TAIPEI (UCAN): Taiwan has granted citizenship to two missionaries from the United States of America, Father Alan Doyle and Sister Mary Paul Watts, in recognition of their contribution to society.
 
“I am a genuine Taiwanese,” 80-year-old Father Doyle said on July 9 as he received his identity card.
 
Father Doyle has lived in Taiwan for 53 years and worked in the area of the preservation and development of the Hoklo language, often referred to as Taiwanese, during his more then half a century on the island.
 
Father Doyle  also serves as the branch director in Taipei of the Maryknoll Language Service Centre.
 
Father Doyle has edited many textbooks and dictionaries with a view to teaching Hoklo to speakers of Mandarin, Korean, Vietnamese, Spanish and French.
 
The Maryknoll priest also set up a credit union to help farmers apply for low-interest loans and has helped young farmers in their job hunts.
 
The endowment of citizenship on Father Doyle was made possible by an amendment to the law allowing non-Taiwanese who have made special contributions to society to apply for citizenship without having to forfeit their original nationality.
 
Eighty-five-year-old Sister Watts, more commonly known in Taiwan as Sister Hua Shu-fang, is the founder and chairperson of the St. Martin De Porres Hospital in Chiayi. She received her citizenship on July 10 for her work in helping patients in remote areas suffering from various disabilities.
 
Sister Watts also founded two other medical facilities: the Hai-hsing Clinic in Chiayi County’s Meishan Township and the Chi-ming Clinic in Chiayi City.
 
She has devoted much of her life to patients in Chiayi and still works to raise funds for the hospital’s branch in Alishan and the Chung-Jen Junior College of Nursing, Health Sciences and Management.