HONG KONG (SE): To celebrate the feast of Christ the King, on November 21, St. Anthony’s Church, Sai Wan, organised its annual evangelisation outreach programme with a Eucharistic blessing of the residents of Western District, from the deck of an open-top bus. The theme was God is Love. Come and See!
The evangelisaton journey was led by parish priest, Salesian Father Pedro Leong Chi-choi, and assistant parish priest, Father Stephen Wong Ka-fai.
The bus was festooned with banners and hymns were played, as it travelled two routes from 10:00am to 12:00 noon, reaching out to the communities of Shek Tong Tsui and Kennedy Town, expressing God’s blessings of faith, hope and love.
It made two stops on Queen’s Road West and Forbes Street where there was a programme that included faith sharing by a parishioner, choir singing, a homily and a blessing of neighbourhood with the Blessed Sacrament.
St. Anthony’s parish formed numerous small teams which fanned out to greet the residents in different areas of Western District.
They distributed specially-designed evangelisation gift packs containing facemasks imprinted with the message, “God is Love” and the parish’s name, together with hand sanitiser, information about St. Anthony’s Church, and a thought-provoking booklet on faith and life.
Father Leong elaborated saying, “God loved us first. He sent us to share this love, which gives meaning to life, with others. Despite the ongoing pandemic and public gathering restrictions, our parish communities can continue to be creative in reaching out to the community.”
He said, “We enable people to encounter God’s love through our touch and care. For this year’s celebration of the feast of Christ the King, we held a commissioning rite during each Sunday Mass and invited all parishioners to join hands in carrying out evangelisation ministry. By sharing gift packs with those who do not yet know Jesus, we hope to lead more people to receive God’s gift of salvation and to come join catechism class.”
For its 18th year of outreach in Western District, the parish produced 4,000 gift packs. Event balloons were also designed for children to take part in mission work to bring the message of “Jesus Loves You” to others.
