30 June 2020
The Cathedral of Immaculate Conception earlier donated $10 million to the Diocese to pursue its church building and development initiatives.
These funds were part of those raised from a Parish Walkathon conducted on 24 February 2019 to support a major repair programme beginning from mid-June last year. As the repair work is about to complete and the payments are ascertained, the Parish Finance Committee expected to have some surplus. Upon discussion, the Committee had in two meetings decided to set aside a total of $10 million for the Diocese.
"We don't just belong to a parish, but to the Diocese and the universal Church", Parish Priest Rev Dominic Chan said. "Everyone is happy to support the building of new churches in Fanling and Tung Chung, as well as other development of the Diocese. It was an unanimous decision to provide the funding."
To Rev Dominic and the parishioners, the meaning of the walkathon is in strengthening the sense of belonging to this "home" and the bondage among faithful in addition to the obvious objective of fundraising. A thousand strong faithful and their family took part in the walkathon, a few hundreds of which were students from kindergarten, primary and secondary schools in the catchment area of the Parish. "Like the miracle of the five loaves and two fishes, not only have we raised enough funds to cover the project, but we can also support the work of the Diocese and I am deeply grateful for everyone's generosity," added Rev Dominic.
Indeed, the Church is home for the "adopted sons" of our Father in heaven; that is why we call one another brothers and sisters; that is why the Church's business is every faithful's business. Rev Dominic encouraged other parishes to join in the efforts.