Caozhou diocese
The diocese of Caozhou ( Heze , Latin: Dioecesis Zaoceuvensis ), located in the People's Republic of China , was founded on November 12, 1934 as the Apostolic Vicariate of Tsaochowfu and raised to a diocese on April 11, 1946 under the name of Tsaochow .
The diocese, which belongs to the ecclesiastical province of Jinan, is half the size of Albania with an area of 13,000 km² and is located in eastern China in the province of Shandong on the border with Henan . The city of Heze is on the railway line that connects Hong Kong with Beijing.
In 1950 the diocese numbered 74,013 Catholics, which represented 1.9% of the population in this region. With 12 diocesan priests, 37 religious priests and 49 nuns, it was a mission area of the Divine Word Missionaries , which includes the Vicars Apostolic and the first bishop , the from Bottrop originating Franz Hoowaarts SVD († 24. March 1954 ) presented. Bishop Joseph Wang Dian Duo , who has been in office since 1996, died on July 27, 2004 in Jinan .
At present (July 2004) there are 3 priests, 5 seminarians and 6 nuns in the diocese. Of the approximately 8 million inhabitants, 20,000 are Catholics.
All 30 churches in the diocese were destroyed in the early 1980s, including the large and powerful cathedral known throughout China. The cathedral, which was rebuilt and consecrated in 2001 , is the only church in the diocese to this day.
Web links
http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dtsao.html