THE ANNUAL HONG Kong Book Fair is an occasion when many Catholic books are on display and readily available, but unfortunately, a lot of people remain indifferent towards books, only buying ones that help their children. There appears to be considerable room for improvement in the reading on faith-formation department.

What sort of role does reading play in the process of faith-growth? Although many people may feel it is not essential, there are those who would disagree.

As summer vacation approaches, students are making intense preparations for their final exams. However, many parents have already been working since as early as May and June to select summer activities for their children so that they can fully utilise their leisure time and develop their talents. Many community centres, family life centres, youth centres and Church organisations are also offering a variety of well-designed summer activities for children.

The storm over political reform in Hong Kong has simmered down for the time being in the after the defeat of the government’s controversial electoral reform proposal by a majority vote in Legislative Council on June 18.

Does this mean that the government should halt the reform process at this stage? Even advocates and legislators in the pro-Beijing camp do not seem to have reached a consensus while others have argued that abandoning political reform violates the Basic Law.

“Laudato si’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord.” Has there ever been another encyclical that has so grabbed the world’s imagination and the attention of the media? Laudato si’—the encyclical titled after the words in St. Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Creatures—urges the world to embark upon a revolutionary ethical rethink and change of heart in its relationship with planet earth. “We are not God.

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” goes a quote sometimes attributed to Albert Einstein. Certainly the Hong Kong government’s attempts to push its political reform package for the election of the chief executive has appeared to be an exercise in precisely this.

We are halfway through 2015 and around the world it is turning into a year of refugees and migrants. Millions of people have been displaced or forced to flee their homes due to war, religious or ethnic conflicts and abject poverty.  But since proximity is a news value; we in Hong Kong are least touched by the stories from afar of the huge humanitarian crises in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, South Sudan and the Central African Republic, or by the stories from Bangladesh or Myanmar. 

It will take some time for the Catholic Church to come in terms with the shock it received from Ireland following the results of a May 22 referendum in which 62 per cent of voters said yes to same-sex marriage, becoming the first country to support gay and lesbian marriage via popular vote. It was an emphatic rejection of the traditional understanding of marriage as being between one man and one woman and the Catholic Church appeared to be the biggest loser.

People in Hong Kong have begun preparing to commemorate of the tragedy of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing on 4 June 1989, and Church groups have organised prayer services to honour the students who sacrificed their lives on that fateful day. This annual remembrance demonstrates the link between Hong Kong and mainland China. 

Today, May 24, we celebrate Pentecost Sunday as well as the feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians. In 2007, Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, in his letter to the Catholics in China, called for this day to be an occasion for of the whole world to be united in prayer with the Church in China. 

As early as January 23, Pope Francis issued his message for World Communications Day which is marked this Sunday which is also the Feast of the Ascension. Entitled,  Communicating the Family, the message is succinct and down-to-earth.