Welcome to the China Bulletin - August 2014

Three New Bishops for Hong Kong

 John Cardinal Tong Hon, Bishop of Hong Kong 

John Cardinal Tong Hon announced at a gathering of priests and religious on July 11 that his tenure as bishop of Hong Kong has been extended for a further three years by Pope Francis and that the diocese is to receive three auxiliary bishops. 

Bishop-Elect Rev. Michael Yeung; Rev. Joseph Ha Chi-shing;  Rev. Stephen Lee Bun-sang

Monsignor Francia Andrea, from the Vatican Study Mission in Hong Kong, announced that Fr. Michael Yeung Ming-cheung, Fr. Joseph Ha Chi-sing and Fr. Stephen Lee Bun-sang have all been chosen as auxiliary bishops for the diocese. The Bishop-Elects will have their Episcopal Ordination on 30 August in Hong Kong. 

Hearty Congratulations and prayerful wishes to our new Bishops!

Claretians = "Servants of the Word"

The Claretian Missionaries are 'Servants of the Word'. It is our vocation. A word that fills us with joy as Pope Francisco says in his Apostolic Exhortation "The Joy of the Gospel" 

The Claretian Bible Team in Colminar Viejo [Spain]

A group of Claretians who are part of the Claretian Bible Team, along with some Claretian Publishers and Internet experts, have gathered in Colmenar Viejo (Spain) from 17 to 23 July under the theme 'Crossroads' . We came from Cameroon, Tanzania and Nigeria in Africa; Bangalore and Chennai in India; Philippines and China; Colombia and Central America, Barcelona, Madrid and Rome. 

The Claretian Bible Team during the session 

This 'Crossroads' have evaluated the projects and initiatives that are undertaken on every continent by the Claretian biblical and pastoral ministry. The meeting also looked into the projects and initiatives of eleven publishers across the glob of the Claretian Congregation in the biblical field. 

Diaconate and Priestly Ordinations

Fr. Huang Yu Tao, Rector of one of the seminaries in China tells us that in the next semester there will be 20 new seminarians. On 24 July, five candidates received the Ordination to Diaconate. 

During the Diaconate Ordination on 24 July 2014 

On the next day, on 25th, eight deacons were ordained priests in his diocese. The Claretians were in good relationship with the many of the Dioceses in the mainland, helping them to set up “Parish Libraries” in numerous parishes with the help of many generous benefactors and publishers from around the world. 

Ordination to Priesthood on 25 July 2014

Through our Parish Library projects, we focused on making the Church literature more accessible to the faithful.

Fr. Cyril Law [right] with Dn. Carlos Cheung, SDB

Deacon Cyril Law, a Hong Kong born Chinese was ordained Priest in the Diocese of Macau July. 

Cardinal Joseph Zen during the Priestly Ordination 

This is the first Ordination held in the diocese in the last 20 years! 

Hearty Congratulations, dear Fr. Cyril!

from the Publisher's Desk:

Chinese New Testament - crossing borders 

Ms. Winnie Wong, Our Chinese editor, was in France recently. Here she is Pictured with Regis Anouil, director of the news service of the Paris Foreign Mission Society

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Daily Gospel & Bible Diary 2015 

With the readership for the Chinese Daily Gospel in the Mainland and in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan increasing steadily year after year, this year we are printing 120,000 copies of the Daily Gospel 2015. 

We have also dispatched over 90,000 copies of the Bible Diary 2015 in Spanish to 33 destinations world-wide.  

Divine Leon

Ms. Divine Leon, of Claretian Publications, Macau undertakes the massive job of  monitoring and coordinating the entire print-job, customer contact and shipment to the destination countries. Thanks Divine!

Claretian Youth Ministry

Japan - Taiwan Claretian Youth Encounter 
Our missionaries from Japan and Taiwan organized a meeting of the Claretian Youth from these two countries from 25 to 27 July.

The language and culture are different, but they are united as children of God, in the Claretian family. The theme of the gathering was:  Lux Oriens 2014 - "Light of the East", following the invitation of Jesus to be "light to the nations".  The Events of the gathering hovered on the topic "Abide in Me". Our Youth Coordinator, Fr. Bobin Punnackapadavil from Taiwan shares about the event:

35 young people from Japan, Taipei and Changping gathered to strengthen their bonds under the theme “Abide in Me” based on the Gospel of John 15:1-15.  

Jesus’s invitation to become the Light of the world by abiding in Him 

as the Wine and the Branches was focused throughout the encounter with different activities.  We had Taize Prayer, held both in Chinese and Japanese; 

Talks about the life and problems of youth; 

Introducing Claretian congregation and its mission specially in Taiwan;

Talks on Reflexology by Fr. Josef Eugster and of course, enjoying the panoramic beauty of   Changping. 

This encounter really helped the Claretian youth to strengthen their bond and friendship.  This event would serve as a curtain-raiser for the upcoming Asian Claretian Youth Encounter 2015, to be held in the Philippines.  

Youth Ministry in Hong Kong

Youth group in Hong Kong, after a Youth Mass at St. Benedict Church, Shatin Wai 

Feast Of St. Benedict

John Cardinal Tong Hon presides over the Feast Day Mass 

On Sunday, 13 July, the Church of St. Benedict celebrated the feast of its Patron  saint: St. Benedict. John Cardinal Tong Hon presided over the concelebrated Holy Eucharist and joined the parish community in its celebrations. 

The feast day was an occasion of spiritual renewal for the faithful as Rev. Fr. Peter Choi, through his spiritual animation, lead the people into greater understanding of the Spirituality of St. Benedict.

The Cardinal and the priests with the members of the English Community of the Parish 

One of the two Claretians in Hong Kong, Fr. Jose Cherukara serves as the assistant pastor in this lively parish in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a territory of thousand square kilometres (Macau has only 29) with a population of about 8 million. There are about 350,000 Chinese Catholics and , over 125,000 overseas Catholics under the care of the dioceses of Hong Kong. Most of them are Filipinos, and there are also Koreans, Japanese, Indians, French and German to name a few, among practicing Catholics.

Frs. Jijo and Jose