiwan. On Pentecost, eight Sisters entered the temporary convent at Ximen Street.

Jun. 1955, Fr. J. Balm and Fr.Tao Yagu rented a private house near the Ximen Street and began to preach in Minnan language. The Mass was held in the small chapel of the convent.

Jan. 6, 1958 Epiphany, the Sisters of the Carmelite Monastery moved to the new built convent of Zhongzheng Road. A month later, the location of the Church of Sacred Heart of Jesus was moved from Zhongshan Road to the current site of No. 99 Ximen Street, and was developed by Fr Albert Klaeser,S.J, and Fr J. Balm was assisted by the side.

1959~1965 Fr. J. Balm tried hard to get funds for the construction. Finally with the support and efforts of his mother and relatives in USA, he got enough help. When the church was about to be built, it did not get the consent of the provincial supervisor. This might be the will of God, and the work of building the church has temporarily stopped.

1970 in the long five-year wait, the supervisor of the Jesuits finally agreed to build the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Ximen Street. During these five years, the rites of the Church have changed dramatically. In 1969, Pope Paul VI according to the Vatican council II announced the new rules of rites and the rules of building the sanctuary, so the church conceived by Fr J. Balm also made a major change, from Western to Chinese, The church consists of three Octagonal Chinese style chapels, all connected to one another. The three chapels symbolize the Holy Trinity. The equipment inside the church, such as altars, seats, hanging lamps, offerings, etc., is oriented towards localization.

Jan. 1, 1971 there was a groundbreaking ceremony presided over by Archbishop Edward Cassidy, the papal representative.

Jun. 4, 1972 it was consecrated by bishop Bao-Jin, Tu, and dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Later on it was officially established as a Pilgrimage Sanctuary by Bishop John Lee.

Jun. 13, 2015 we celebrated our 60 years of missionary works and 43 years of new church building.

Jul. 30, 2017, the Jesuits (represented by the provincial Superior Fr. John Lee) handed over the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church to the Diocese of Hsinchu represented by Rt. Rev. Bishop John Lee. The Bishop during the same occasion, in turn entrusted the care of the Parish to the Consolata Missionaries (represented by their Provincial Superior Fr. Tamrat Dafar), appointing Fr. Mathews Odhiambo as Parish Priest and Fr. Eugenio Boatella as the Vice-Parish Priest with effect as from Aug. 2017.

Nov. 2, 2018, Rt. Rev. Bishop John Lee appointed Fr. Njuki Kirimi as the  Vice-Parish Priest of our church.

Dec. 18, 2018 Fr. Eugenio was assigned to be the spiritual Father of The Abbey of Our Lady of Zo-se Zhong-Li, and was effective on Jan 13, 2019 then in Sept. 2019 he went back to Spanish for further study.

Mar. 1, 2020, Rt. Rev. Bishop John Lee appointed Fr. Mathews Odhiambo as the convener of the vocational group of the Diocese of Hsinchu, at the same time appointed Fr. Njuki Kirimi as the Parish Priest and Fr. Gilberto Silva as Vice Parish Priest of the Church.