The most politicised success of the pro-same-sex marriage lobby has arguably been in Ireland, where just over 60 per cent of the registered population turned out to give a 62.1 per cent yes vote to changing its constitutional definition on May 22 this year.

Although this equates to only 36 per cent of the total number of registered voters, it is being hailed as an important step forward.

Within a 10-day period, two bishops’ conferences in Asia have issued warnings that current tensions among Asian countries could well boil over into violence.

Highly aware of the friction between their own country and China over sovereignty of the Sentaku or Daioyu Islands, the bishops of Japan interpret the national security laws passed by the administration of the current prime minister, Shinzo Abe, as spoiling for a showdown.

On June 18, Pope Francis released his encyclical Laudato Si’: On care for our common home. It is a watershed document in the same sense as the famed, Of things new (Rerum Novarum), by Pope Leo XIII, when he became the first pope to address the condition of labour in 1891.

Laudato Si’ is the first papal document to comprehensively address the pressing duty of human beings towards the entire creation, including the environment, and the finely balanced ecology of the Earth.

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.