“I can feel the love of God through my mission and charity work. I am grateful to God for this mission and willing to follow him,” said Vincent Copperfield, a Catholic magician who has volunteered to perform in different Church and charity events for nearly two decades.
The founder of Vincent Copperfield Magic Volunteers said it has a mission to bring positive thinking, joy and love of God to people from all walks of life through charity magic shows.
The 48-year-old said he uses an easy-to-remember stage name as it helps him share the gospel message with everyone. The first name, “Vincent”, reminds him of his mission of charity magic, as St. Vincent is the patron saint of charities and volunteers. He said that his motto, ‘It’s not enough to do good; it must be done well,’ deeply touches his heart.
The group, since its establishment in 2007, has performed at magic shows and organised tutorials as well as video programmes for Church communities, non-profit organisations, educational institutions and the general public in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Australia as well as Europe, and has completed nearly 700 performances. It has a popular Facebook and YouTube channel promoting the joy of playing magic in daily life.
During the Lunar New Year, the group performed at different parishes, schools and St. Francis University to bring people positive energy and good wishes for the Year of the Dragon.
I hope that through our work, we can bring the love of God to more people, bring positive changes so that they can have a joyful and eternal life
“I hope that through our work, we can bring the love of God to more people, bring positive changes so that they can have a joyful and eternal life,” Vincent noted.
The group also maintains close cooperation with Caritas-Hong Kong. At a charity magic show in October last year, it helped the charity raise HK$100,000.
He remembered that he started to perform at nine years old when he volunteered to perform magic at Notre Dame Parish, Ma Tau Wai after he developed an interest in it and got a gift of toy magic props from a classmate. He has regularly performed for the Church since then. “Looking back, I think God was paving the way for my mission,” he said, expressing gratitude for Church organisations that have let him perform since childhood.
Above: Cardinal Stephen Chow S.J., centre, Father Joseph Yim with Copperfield after the
spring reception of Caritas-Hong Kong.
Photos supplied
The group currently offers three types of magic performances: interactive magic, gospel magic, and positive psychology magic. In its early stages, the group started with interactive magic performances and tutorials, which involved the basic techniques of performing the art. It incorporated gospel and positive psychology messages in its services in 2015 and 2017 to better spread the Good News and change negative mentality in society.
He explained that through gospel magic, the audience experiences a message of God’s love and a sense of amazement. “It is attractive to people of all ages, and it is a bridge between the gospel and people,” he said.
I can feel the love of God through my mission and charity work. I am grateful to God for this mission and willing to follow him
He is happy that people come to parishes to join magic tutorials or help his volunteer group even though they are non-believers, and some become Catholics later. Since its establishment, thousands of people have joined the group’s free magic tutorials at schools or parishes.
He said it is important for a magician to feel the joy of life. “The nature of magic is to bring joy to people. So the first thing you have to learn is to be happy so that your audience will naturally feel it and your performance can bring good to others,” he stressed.
The professional magician likes to teach his students how to perform magic with daily life materials to encourage themselves and the people around them. An easy trick to demonstrate how the difficulties that bind our minds can be solved is to use a rubber band to bind two fingers and then make it suddenly appear around another two in a second. This shows that having an open mind can help us overcome obstacles.
While designing a gospel magic performance, he will decide what message from the Bible or Catholic faith he wants to convey first, and then think about how to bring out the message and what props he will need. Some will have to be tailor-made by prop designers of the group, as gospel magic supplies for sale are quite limited.
He observed that a magic trick can sometimes takes a year to develop before its ready to be performed on stage. Up to the present, he has designed over 50 gospel magic tricks.
He shared that it is a must for him to pray before every performance with other volunteers, “If we want to perform well, we need the grace and power from God, and the wisdom to present the message. My voice has to be loud and firm on stage…” he said, asserting that every single thing is not of his own making, but rather a divine gift from God.
