HONG KONG (SE): “The majority of people in Hong Kong prisons eventually are offered the grace of walking through the holy door as an experience of joy after a long sorrow,” Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing told a gathering of people who work in the prison ministry held at the cathedral on August 28.

The auxiliary bishop of Hong Kong added that before they get the chance to walk through the big gate to freedom, they must accept the consequences of their crimes.

HONG KONG (AsiaNews): “The life of a priest has to be interesting. A good priest is someone who puts himself aside and approaches others. To revive vocations, this approach needs to be done with the youth,” Father Ignatius Lo King-ip said on August 20 after being ordained a priest by John Cardinal Tong Hon at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

HONG KONG (SE): A lengthy reflection published under the name of the bishop of Hong Kong, John Cardinal Tong Hon, on the ongoing negotiations between the Chinese government and representatives of the Vatican, has sparked a wide variety of responses, particularly from inside China.

Published in English in the Sunday Examiner and Chinese in the Kung Kao Po on August 7, the letter has elicited comments describing it as over-optimistic, balanced and inspiring, and plain unrealistic.

HONG KONG (SE): Visitors to the Hong Kong Book Fair this year were treated to a brief review of the history of the Church in Hong Kong through a photography exhibition marking the 175th anniversary of the foundation of the diocese which was on display above the Catholic booth.

HONG KONG (SE): People who have signed up to attend World Youth Day in Kraków, Poland, from July 26 to 31, were commissioned by John Cardinal Tong Hon in a ceremony held at the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception on July 10.

Cardinal Tong said during the ceremony that he hopes that the young people making the trip will be able to have an encounter with God during their pilgrimage and come back to Hong Kong imbued with the enthusiasm to spread the good news of Jesus Christ in society.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

HONG KONG (SE): The Society of St. Vincent de Paul Central Council Hong Kong organised a visit for around 100 people to the residences of torture claimants and asylum seekers in Hong Kong on June 25 in order to promote a greater knowledge and better understanding of their real situation and plight.

The event was part of a campaign to support asylum seekers and torture claimants in Hong Kong and was organised by the ad hoc committee of the Jubilee of Mercy and the St. Vincent de Paul.