HONG KONG (SE): For the Diocesan Year of Youth, the deaneries of the Church in Hong Kong invited young people to come together and take part in Mission Sunday activities on October 21 and to help proclaim the Good News to others.
 
In his Message for World Mission Day 2018 titled, Together with young people, let us bring the gospel to all, Pope Francis encouraged young people to look into their mission. He also told them that, the Synod of Bishops, held in Rome this past October, the month of the missions, was meant to offer the young people an opportunity to understand more fully what the Lord Jesus wants to say to them.
 
The Central Kowloon Deanery, with the support of the youth pastoral groups and other young people from the Mother of Good Counsel Parish, San Po Kong, held a programme showing the relationship between different cultures and faith on October 21.
 
During the event, missionaries from Vietnam, Poland, Italy and the Philippines, shared about the situations of the Church in their home countries and introduced native games, dances, foods and handicrafts. 
 
Four missionaries from the Hong Kong Catholic Lay Missionary Association also shared their overseas experiences.
 
The Southwest Kowloon Deanery, organised a mission tour to eight parishes with around 50 young people taking part. It kicked off with a prayer led by Father Francis Tam Kam-wing. Participants were then required to visit two churches assigned by random out of the eight, learn about their characteristics and ministries, and then move on to other tasks, such as giving gifts to passers-by and saying, “God bless you.” 
 
The tour ended at St. Teresa’s parish, Prince Edward Road, where a band, known as the Corner Stone made up of Catholic young people, was invited to stage a show. At the end of the concert, Father Altamirano Ortega of the deanery, imparted a blessing after he thanked the young people for their support and encouraged them to go on serving the Church.
 
In the Northeast New Territories Deanery, a bike tour was organised for participants to reach out to the crowd from their parishes. A total of 350 cyclists set off from Immaculate Heart of Mary parish, Tai Po and St. Francis parish, Ma On Shan. They gave away leaflets and shared about their faith to passers-by. The cyclists then gathered at St. Alfred’s, Tai Wai, and joined an evening Mass celebrated by vicar general, Father Peter Choy Wai-man.
 
One participant, Lau Kwok-tong, told the Kung Kao Po that he felt a bit embarrassed at first giving away leaflets and talking about the faith. However, he said that with the encouragement of teammates he later felt more motivated, more so as they sang hymns together.
 
On October 7, two weeks before the Mission Sunday, young people and secondary students of the Southwest New Territories Deanery staged a carnival at Lai King Catholic Secondary School in which they made use of music and booth games as ways to evangelise their peers.