HONG KONG (SE): Mother general, Sister Anna Maria Babbini, the congregational leader of The Daughters of Charity of the Canossian Institute, announced the new Provincial Council (2018 to 2021) for the on February 2 in Rome.
 
On the new council are: provincial superior, Sister Regina But Cheuk-yee; vice-provincial, Sister Virginia Wong Pui-ling; and Councillors, Sister Virginia Ip Wai-yin and Sister Lucia Cheung Ching-han.
 

HONG KONG (UCAN): University administrations in Hong Kong are perceived to be tamping down on free expression over fears of breaking political taboos despite the lack of any legal basis to do so, according to a recent report from rights watchdog, Hong Kong Watch. 
 
The report, Academic Freedom in Hong Kong, highlights the moves by the universities in the special administrative region to either remove or pressure controversial academic figures and threaten students over free speech, particularly comments critical of China.

HONG KONG (SE): Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing, auxiliary Bishop of Hong Kong, expressed concern that, “Any legislation recognising sex reassignment will result in reverse discrimination,” as he spoke to a representatives from parishes and schools, on issues faced by transgender people in religious, medical and educational areas of life. 
 

HONG KONG (SE): On February 2, the feast of the Presentation of Our Lord, Sister Anna Rose Pham and Sister Teresa Mary Nguyen, of the Sisters of St Paul of Chartres, made their perpetual professions, at a Mass concelebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing and seven priests from the diocese and Vietnam at Christ the King Chapel in Causeway Bay.
 

HONG KONG (SE): Around two hundred liturgical music lovers and Church choir members in Hong Kong attended a music workshop by Franciscan Brother Rufino Zaragoza, held at Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Kennedy Town, on January 21 to brush up on their skills in liturgical singing. The event was organised by the Chaplaincy for Filipino Migrants and co-sponsored by the Franciscan House in Kowloon.
 

HONG KONG (SE): Father Josekutty Mathew, who took over Father Jim Mulroney as the deputy editor-in-chief of the Sunday Examiner, said he hopes to strengthen the readership of the newspaper by making good use of the Internet as well as mobile media. 
 
Father Jose, a Claretian Missionary, was born in Kerala, India. The 44-year-old joined the congregation in 1988. 
 

HONG KONG (SE): Kicking off the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity with the theme, Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power (Exodus 15:6), some 300 people came together for a joint ecumenical communion service and breakfast fellowship at the Methodist Church in Wanchai on January 18.
 
Representatives from the Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox and Catholic Churches led the congregation in prayer and song, proclaiming the scriptures and confessing the Nicene Creed.
 

HONG KONG (Agencies): A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between The Catholic Times of Korea, the country’s oldest Catholic weekly, and the Holy Spirit Study Centre in Hong Kong, aimed at boosting evangelisation efforts in Asia, especially in mainland China.
 
John Cardinal Tong Hon, the former bishop of Hong Kong and director of the centre, and Father Pius Yi Ki-soo, the president of the newspaper, signed the MoU at the Holy Spirit Seminary in Aberdeen.