HONG KONG (SE): As St. Joseph’s Church on Garden Road, began celebrations of its 150th anniversary under the theme, Home Away From Home, a prayer area designed like a Filipino hut was erected in the parish compound. It is intended to create a feeling of a second home for Filipino parishioners.
A bahay kubo [country house/hut], or nipa hut, was built next to the car park entrance and set aside as a prayer area for parishioners. The project started after parish priest, Father Joseph Tan Lei Tao, decided to rebuild the fence of the parish and verify the official boundaries of the church property. This resulted in an additional 46.4 square metres of space of for the parish to use.
Father Tan, who lived in the Philippines for more than three years, designed the wooden hut. He explained that the area is intended to encourage more prayers for the 150th anniversary of the parish and to act as a meeting place for the communities. “We have so many communities, but we have only a few rooms for them to gather,” he said, adding, “People have not been able to go home during the pandemic for a long time, so we built a Filipino-style hut for them to make them feel like in the Philippines, to create a home away from home.”
The traditional bahay kubo is a type of stilt house indigenous to the Philippines and is an icon of Philippine culture and are still in use today, especially on farms and rural areas. They were designed to endure the climate and environment of the country and are usually made from materials like bamboo which maded them easier to rebuild when damaged by a storm or earthquake.
The project started the week after Christmas 2021 and was completed before New Year’s Day. Inside the hut are bamboo tables and chairs in Filipino style and several parols—the star-shaped Filipino lanterns displayed during the Christmas season, a symbol of the Christian faith in the country.
A statue of St Lorenzo Ruiz, the first saint and protomartyr of the Philippines, will soon be placed inside the hut.
In Filipino tradition, images of Jesus, biblical figures and saints are essential for their devotions. A replica of the Black Nazarenestatue donated to the parish by the Archdiocese of Manila is expected to arrive in the middle of the year to help the Filipino parishioners celebrate their national feast.
The parish has set up the Home Away From Home Fund to support migrants in need and the spiritual activities of the parish. A set of 12 postcards depicting paintings of St. Joseph by artist, Jackie Lau, were on sale until January 21 to raise funds.
The parish will also sell more than 2,000 bottles of red and white wine donated by a parishioner last year to support the fund. Around 480 were given as a congratulatory presents to the 40 jubilarians of the diocese last year.
