Wednesday, July 01, 2015

Welcome to China Bulletin Blog - July 2015

Dr. "Paco" Carin! Congratulations !  

Fr. Paco Carin, the Delegate Superior has  obtained his Ph. D in Religious Studies from the Beijing Normal University. Fr. Paco defended his thesis in Chinese in the last week of June 2015.
It's 'selfie' time! While preparing for the photo session, Dr. Paco manages a selfie! 
 
Here they are! But can't trace him! Congratulations dear Dr. Fr. Paco

AEYG+CF 2015

Asia East Youth Gathering and Claretian Family 

In June 2013, Claretian Youth Directors from the four major organisms of the Claretian Missionaries namely East Asia, Indonesia-Timor Leste, Korea, and the Philippines, members of the Association of Claretians in Asia Eastern Conference (ASCLA-E) gathered together in Quezon City, Philippines to talk about their plans and programs for the youth of their different organisms and to decide on how to re-echo the World Youth Day 2013 for the youth of Asia.

At the end of the meeting, after much discussion and planning, the youth directors decided to hold and celebrate on August 3 to 8, 2015 in Quezon City, Philippines the first Asia East Youth Gathering (AEYG) together with the Claretian Family (CF) in the format of the WYDs held in Madrid and Rio de Janeiro. The gathering therefore is now known as AEYG 2015 + CF.
The Logo of the AEYG+CF 2015

There is a 11 member-strong delegation from Hong Kong -China participating in the event. For the past couple of months the participants were through some physical and spiritual preparations for the event.
Some of the participants for the AEYG 2015 from St. Benedict Parish, Shatin Wai 

Angels on your way ...

Many time over the past years I have heard Fr. Alberto mentioning about an Indian friend in Dubai who helps him to do the language correction and proof reading of our English Bible. Almost everyday Alberto receives a couple of pages of work - giving suggestions and stylistic corrections for better presentation of the text in each page of the Bible. Interestingly, they had never met each other and this friend would never a take any remuneration for his work either!
Mr. Adolph Dias with Fr. Alberto in Dubai 
On his return from Rome last month, Fr. Alberto had a few hours of stop over in Dubai and and there they met for the first time: Mr. Adolph Dias, a Chemist by profession, waited for him, surprised him with gifts and took him for a short walk! Alberto says, these are 'angels', God keeps on our way! 

News from the Claretian Publications

Translation Project of the Old Testament begins

We have begun one of our dream projects of translating the Old Testament into modern Chinese. While the Biblical Scholars do their scholarly work, we also make use of the technical assistance for efficiency in the work. Fr. Huang Yu Tao -a great friend and collaborator for the last nine years and Mr. Tony Hu spend time with Fr. Jijo in presenting the "Paratext", the software that helps in the translation of scriptures.
Fr. Huang Yu Tao, Fr. Jijo and Mr. Tony Hu 
Our New Titles 

The Cover of the English title - A Year with Pope Francis and the Family 
We have just published the English and Chinese version of "A Year with Pope Francis and the Family". The title edited by Fr. Alberto, compiling Pope Francis' catechesis on family during his regular Wednesday audience, is handy material for daily meditations.
The Cover of the Chinese Edition

The Message

A new edition of the Bible in English is entitled: "The Message" . It is a translation of the Bible into English using contemporary language. It is a delight to read the Word of God in a language updated with current idioms but always respecting the original context. We are expecting a similar version in Castilian.
 
“Laudato si’
“Laudato si’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord”. Was there another Encyclical ever before in the history that had grabbed the world’s imagination and media attention? Laudato si’ – the encyclical titled after words of St Francis of Assisi  in his Canticle of the Creatures - urges the world to embark upon a revolutionary ethical rethink and change of heart in its relationship with the planet earth. “We are not God. The earth was here before us and it has been given to us.”

With in three days of the releasing of the papal encyclical in Rome, we have brought out the printed version for the benefit of the English readers of Macau and Hong Kong.

Preaching retreats in the Mainland

Fr. Peter Chao, CMF  has been touring different parts of China, giving retreats and courses to priests, nuns and lay leaders. He was also conducting sessions in the Major Seminary in Beijing.

Fr. Peter Chao, with some of his students 

New Ordinations in Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Catholic Church has been blessed with a couple of ordinations to priesthood and diaconate  in the month of June.

Reverend Carlos Cheung Sum-yui, of the Salesians of Don Bosco, was ordained a priest by John Cardinal Tong Hon, the bishop of Hong Kong, on June 20 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Caine Road.
Cardinal John Tong Hon, anointing the hands of the newly ordained
Joseph Cardinal Zen Ze-kiun, former Bishop of Hong Kong, Auxiliary Bishop Stephen Li Bun-sang and Auxiliary Bishop Michael Yeung Ming-cheung, together with over 80 priests including many Salesian confrères from the Philippines and Hong Kong concelebrated the ordination Mass, which was attended by the family and a large number of friends of the newly-ordained.
Fr. Carlos Cheung gifting his mother the towel with which Anointing Oil was wiped 
Presenting the towel with which his anointed hands were covered to his mother, the new priest said this was his gift to her who would continue to support him through her prayers. Thanking the congregation for their prayers and love Father Cheung said that his vocation is to become another Don Bosco.  
Fr. Carlos Cheung and the concelebrants after the First Mass in St. Benedict Church 
On June 21, the new priest celebrated his first Mass at a packed St. Benedict Church, Shatin, where he served as a deacon for over a year. Concelebrating were Cardinal Zen and 16 priests.

At the beginning of the Mass, Father Cheung quoted the mother of St. Don Bosco, Venerable Margherita Occhiena, who famously said, “You are now a priest; you will be saying Mass; so from henceforth you will be closer to Jesus. Remember that to begin to celebrate Mass means also to begin to suffer… little by little you will see that what your mother has told you is the truth.”

He requested the congregation’s continued prayers for him in his mission among the youth and in his ministry as a priest.

In his homily, Cardinal Zen told Father Cheung that he wished to share his episcopal motto with him: Ipsi cura est—“Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you” (1 Peter 5:7). The gospel of the day was had the same theme too: Jesus calming the turbulent sea!

Reverend Cheung was born in Macau in 1983 to a family which originally came from Hainan. He attended schools run by the La Salle Brothers in Hong Kong and was baptised at St. Margaret’s Church, Happy Valley, during his third year in primary school. He served as an altar boy and was also member of various youth associations as well as of Focolare Movement.

Four Permanent Deacons for the Diocese of Hong Kong 
Newly Ordained Permanent Deacons: Deacon Alex Kwok Chi-keung, Deacon Peter Wong King-sing, Deacon Anthony Sin Yiu-fat, and Deacon Charles Chu Nien-tsu
Four new permanent deacons were ordained for the diocese of Hong Kong on June 13, 3.00pm at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Caine Road  by John Cardinal Tong Hon, the bishop of Hong Kong.

Deacon Charles Chu Nien-tsu graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1977 with a degree in electronics and now he is a retired engineer. 

After joining the Legion of Mary and the Catholic Lay Prison Evangelical Organisation he presented himself as a candidate for the permanent diaconate. He is a pastoral worker at the Caritas Medical Centre, Cheung Sha Wan. 

Deacon Alex Kwok Chi-keung obtained a Bachelor of Social Sciences degree from Hong Kong University in 1976 and taught Ethics and Religious Studies at La Salle College and Shung Tak Catholic English College for 39 years.He and his wife Erminia Ho are blessed with three sons and a daughter. 

Deacon Anthony Sin Yiu-fat is the director of news and research section of a local Chinese news agency. He has worked as a financial reporter in various newspapers and with radio stations as well as in securities and financial firms. He obtained a Bachelor of Religious Sciences degree from the Holy Spirit Seminary College of Theology and Philosophy in 2006. 

Deacon Peter Wong King-sing served as the chairperson of the parish council of Mother of Good Counsel parish, San Po Kong, as well as St. Vincent’s parish, Hang Hau. 

In 2011 he obtained his degree in Bachelor of Theology. He did his pastoral training at St. Joseph’s parish, Fanling, and Ss. Cosmas and Damian parish, Tsuen Wan.

Our Visitors...

The EAD Council Visit
From the left:  Jose, Takanobu, Alberto, Arturo Morales, Ezakias and Francisco Carin 
The Superior and Council members of the East Asia Delegation of the Claretians were in Macau and Hong Kong for their council meeting in the second week of June. Their visit was of particular significance as the missionaries are in the process of strengthening their missionary presence in the region.

Fr. Ulagaraja, CMF 

Fr. Ulagaraja from the Province of Chennai, India was in Hong Kong  for a month in June, for a paper presentation and seminar in the Chinese University of Hong Kong as part of his Ph. D. programme on Cultural Studies. For us it was a time of reunion,  about 20 years after our seminary days in Bangalore!
A Japanese dinner with Fr. Ezakias and Jessica 
In the History Museum with Sr. Anitha and Fr. Ezakias 
 Science Museum, Tsim Sha Tsui 

An Indian lunch on the Peak! 

Broken Nepal ...

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake rocked Nepal on April 25 and just under two weeks a second, magnitude 7.4 tremor struck the country leaving over 9,000 people dead and thousands more injured and devastated.  

Claretian Missionaries in India responded to the crises through the disaster management services by one of its social welfare projects - namely the "Project Vision". Following the first earthquake, two days after the first of many subsequent aftershocks, social workers from The Project Vision in Bangalore, India, began working among the thousands of victims, addressing the colossal humanitarian crisis. 
Coverage given in the Sunday Examiner - the Catholic News paper in Hong Kong 
The organisation formed a subsidiary group under the banner, Bangalore Cares for Nepal, to handle disaster management and relief operations in the affected areas.  Claretian Missionaries in Macau and Hong Kong, together with their friends and collaborators have raised a small charity fund to assist the rehabilitation projects of Fr. George Kannanthanam and his Project Vision team. 
Fr. Jojo (left) and Fr. Jaison, CMF (third from the right)
with some of the affected families  in Nepal 
Fr. Jojo Ancheril during his month-long vacation in India also took time to visit the affected areas in Nepal. The short video "Broken Nepal" by Mr. Shaison Antony is an account of the visit of Fr. Jojo and his friends to these sites of devastation. 

Che Guevara - A Prophet?!!

Things that you never expect do come true in this life. Recently, some media reports came up with this interesting anecdote. When the relations between the United States and Cuba started to thaw, the European Union (EU) sent a delegation to Cuba. Many of the members of the EU already had good relations with the Havana regime anyway.

The delegation met with Raul Castro and the 30-minute meeting took two hours. Toward the end of the meeting, Raul told the delegation of a conversation in the beginning of the 1960s between him, his brother Fidel and Ernesto Che Guevara. Raul had asked Che something like, “When will these Americans understand that we will do them no harm and restore their relationship with us?” Che replied, “When a black man becomes American president or an Argentine goes to the Vatican as the Pope,” apparently meaning “never.”

Wow! If  true, simply amazing! What a visionary Che was!!