By Frank Lee
Many people, myself included, had been suspecting that Prof. José Eugenio Borao, a Spaniard who teaches Spanish in our department, was a priest. It’s true that he was never caught praying or preaching in class. But somehow people constantly gossiped that he was a priest, for he seemed to be very involved in some sort of religious group. Or was it a secret society? No, José explained, “I am a member of Opus Dei, but don’t call me priest!” Opus Dei (the work of God, in Latin) is not a sect, order, or any sort of brotherhood. It is a Catholic institution different from all of these. And though people quite freely associate its members with priests or monks, they aren’t. Actually, they’re a group of laymen who according to José dedicate themselves to their work, and their work deals with God. José insisted on distinguishing between members of his group and common clergymen. He explained that, with the love of God as their foundation, they’re actually quite involved in secular affairs, which means they put great emphasis on their own professional careers as well as personal goals. And different from most priests and monks, they can get married. José related that Opus Dei members are divided into two groups: numeraries and supernumeraries. The latter can marry while the former cannot. Members are free to decide upon either group. José chose to become a numerario at the age of 20, while he was still a university student. When asked for the reason, he paused and said, “I felt then that God was asking me to do it. God is love to me, and I believe everybody puts their love into something: people, power, or money. Any of these is o.k., but you must put your love somewhere. You can’t live without love.” Opus Dei is also one of the reasons for him to come to Taiwan. In 1989, four years after a branch of Opus Dei was established here, José volunteered to come to help. Almost at the same time Navarra University offered him a chance to teach as a visiting professor at Tamkang University for a year. José had been interested in the history of Spanish activities in Far East, and so he accepted the offer and flew to Taiwan. In the first year he taught Latin American Culture in the graduate institute of Latin American Studies at Tamkang. The following year he came to teach in our department, where he remains. José has had a quite painful experience learning Chinese. In the beginning he studied for about one year at the Mandarin Daily News (國語日報), which turned out to be a catastrophe. In the whole Chinese-speaking environment he felt pretty awkward compared with his classmates, who were Asians from Korea, Japan, and Indonesia, and who, he said, “knew something about Chinese, while I knew nothing at all.” Such torture lasted for a year till he finally dropped out and turned to study at Taiwan Normal University. This time he felt more at ease, for in the textbooks Chinese sentences were followed by English explanations. He was ecstatic. But just as he thought everything was going fine, he found that once again he was legging behind his classmates. The situation went from bad to worse. He was now rather helpless in a class he claimed “consisted mainly of overseas Chinese who were back to study Chinese and who actually knew Chinese, more or less, while I was like a zero and I had to work very hard.” All the same, through these frustrations and embarrassments José persisted. Now he feels a lot more comfortable with Chinese. Recently he even had an article published in a Chinese newspaper. “Passion is very important,” he said. “I did many things with passion, so I can concentrate on them and keep going, without caring too much about what other people might say.” When asked whether he would stay or leave after his retirement, José was a bit uncertain. “It’s a question that I never ask myself. But since things are always changing, it’s hard to say… . At least, I don’t have any plans for leaving.” After having lived more than ten years in Taiwan, José has liked it very much. He has traveled much around Taiwan, not only for his research, but also for the “beautiful natural as well as human landscapes.” Actually, he might be more familiar with Taiwan than any of us are! #people a
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The Taida Student Journal has been active since 1995 with an ever-changing roster of student journalists at NTU. Click the above link to read about the authors Archives
May 2024
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