HONG KONG, APRIL 15, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions celebrated its 150th anniversary in Hong Kong this week with a thanksgiving Mass.
The missionary agency was begun with the support of Pope Pius IX in 1850. Just eight years later, the first PIME missionaries arrived in Hong Kong, initially working with the few local Catholics and the British soldiers stationed in the colony.
Their missionary work eventually enabled the founding of the Diocese of Hong Kong. Today's bishop of the diocese, Cardinal Joseph Zen, presided over the thanksgiving Mass.
On the occasion of the anniversary, Father Gianbattista Zanchi, PIME superior-general, sent a letter to the territory’s missionaries.
"From the beginning of its history Hong Kong has always offered great challenges and presented great difficulties to the work of evangelization because of its status as a ‘British colony’ founded primarily for economic and political reasons with a predominantly Chinese population but with the presence of groups of various nationalities," he said.
"Life was hard [for the first missionaries] and the means at their disposal very limited," Father Zanchi affirmed. "Life for the brothers who toiled in Hong Kong city or on the mainland required undoubtedly a great spirit of self-sacrifice and constant involvement.
"It was this spirit of theirs, shared by Chinese priests and nuns as well by members of other congregations and missionary institutes, that led to the gradual but worthy creation and development of the Hong Kong Mission so that by 1968 it could be handed over to the local clergy on solid foundations and with good institutions."
"The celebration of the 150th anniversary of PIME’s presence in Hong Kong must therefore not only be a motive for rejoicing and thanksgiving," he said, "but should also be an important moment in which to reflect and analyze the current tasks that your local community is called to perform, so that it can pursue them in a renewed spirit and adopt more appropriate methods to meet the challenges that Hong Kong society now has in store for you.
ZE08041507 - 2008-04-15
Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-22303?l=english
Hong Kong Marks Missionary Milestone
PIME Superior Says Occasion Time for Gratitude and Analysis
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