The English-speaking community of the Apostleship of Prayer at St. Joseph’s Church, Garden Road celebrated its 30th anniversary with a Mass on July 25.
It began with member’s renewal of consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and then a blessing by spiritual director and parish priest Father Joseph Tan Leitao.
A thanksgiving Mass was afterwards celebrated by chaplain for Filipinos Father Jay Flandez. In his homily, Father Flandez reminded those present that to love, to care and to share is a way to happiness.
The Apostleship of Prayer in the parish was introduced by Fresca Manales, a legionaire. It was the first centre of the English-speaking community in Hong Kong. The proposal was accepted by then parish priests Father Luigi Colombo and Father Edward Malone and on 11 April 1991. Jesuit Father Peter Brady became its first spiritual director three months later.
The Apostleship of Prayer is known as the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network. Its aim is to help people develop a personal prayer life in unity with the Pope’s intentions and to promote the devotion of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The Apostleship of Prayer in Hong Kong from seven different parish centres has been tasked to take on the responsibility of serving in Masses as Eucharistic ministers, usherettes, choir, lector and commentator and the recitation of the rosary. At present, the centre at St. Joseph’s is serving at four Masses on different Sundays.
Ma Fe Cabangal, a previous president of the centre at St. Joseph’s who is now the treasurer of the Apostleship of Prayer Lay Council, said she in fact makes all of her time available to serve as a Eucharistic minister in the nine Masses on Sundays in the parish.
“To serve God is really a blessing that gives joy to my heart. It is also a mission to lead people to follow Christ through promoting the devotion of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus,” she said, adding that the services she joined since 2003 enable her to get her strength to face her daily trials as an overseas Filipino worker in Hong Kong, a city where she has lived for nearly two decades.
The Apostleship of Prayer has been present in the diocese of Hong Kong for 75 years and has a membership of nearly 700. Around 300 among them are from the English-speaking community. SE
