The Final Days…

In a day or so I will be heading back to Toronto to take up my new assignment. I cannot believe that almost a year has gone by living in Hong Kong. It has been quite an adventure and one that I am sort of sad that it is almost over. I thought I was just getting the hang of it saying the Mass in Cantonese and studying the Chinese characters. There is a lot more to learn and I hope I will have the opportunity to continue to study the language when I am back in Canada. Still, it will not be the same or as intensive but I hope I can maintain it in one form or the other at the parish and wherever the next assignments take me.

The year in Hong Kong has been filled with many graces and opportunities to visit different parts of the city, and also to travel to China, Macau and New Caledonia. Each place has its uniqueness, differences and cultural nuances. Also, the amazing diversity of people and the work they do in each part of their respective country. Of course most of my time was in Hong Kong and it has been quite an experience in living in such a vibrant city. The city has changed quite a bit since when I first got to know it as a child and my last visit in 2001. I have enjoyed studying at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and helping out at the neighbourhood parish, Mother of Christ Church, and also the opportunity to do some high school teaching at Our Lady’s College.

Of course there were lots of people who supported this initiative and I am truly grateful for it. I would like to especially thank the Basilians who decided to send me to Hong Kong to improve my Cantonese, and the Knights of Columbus for their financial support. I especially would like to say thank you to the Little Sisters of the Poor for hosting me at St. Joseph’s Home for the Aged. It definitely has been a worthwhile experience living at the home in Sheung Shui. Also, to have the opportunity in getting to know the work the Sisters do day in and day out, as well as all the seniors in the home.

Hospice and palliative care can be quite daunting and challenging because of the sickness and suffering. Yet, the Sisters, staff, and volunteers give tremendous and heroic witness to the importance of looking after the elderly. The Culture of Life goes from beginning to the end and as stated by Pope John Paul II the emphasis on wanting to “live life to the end” is fundamental to human existence. The residents have been very supportive since my arrival and what I came here to do. One of the main things was looking out for the young priest and making sure he stayed out of trouble. A few of them have now gone to their eternal reward and I hope they are interceding for us in heaven.

The opportunity to study in Hong Kong for the year I hope is not only once in a lifetime experience. I pray that one day I will be able to go back and study more or even the possibility of working in the city. There are many possibilities of different kinds of ministries that can be done and of course there is a need to spread the Good News. Hopefully, soon the borders next door will be open and where faith can be practiced freely. It will be quite an experience to work in China.

As you might have guess this is the last blog entry. Thank you to all of you the readers of the blog for clicking on this link periodically and to check out what was going on in the Far East with a young Basilian priest stationed there. I hope the entries were interesting and not boring. Of course there were the mundane stuff and long periods of absence of not entering or putting anything on the blog. You will have to excuse my sometimes lack of work ethic in that department. I hope overall the blog was enjoyable and that I was able to convey somewhat of my year of experience with oversea studies. I would also like to express my gratitude for all of your prayers and support. I am sure this particular journey would not have been possible without the spiritual efforts of many people. May almighty God bless all of you.

Fr. Andrew

Musings

Here are a few things that I have been musing about:

1) This past week I have been going to a few farewell dinners invited by those that I have gotten to know in Hong Kong during the year. The year has gone by quickly and I cannot believe that in five days I will be heading back to Canada. I wish I could stay for another year or more and a principal even offered me a job to teach chemistry at a local Catholic school. Tempting offer but there is this vow of obedience issue.

2) I have not started to pack yet, but thinking when I should start and trying to finish a homily for tomorrow's Sunday Masses. I have to preach one in English and the other in Cantonese. Translation is always fun going back and forth from one language to another. Speaking of translation, there have been some significant events that have happened throughout the English speaking world this past week. You know that MJ has transcended culture and language when the residents at my table know his music and dance moves quite well.

3) Yesterday, there was a typhoon alert, thankfully it missed Hong Kong. The typhoon season has started and I can still remember when I first arrived in Hong Kong last year when there were a few typhoons that hit Hong Kong in August.

4) Grandma has settled quite well in the residence. She likes to play Mahjohng but the only problem is finding three other players and for some of the residents to stay awake when playing. The doctors have examined her and she is in relatively good health for 95 years of age. A little bit forgetful but still very aware of her surroundings. She goes to Mass daily at the chapel and yesterday mentioned to me before lunch that it was nice to see me up there being an altar server.

5) Lastly I think I have solved most of the Sisters computer problems. Being the resident IT person was quite interesting. One thing that they were quite happy about was when I showed them how you can merge excel files into a letter format. Now they just have to do some data entry of various names and addresses.

Chinese Theology

Besides studying the Chinese language during this past year, once in a while I have been able to dwell a little bit in seeing how theology is being taught and understood in the Chinese tradition. Of course due to certain events throughout the centuries Christian theology is not in the forefront at various higher learning institutions in China. Though there a few universities that actually have a Religious Study department and then even fewer that have a focus on Christianity.

I have always been fascinated and interested since taking philosophy (heavy on the Greek side) for the M.Div requirements how would Chinese philosophy and culture be understood from the Christian perspective? Christianity and China has had a long and tumultuous history. Of course there have been some high points of Chinese-Christian interactions. The Jesuits (Matteo Ricci) who came during the 16th century and introduced Christianity to the Imperial Court. Though it is not until the last quarter of the 20 century that there have been increase scholarly work in China with regards to Christianity. A theological journal from the Hong Kong seminary that I was reading recently had an article about Patristic Studies in Contemporary China. It pointed out that the translation into Chinese of the Alexandrian fathers' writings is concerned, some valuable work has already been done, but more needs to be done in the future.

Further the author pointed out: "Even if Origenian studies in the Chinese academic circles are still in their early stage, they are felt as an important research field, not least because they offer a paradigmatic model of assimilation of culture within Christianity. Chinese Christian scholars are eager to show how Origen answered the crucial question of the relationship between Christianity and local culture as a possible source of inspiration for their attempt to develop a Sino-Christian theology." Finally, the article ends off with: "The theology of the fathers and in particular the theological language of the oriental fathers of the Alexandrian, Antiochene, and Cappadocian schools is meaningful and suited to the Chinese mind, which is more intuitive and open to symbolism than rational." It is quite fascinating reading the article and so I wonder how would St. Basil a Cappadocian father fit into this theological paradigm?

Tour Guide and Ocean Park

On Thursday I had the opportunity to play tour guide. One of the Sisters' nephew came for a visit to the home and so I was asked if I could show him around Hong Kong. He is from Detroit and an English teacher in China. The places we visited were mainly on Lantau Island. We were able to see the big Buddha statue and visit the local Buddha monastery there. In the afternoon we went to Tai O to see the fishing village and then hopped onto a ferry in Mui Wo to go to the Hong Kong Island and visit the Peak and also tour the markets. It was a very hot and sunny day and thankfully it did not rain.


This past Saturday I had the opportunity to go to Ocean Park. Ocean Park is one of two amusement parks in Hong Kong, the other being Disneyland. The last time I visited Ocean Park was twenty years ago. So, things have changed a bit since I was there as a child. The park consists of amusement park rides, but also various displays of marine life, birds, and pandas. We spent the whole day there touring the various sites and then met up with some other friends to go to the "American Restaurant" for dinner. The name is a little bit deceiving because it does not serve Western food rather it specializes in Beijing Cuisine. The reason for the name was that when it opened in the 1940's it was trying to attract American sailors visiting Hong Kong as a port of call. One of the most famous dish there is the Peking Duck. It was quite delicious and a nice way to end off the day.

Corpus Christi

Yesterday, was the feast day of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ or commonly known as Corpus Christi. The Sisters at the home organized a Corpus Christi procession. Since I was the youngest priest they asked if I would carry the monstrance throughout the procession. I should have realized why the older Fathers respectfully decline the position. Hong Kong's weather on this particular Sunday in June was a balmy 31 degrees Celsius and close to 100% humidity. I had an alb on with a cope and the humeral veil to carry the monstrance. Let's just say that I was glad when we were in the air conditioning chapel and hall but not when were outside.

The procession was quite a display of Catholic tradition with the cross bearer leading the procession, followed by the residents and the Sisters with volunteers pushing the wheelchairs, then the thurifer, priests, eight flower girls, four torch bearers, and six people holding the processional canopy. What was quite impressive was the processional canopy. The canopy could shrink width wise so that the canopy and the person underneath the canopy could fit through the doors. As well some of the Associates of Jeanne Jugan did quite a flower display for one of the stations where the Corpus Christi procession stopped.

The procession reminded me the one in Montreal where I was able to participate in 2003 before I left for my novitiate. It is rarer and rarer to see the procession and of course even in Hong Kong were the Catholic population is small there were various onlookers to see what was going. The Feast of Corpus Christi is a good reminder of the wonderful gift of the Eucharist and its implication for our daily nourishment by God's love in given his Son, Jesus Christ, to and for us. The feast underscores the grand desire on the part of Jesus to remain with us even after his death to be the life-giving presence that we count on.

Scriptural Readings

To facilitate a better understanding of the Mass various books have been published by the Hong Kong diocese. All the Mass readings for the entire calendar year are contained in these books. They are colour coded depending on the season. Hence, the picture above is a book containing the readings for ordinary time weekday volume two from the 9th week to the 16th week.

Some readers of the blog have wondered how a typical scriptural passage looks like in Chinese. Just recently this was a passage I was working on for a Mass. Thankfully it was one of the shorter ones. Sometimes when they are bit long it takes a while to make sure I am pronouncing each of the characters correctly.

那時候，有一位經師聽見了耶穌與撒杜塞人辯論，覺得耶穌對他們回答得好，便上前來，問他說：「一切誡命中，那一條是第一條呢？」耶穌回答說：「第一條是：『以色列！你要聽！上主我們的天主是唯一的天主。你應當全心、全靈、全意、全力愛上主，你的天主。』第二條是：『你應當愛近人如你自己。』再沒有別的誡命比這兩條更大的了。」那經師對耶穌說：「不錯！師傅說的實在對：他是唯一的，除他以外，再沒有別的：應以全心、全意、全力愛他，並愛近人如自己，遠超過一切全燔祭和犧牲。」耶穌見他回答的明智，便對他說：「你離天主的國不遠了。」從此，沒有人敢再問他。

Does anybody want to guess which scriptural reading this is from? Just a hint that this passage is from one of the gospels and was recently assigned for one of the weekday Masses.

Send Off

No it is not another funeral. Yesterday, in the evening two of the Sisters, a relative of one of the Sisters, and myself went to the airport to send my aunt and another Sister off to Noumea. It was a nice opportunity to see my aunt one last time before she headed back to the home in New Caledonia. Since the departure was not until midnight we stayed at the check-in counter side until eleven. I even got a chance to send a e-mail via the cell phone to the Sisters in Noumea letting them know the Sisters were just about to depart for their flight and included a picture with it. It is amazing what you can do with technology.