HONG KONG (SE): “Seventy does not mean a number. It represented a high standard in Jesus’ words in the bible. And it represents sacrifices, a selfless attitude. Caritas hopes to show God’s blessing for all brothers and sisters through its services with this kind of love,” Father Joseph Yim Tak-lung, chief executive of Caritas-Hong Kong, said during a thanksgiving dinner concluding the day’s celebration of the 70th anniversary of the multi-service organisation on July 29 together with more than 840 friends, well-wishers, and benefactors.
Earlier that day a thanksgiving Mass marking the anniversary and attended by more than 700 people, was celebrated by Cardinal-elect Stephen Chow Sau Yan, sj, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and concelebrated by bishop emeritus John Cardinal Tong Hon, the head of the Holy See Study Mission, Monsignor Jose Luis Diaz-Mariblanca Sanchez and other priests.
An energetic Lion Dance performance by students from the Caritas Chai Wan Marden Foundation Secondary School opened the tea reception at the Community Hall at the Caritas Building, Caine Road.
Seventy does not mean a number. It represented a high standard in Jesus’ words in the bible. And it represents sacrifices, a selfless attitude. Caritas hopes to show God’s blessing for all brothers and sisters through its services with this kind of love
Father Yim
In his congratulatory message, Bishop Chow, the presiding officer of the council of Caritas-Hong Kong, expressed gratitude for its tremendous growth. Looking back at its beginning in 1953, with a priest and a few staff members working around a table, he expressed his appreciation of the staff’s hard work in decades.
“Now it has grown into an organisation that employs over 6,000 staff and operates over 270 units. This is not only a development of the service scale, but also the results of everyone’s love, especially towards the poor and weak as they journeyed with them throughout the years,” the bishop said.
“I would like to take this chance to wholeheartedly thank every member of the Caritas family for their support and contributions, for building the past of Caritas, and working for the present and future of Caritas together,” he said, expressing his hope that the long standing organisation can do even better in its journey ahead. “Let me wish that Caritas can go on to influence lives through lives, give light and warmth, and show God’s great love,” the bishop said.
I would like to take this chance to wholeheartedly thank every member of the Caritas family for their support and contributions, for building the past of Caritas, and working for the present and future of Caritas together
Bishop Chow
In video messages for Caritas-Hong Kong, Archbishop Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi, president of Caritas Internationalis, congratulated and expressed his appreciation for its 70 years of service and assured it of continued support. Meanwhile, Caritas Asia’s regional president, Benedict Alo D’Rozario remembered the organisation’s boundless programmes in different fields such as medical, education and community services which had a significant impact on the lives of different people, and at the same time, showed dedication and commitment. Furthermore, Caritas Japan expressed felicitations and honoured Caritas-Hong Kong’s wide-ranging services for the last, the least and the lost, and its determined and resolute response to the Covid-19 pandemic in cooperation with schools and parishes.
Representatives of Caritas Macau also joined the festivities.
Caritas-Hong Kong was originally instituted as the Catholic Social Welfare Conference on 1 July 1953. With a simple desk at the Catholic Centre in Central as its first office and with minimal staff, it started as a charity unit under the diocese to address some of the problems of the marginalised in Hong Kong resulting from the Second World War. On 1 March 1955, it was affiliated with Caritas Internationalis and with the International Catholic Migration Commission. It was re-named Caritas-Hong Kong on 1 October 1961.
