Chairman's Report

I would like to extend my sincere greetings to you all under the shadow of the raging pandemic. I hope the COVID situation would ease as soon as possible, and everyone can return to their normal everyday life. May the merciful heavenly father lead us out of this predicament so that we will be able to glorify God with our prayers in patience.

As of 10^th February, due to the escalated COVID situation, the Diocese, at the request of the Government, has suspended the opening of churches, chapels, and mass centres where public masses are regularly held, and while any other physical religious gatherings are temporarily suspended. Although we have to maintain social distancing with each other during the pandemic, our communion with Jesus and our brothers and sisters in Christ has not been affected. We can even better experience our dependence on God, as well as our care for each other. Through mutual prayers and caring, we can better perform our mission of being "salt and light of the world".

While "Home among Homes Fund-raising Concert" has to be postponed, donations from faithful and passionate donors never cease. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their enthusiastic support. Meanwhile, the organising committee is still diligently preparing for this event. Once the venue and new date are confirmed, we will make every effort in presenting the most meaningful concert and we look forward to your continuous support.

Ever since the pandemic, the works of the Diocesan Fund-raising Commission for Church Building and Development has never been slacked off. We are making every effort to use various information platforms to maintain close contact with the faithful and report on our work progress. We are going to implement various columns on this website to publish news and information regularly. We have also established our social media platforms in Facebook, IG and YouTube to foster closer contacts with you all. Other than that, the Commission is planning more online fund-raising events as well as creative ideas to compensate the inadequacy of physical campaigns due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic measures and we are soliciting your continuous support.

Riding on the success of "Thy Kingdom Come - Online Exhibition & Charity Bidding" in 2020 and upon robust demand, another phase of "Thy Kingdom Come – Online Exhibition & Charity Bidding 2.0" is preliminarily scheduled in the fourth quarter of this year. Please stay tuned. In the meantime, the Commission has concluded various short and mid-term projects on the drawing board and hope to work with you all in our church building and development works.

On behalf of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong, I would like to thank all our donors for their contributions to our Diocesan Church Building and Development Fund. All proceeds will go towards the funding of church building and parish development projects. We are hoping to raise HK$500 million in the first phase to support the construction of Fanling St Joseph Church, the planning works of the new Tung Chung parish and expansion of niches in the cemeteries. Thanks to the generous donations, we have so far raised HK$60 million, which is 12.5% of our target. As the superstructure and most of the internal works of Fanling new church are already completed, we expect to obtain the occupation permit in the third quarter of the year to start interior decoration. Part of the early phase construction fee has been covered by the funds raised. We are working closely with the government on the land purchase for our Tung Chung project and we expect to incur considerable fees in the short future. As such, there is enormous pressure to raise funds to cover the necessary cash expenditure imminently. May I therefore appeal to your support to complete this challenging yet divine mission together.

We are actively promoting regular periodical contributions to establish recurrent income source for our fund. At the moment, there are 152 faithful signed for periodical donations. I would like to express my gratitude to their generous support and hope their participation can motivate more faithful to join the pool so as to enable a more stable growth of the development fund.

In the meantime, let me invite you all to pray together for God's guidance to accomplish this meaningful task together. "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35) May God bless you with an abundance of grace, peace and happiness.

Rev Dominic Chan
Chairman
Diocesan Fund-raising Commission for Church Building and Development

The fifth wave of the pandemic shows no sign of abating, with as many as 200 brothers & sisters dying as well as tens of thousands infected every day. Facing such catastrophic situation, medical practitioners are adhering to their duties faithfully. I would like to pay my tribute to all the frontline staff from every distract, especially the sanitary workers, who are all working diligently at their posts. I am convinced that the merciful Lord will lead us out of this gloomy situation. While encountering brothers and sisters who are in desperate need of assistance, we must remember to take practical actions in offering the necessary help. Because the Lord Jesus taught us, “Whatever you did to one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Mt. 25:40); so, let us pray for the medical staff and their families, all those infected, those providing anti-pandemic services, the deceased and their family; asking our Heavenly Father to protect them and let His love endure forever.

While our mood is inevitably affected by the pandemic, yet we dare not let go of the tremendous responsibility of raising funds for church building and development. All committee members are working hard at their posts in addressing current urgent tasks as well as formulating short and medium plans to support the development of the evangelisation ministry of our diocese. “Home among Homes Fund-raising Concert” was originally scheduled to be held on February 25; however, due to closure of the venue during the pandemic, the concert must be postponed. The organising committee applied twice for re-scheduling and recently got the confirmation to rent Queen Elizabeth Stadium for November 2, 2022. We hope that all performers would continue to perform for you as originally planned. Those who have booked tickets can rest assured that the sequence of their orders remains unchanged. We will now proceed with ticket sale according to the new concert date. With the uninterrupted and continual support of our brothers and sisters in Christ, it is indeed gratifying to note that “Home among Homes Fund-raising Concert” has raised to date HK$6 million. We thank and praise God for all His merciful arrangements. We look forward to having more members of our diocese take part in the “Faith, Hope & Love” donation scheme as well as other forms of support. “Never fail to perform a good deed deemed as petty”, donations, no matter how much, are sincerely appreciated. Auxiliary Bishop Rev Joseph Ha recently published an article on our website teaching us about “Giving as a Practice of Spirituality”. I sincerely hope everyone would read it in detail to have a deeper understanding of the close relation between selfless donation and our spiritual formation.

While the superstructure and internal works of the new church in Fanling are more or less completed and we anticipate obtaining the occupation permit in the third quarter of the year to start interior decorations; it is unfortunate that due to the ongoing pandemic, such works will likely be delayed, and various costs increased as a result of unavailability of supplies. The campanile is a symbolic structure of the new church and the five bells we purchased from Italy have been cast and delivered. According to Rev. David Chan, the five bells were precisely cast in fine details. They will certainly produce the sacred tintinnabulation in drawing all nations to our Heavenly Father.

Social media for “Diocesan Fund-raising Commission for Church Building and Development” such as Facebook and IG have been established to provide updated information to the general public in a timely manner. Please feel free to browse through and promote at your convenience.

Remember “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”(Acts 20:35) May the Lord bless you with grace, peace and happiness.

Rev Dominic Chan
Chairman
Diocesan Fund-raising Commission for Church Building and Development

We are grateful the fifth wave of the pandemic has finally eased. It is indeed exciting that parish life is generally returning to normal with the allowed capacity of liturgical congregation increased to 80 percent as of May 21^st. Members of the Diocesan Fund-raising Commission have immediately carried out various physical fund-raising activities. They first visited St. Thomas Apostle Church in Tsing Yi on May 14^th and 15^th, followed by visiting the Cathedral on Caine Road on June 4^th and 5^th. Before the end of the Eucharistic celebration, various members of the Commission asked for contributions from parishioners by introducing their goals and tasks. They have received encouraging support from priests and faithful both in cash and periodic donations, and I would like to express my sincere gratitude for their support. I also salute the parishioners of Transfiguration Chapel in North Point who have been selling face masks to support the Diocese during three consecutive Sundays on May 22^nd, 29^th and June 5^th.

Catholic Education Office and the Hong Kong Catholic Diocesan Schools Council will hold a unique “Joint School Rope-Skipping Fun Day” on July 25^th at St. Joseph’s College to raise fund for our Commission. Riding on the success of the first Joint-school Rope Skipping Charity Rally in 2021, the Catholic Religious Schools Council and Hong Kong Caritas Vocational Training & Educational Services Department will join force in inviting all Catholic schools, seminaries as well as Caritas Schools, including all secondary schools, primary schools, and kindergartens, to participate in this exercise with the hope that all students can participate and experience the joy of the virtue of charity and serving others. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the students, parents, teachers, and staff for their contributions and pray that they will all be blessed with God’s grace.

Meanwhile, members of the Commission are actively preparing for the “Home Among Homes Fund-raising Concert” to be held on November 2^nd. We will accept pre-booking of tickets in August while the box office will open in early October via the Urbtix network. The “The "Hearts Connected Online Donation” scheme to support our guest performers and teams will be launched online in October as well. Please follow our future announcements for details.

To build on the success of “Thy Kingdom Come 1.0” online auction, “Thy Kingdom Come 2.0 - Online Charity Sale of Pastoral Literary and Artistic Works" will also take place in December this year. Priests and nuns have already prepared exquisite works in anticipation of your full support. We look forward to receiving your contribution to the development works of the Diocese while bidding for your favorite artworks.

Due to the impact of the pandemic, the construction of St. Joseph’s Church in Fanling is inevitably delayed. The Diocesan Commission for Church Building and Development is working closely with the contractors to hopefully receive the occupation permit before the end of the year to start interior works. With the enthusiastic support of our parishioners, $70 million has been raised so far; however, there is still a long way to reach our goal of raising $500 million in this initial phase. Let us continue to strive towards our goal and offer our fruits to the glory of God. May our merciful Heavenly Father continue to bless and guide us.

Rev Dominic Chan
Chairman
Diocesan Fund-raising Commission for Church Building and Development

Various members of the Diocesan Fund-raising Commission visited the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception on 25^th & 26^th May, presenting to our parishioners our latest development, fund raising for our ongoing projects, and conducting charity sale at the same time. They were assisted by the Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion and members of Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and supported by the Pastoral Council and other charitable associations & organisations. I would like to extend my gratitude to all the staff members for their hard efforts. With the generous donation from faithful of the Cathedral, over $155,000 was raised in two days. Meanwhile, with the charity sale of face masks at St. Jude Church in North Point, $60,000 was raised and the whole sum was donated to our Commission towards the building of churches. I am truly grateful!

"Rope Skipping for Health, Church Building for Manifestation of God's Love" – A project involving the students and parents from all Diocesan, Catholic and Caritas schools, this joint school fund-raiser for our Commission through the sport of rope skipping was officially kicked off on 6^th June. From 6^th June until 1^st July, teachers, students as well as parents from all schools actively participated and generously donated to our cause. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all those who contributed. We are still in the process of counting the donations received and will report to you in due course. Meanwhile, the organiser will hold a unique "725 Rope Skipping Fun Day" at St. Joseph's Anglo-Chinese School on 25^th July which will be broadcasted live. The QR Code link will be published on our website and you are cordially invited to watch online.

Among the various fund-raising events in preparation is the "School Hymn Bel Canto" Heart-to-Heart online campaign, which I trust, will bring us much unexpected excitement. While reminiscing on our past school life, we can return to the embrace of our alma mater and witness her development over the years. This will surely be an event not to be missed; as we pay tribute to the contributions of our predecessors, we cherish the blessings we enjoy today. I sincerely hope we continue giving back to society, enabling a brighter future for the next generation. "Thy Kingdom Come 2.0 - Online Charity Sale of Pastoral Literary and Artistic Works" by the pastoral community will take place in December this year. We have already collected many exquisite works by priests and nuns, and I hope you will be able to bring home your favourite piece. We have also started organising a charity walk next year, and we welcome all Catholics to participate in this large-scale event. Meanwhile, "A Home Among Homes – Fund-raising Concert" will be held on 2^nd November. All performers are rehearsing in full swing to bring the best entertainment to our audience. Pre-sale of tickets will resume in August while the URBTIX box office will be rescheduled to 30^th September. "Hearts Connected Online Donation" will be launched in October for you to show support to your favourite performers. Details of the scheme will be announced in due course.

May we continue to work hard to support the works of our Commission and strive to build a parish centre befitting a "Home among Homes" for our brothers and sisters in developing districts.

Rev Dominic Chan
Chairman
Diocesan Fund-raising Commission for Church Building and Development