MACAU (UCAN): Sisters from the Daughters of St. Paul in Macau started distributing two specially designed travel stamps to tourists flocking to the territory, Jornal O-Clarim, the Catholic weekly of Macau, reported on May 10.
The stamps were recently introduced to cater to increasing tourist interest in collecting them.
Sister Bernadette Kim Geun explained that the stamps not only serve as souvenirs but also act as a means of evangelisation, allowing the sisters to engage in conversations with visitors and share God’s love.
Sister Kim, the superior of the congregation in Macau, said that an increasing number of Chinese visitors have been coming to their bookstore asking for such stamps.
They often carry a “little passport” with travel stamps collected from various tourist locations, the Korean nun noted.
Members of the congregation then discovered that St. Paul’s Bookstore in the city centre has become a top location of interest shared on the popular Xiaohongshu [Little Red Book] social media platform.
According to the Macau government’s Statistics and Census Service, as of December 2023, Macau recorded 2,943,930 visitor arrivals. About 67 per cent were from mainland China, 23 per cent from Hong Kong, and 10 per cent from other parts of the world.
In response to the interest, the nuns invited artistic members among them to create two designs, one featuring the iconic Ruins of St. Paul’s and the other depicting Macau’s cathedral, the report said.
Both stamps show a happy nun in front of both locations carrying a sign saying: “Jesus loves you.”
“The Ruins of St. Paul’s is a recognisable landmark, but people don’t recognise us as nuns,” Sister Kim said. So, the nuns decided to use the stamp to convey the message of faith and to create an opportunity for dialogue.
“We want to share with them God’s love and our mission of evangelisation in Macau,” she explained.
On average, ten tourists visit the bookstore daily to ask about the stamps, Sister Kim said. She expressed surprise that some of them actively inquired about their faith and the nuns’ identities.
She believes that this is a great opportunity for evangelisation and hopes that these two small stamps will continue to spread God’s love to more people.
