HONG KONG (SE): On June 1, the St. Jude’s English Community in North Point, welcomed Sister Regina Lito, the local superior of the Pious Disciples of the Divine Master, as their new spiritual director after Maryknoll Father Vincent Corbelli, who had served as their spiritual director for the past 15 years, retired and returned to the United States in mid-June.
Sister Lito arrived in Hong Kong in July 2018 and was assigned to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Wan Chai. She worked as the spiritual director of the English-speaking community and was in charge of different group ministries, including the English Sunday School and the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults Programme.
She said it was a beautiful experience to be part of the Wan Chai community and she was happy to work with the parish priest, Father Thomas Law Kwok-fai as well as the parish council.
Sister Lito shared that her foundation to serve was faith and she believes that the Lord chose her to serve the people of Hong Kong who are of different nationalities. Sister Lito was recommended by Sister Fatimah Santhosan mep, a pastoral sister for the Chinese community of St. Jude’s Church, as she knew that two Filipino sisters were already serving in the English Community in Wan Chai.
Sister Lito felt it would not be easy for her to move away from her ministry in Mount Carmel Church which she loved. But, after the adult baptism and the confirmation of the teenagers from the Sunday School on May 2 and 9, the invitation to serve the English Community at St. Jude Church lingered in her, as she did not want the groups to be orphaned. She talked with Father Law who accepted her decision to leave.
Sister Lito felt it would not be easy for her to move away from her ministry in Mount Carmel Church which she loved. But, after the adult baptism and the confirmation of the teenagers from the Sunday School on May 2 and 9, the invitation to serve the English Community at St. Jude Church lingered in her, as she did not want the groups to be orphaned. She talked with Father Law who accepted her decision to leave.
While serving at St. Jude’s, Sister Lito said she will focus on the ongoing Christian formation. She believes there is also a need to strengthen community relationships and to reinforce the formation of the catechists as well.
Sister Lito grew up in Antipolo City, the Philippines, and joined the Pious Disciples of the Divine Master Disciples of the Divine Master in 1993. The congregation was founded by Blessed James Alberione, whose spirituality is centred on the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, priesthood and the liturgy. She made her first religious profession in 1998 and her perpetual profession in 2004.
She was a missionary in Taiwan for eight years. In her early years of formation, she served in different communities including the English-speaking community in the Confraternity of San Lorenzo Community in the Jesuit Chapel near Fu Jen University, St. Paul’s parish in Xin Chuang, and later on at St. Joseph House of Prayer for retired and elderly priests.
When she went back to the Philippines for her perpetual profession, she studied Fine Arts, majoring in Interior Design and Theology. She practiced her apprenticeship by designing chapels and spaces for prayer and worship and was in charge of an ecclesiastical workshop in Antipolo City.
From 2013 to 2017, she was in charge of the Our Lady of Wu Fong Ci Shrine, Ilan, Taipei, a Marian pilgrimage area owned by the diocese. She participated in the Pauline Charism Course in Italy from 2017 to 2018.
