Chinese community has much to celebrate

The
Catholic Weekly
Online

Sydney
1 February 2004

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Chinese community has much to celebrate

The cutting of the ribbon signals the opening of the Asiana Centre annexe

Sydney’s flourishing Chinese Catholic community – like Chinese communities throughout the world – is in celebratory mood, welcoming in the Chinese new year, the Year of the Monkey.

For the Sydney community, though, celebration seems almost to have been de rigeur over the past few months.

Most notable perhaps was the 40th anniversary of the Asiana Centre at Ashfield and the opening and dedication of its new annexe in a Mass presided over by Bishop David Cremin with Fr Stephen Bliss, Australian Franciscan provincial, and Franciscan Fr Pascal Chang.

There was outstanding support in November-December for a seminar, retreat and a talk conducted by Fr Louis Ha, director of Hong Kong’s Catholic Social Communications Office.

He took 95 seminar participants on a reflection based on St Augustine’s City of God, at Mary MacKillop Place, North Sydney, and led a retreat,

To Live and Believe, for 70 people at the Chevalier Resource Centre, Kensington.

The Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, installed Franciscan Fr Bonaventure Tung as the priest-in-charge of the community at Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel in December.

At the same time he commissioned members of the community’s Temple of the Holy Spirit group to go on a mission in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Joseph Chow, spokesman for the community, says: “The opening of the annexe marks a new era in Sydney Franciscan Chinese Mission to meet the growing and flourishing needs of the Catholic Chinese Community.”

A Franciscan friary will be established, named after Gabriel Allegro, the first Franciscan to translate the Bible into Chinese, and arrangements will be made to have more friars available for pastoral work.