HONG KONG (SE): The unity of the Church was on display when the faithful from across Hong Kong came together for the Home Among Homes Fund-raising Concert at Queen Elizabeth Stadium, Wanchai, on December 12. Aiming to generate much-needed funds for the Catholic community, the twice-rescheduled concert raised over $13 million to build new churches and additional infrastructure.
In a video message at the beginning of the concert, Father Dominic Chan Chi-ming, chairperson of the Diocesan Fund-raising Commission for Church Building and Development, explained the need to raise funds to build new churches in Fanling and Tung Chung, and for major repairs on some existing ones, as well as the building of additional urn niches for future generations. He urged Hong Kong’s community of over 400,000 Catholics to generously contribute to meet the diocese’s target.
Father Chan told the Sunday Examiner that as at mid December, the commission had raised over 103 million through various activities since its inception in March 2019. However, the diocese needs to raise over $1 billion in development funds to meet the needs in the coming decade.
The concert had to be rescheduled twice, first from February to November this year due to the the Covid 19 pandemic, and later from November to December due to a typhoon. Under the theme, Home Among Homes, the concert echoes the diocese’s call for parish renewal in pastoral care, encouraging parishioners to take part in parish services and open their doors to everyone.
Prior to the concert, Bishop Stephen Chow Sau Yan SJ, expressed gratitude for having the chance to hold a concert during the pandemic and prayed for the diocese’s fundraisers, as well as the talent and creativity of the performers who express the beauty of our faith.
The concert began with more than 140 primary students from 53 diocesan schools performing on stage wearing orange uniforms. Together they sang a medley expressing hope rearranged by composer Mark Chiu Tsang-hei. Children and their parents from St. Margaret Mary’s Catholic Kindergarten then sang a song about family love, followed by the performance of the orchestra formed by secondary students from Raimondi College.
One of the highlights of the evening was when John Cardinal Tong Hon joined the students from the Good Hope School Choir and Sister Pauline Yuen of Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception with his violin. Sister Yuen played the flute, as they performed two songs: Ave Maria and O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. The Good Hope School Choir, the Good Hope Orchestra, the Wan Yan College Boys’ Choir and the Missionary Sisters of Immaculate Conception also performed Linked in Adversity, a song composed by Anthony Cheng Yu-sum to show hope in the pandemic.
St. Joseph Freinademtz’s Family, led by Divine Word missionary, Father Joseph Tan Leitao, sang the song, Home Away From Home. The music was composed and arranged by the Filipino Catholic Group, and the lyrics were written by Irmalyn Ecolthe based on her experiences in Hong Kong over the past eight years. Part of the song was sung in Cantonese.
Elizabeth Rullan Talabino leader of the Filipino Catholic Group said the group was happy to join the performance to support the fundraising and express the feelings of the migrants, and particularly the parishioners at St. Joseph’s Church, Garden Road, who regard the parish as their “home away from home.”
Sister Esther Warioba, a Maryknoll sister from Africa; vicar general, Father Paul Kam Po-wai; and Father Phongphan Wongarsa; together with a number of African lay people, performed a liturgy song, Lende Mbele Injili Ya Yesu [Moving forward with the Gospel of Jesus], in Swahili. The song is commonly sung at Masses in Africa when the gospel is brought to the lectern, while the congregation sings and dances together. Sister Warioba said she was happy to contribute to the fund-raising concert for the diocese, and she hopes the performance reminded people that the Bible is the central part of our lives.
One of the highlights of the evening was when John Cardinal Tong Hon joined the students from the Good Hope School Choir and Sister Pauline Yuen of Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception with his violin
Musical bands formed by the young laity also joined the performances. AMDG and Friends, sang a number of original songs to show the work of the Holy Spirit and the creation of God. They were accompanied by a dance performance by students of the Catholic Mission School. Free-Up Music performed a number of rearranged popular hymns for the audience to sing together.
At the end of the concert, Bishop Chow blessed the audience, and with the diocesan priests and others, led all present to sing a Taize hymn. All the audience members in the stadium were on their feet, raising their hands and waving their phones while singing, bringing the mood up to a climax for the crowd.
To show gratitude to performers who had all put a lot of effort into preparing for the show, an online donation programme called Hearts Connected, was held to let people donate and support their favourite performing team. After the deadline on December 16, over $700,000 was raised through online donations.
The performance which raised the highest amount of online donations was the team formed by Father Peter Leung Tat-choi and Father Paul Tam Wing-ming representing the Hong Kong Diocesan Chinese Priests Association. Over $200,000 had been donated to support the performance of Father Leung who sang Panis Angelicus with the flute accompaniment of Father Tam.
Next was the team formed by Cardinal Tong and the Good Hope School Choir, which raised more than $130,000, followed by the permanent deacons and their family singing You Raise Me Up, receiving an online donation of around $100,000 from supporters.
Debby Leung, parish secretary of St. Thomas the Apostle Church, Tsing Yi, said she came along with around 30 parishioners who bought tickets for $800 together in September. “We did not hesitate as our Church really needs the funds.”
