By Father Peter Choy Wai-man
In recent years, the Diocese of Hong Kong has averaged about 2,000 new Catholics per year, which is not a bad figure for Chinese Churches. Despite the absence of statistics, the loss of Catholics is quite evident as well. In light of this, the Central Council of the Catholic Laity has in the past organised programmes to assist the newly baptised in integrating into the parish community after their baptism. Furthermore, other diocesan organisations have their own training programmes for new Catholics, demonstrating that new Catholics are still in need of formation. The parishes, on the other hand, have gradually begun to take measures to deal with the loss of new Catholics in recent years. These can be divided into two categories:
In the first type of formation, new Catholics are prepared to join the parish, which is often linked with the formation of catechumens. In some parishes, there is a plan to connect catechumens with the different pious associations or small faith communities in the parish by the middle of their catechumenate programme. Some of them are self-introductions to a community; some are co-organised introductory meetings where the catechumens come together to share and exchange ideas; and some are participatory, where the catechumens take part in a meeting of a particular community. By participating in these activities, catechumens can gain knowledge about the parish, develop a sense of belonging, and become a part of it.
Of course, this kind of formation is not intellectual but interpersonal. Most parishes do not require catechumens or new Catholics to join a community or a pious association. Therefore, the success or failure of linked formation is often determined by how well catechumens maintain relationships with pious associations and small faith communities or whether individuals are able to build strong bonds among themselves.
A second type of formation occurs after baptism. According to the current arrangement of the catechumenate, baptism is an important dividing line, and the first and second parts are very different. Once the catechumens have been baptised, they become Catholics and begin to live their faith. Most parishes consider the mystagogy period in the catechumenate as a period of formation, but this practice gives the impression that it is only a prolonging of the whole catechumenate period, and that after the mystagogy period, if new Catholics do not have a sense of belonging, they will eventually be lost slowly.
There are also parishes that promote the formation of new Catholics but with differing approaches. Since 2018, the Diocesan Commission for Ongoing Formation of the Laity has introduced a year-long formation programme under the title “Lord, People and Home” for new Catholics through group gatherings. In this year’s gathering, the focus was on the thanksgiving Masses, with a goal of encouraging new Catholics to participate in community gatherings and, through these gatherings, to increase their understanding of the thanksgiving Masses in order to facilitate their participation in the liturgy.
The pilot stage of the programme has been completed, and the internal and external results of the project have been published for parish reference, but only a few parishes have adopted this programme. Furthermore, it is evident that there is no standardised approach to forming new Catholics in parishes. As a relatively new area, most parishes are still exploring it. We hope that parishes will continue to strengthen their exchanges and cooperation through deanery meetings so that effective methods can be found for the formation of new Catholics.
