HONG KONG (SE): St. Joseph’s Chapel in Yim Tin Tsai, Sai Kung, celebrated its feast day and the 130th anniversary of its establishment with a Mass on October 4. The Mass was concelebrated by Father Dominic Chan Chi-ming, whose family once lived on the island, together with Father Raja Duggimpudi, parish priest of Sacred Heart Church, Sai Kung.
In his homily, Father Chan said God has blessed the place as the once old and shabby chapel was restored with the faith and efforts of villagers and was given the Award of Merit by the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Award for Cultural Heritage Conservation in 2005. He hopes the island can bring inner peace to people with its natural scenery and spiritual facilities.
After the Mass, to mark the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of the environment, which fell on the same day, Father Chan blessed a nearby children’s farm. Joining the ceremony were the students, teachers and parents of Sai Kung Sung Tsun Catholic School as well as the parishioners of the Sacred Heart Church who planted seeds in the farm.
Miss Chan, a villager, recounted that the historical Hakka village had a rich Catholic heritage. She recalled that the feast day procession in the 1960s was a big attraction every year as children would wear angel costumes prepared by nuns and scatter flower petals along the paths, and that the priest would bless the fishing boats on the coast.
Another villager, Chan Ka-wai, who was baptised as an infant at the chapel, remarked that there was no priest posted at the chapel. If there was no priest available on a Sunday, villagers would hold a prayer service there. When a priest arrived, they would ring the church bell, which echoed through the mountains and could be heard everywhere.
She said the first toll of the church bells was to tell villagers that they could come for confessions. The second toll meant that Mass would soon begin. The third meant that Mass had begun.
Village head, Chan Chung-yin, said the setting up of the Salt and Light Preservation Centre as well as the revitalisation of the salt fields attracted many villagers and tourists to visit the island.
He added that a village house had recently been turned into a spiritual centre so that retreats or religious activities could be conducted there.
