Category Archives: Local
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS AT THE SERVICE OF SOCIETY (II) – The New Evangelization
Fr Leonard E Dollentas
While Catholic schools have taught countless people about the faith, the ministry of the Catholic school will be more meaningful and relevant if they are able to form Catholic students who possess a strong Catholic identity and live a life worthy of Catholics. Today, Catholic schools are fully equipped and invest much in marketing with more innovative and state of the art academic curricula approach, strong athletics programs complete with state of the art sports facilities, teachers highly trained in arts and music, the latest laboratory equipment and fully updated computers. Along with this development, tools and approach for evangelization should also be restructured and made more relevant in the program of the schools.
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Priests and seminarians celebrated New Year
Many priests and seminarians in the Macau Diocese had their New Year annual lunch on Wednesday, February 13. In the warm brotherly atmosphere, they also celebrated the birthday of Bishop Emeritus José Lai, which was on January 14.
Ricci Institute promotes charity concert – A rare musical confluence at St Joseph’s Church
Marco Carvalho
Pipa soloist Yang Jing and Hong Kong’s organist Ernesto Mauricio Corpus will give a new meaning to the idea of musical confluence between East and West, when they perform, next Friday, on the premises of St Joseph’s Seminary and Church.
Macau’s finest example of baroque architecture will host the concert “Genuine Friendship – A Mountain Mirrored in a Lake,” organized by the Macau Ricci Institute and Casa Ricci Social Service. The performance, scheduled for 7pm on the 22nd of February, aims to raise donations for both institutions. The money will be used both to support Casa Ricci Social Service and to promote the reconstruction of the Ricci Institute library, ravaged by typhoon Hato two years ago. Father Jaroslaw Duraj told O Clarim: “There’s an important charitable dimension to this concert that is being promoted by the Institute and Casa Ricci. The donations we might receive will be used to rebuild the Ricci Institute library, which was lost two years ago during typhoon Hato, and also to finance the Casa Ricci Social Service activities. This organization serves the disadvantaged and poor both in Macau and in China,” recalled the vice-director of Macau’s Ricci Institute.
AROUND THE USE OF CHURCHES – Marco Tosatti – Giorgio Spallone
By now it has become a fashion. For Christmas throughout Italy churches and cathedrals have become places where people eat and drink. The spearhead of this use – certainly singular, for many improper, for some almost blasphemous – of the places dedicated institutionally to the worship of God and prayer is the Community of Sant’Egidio which for years has been doing this kind of ceremony, in Rome and elsewhere. I must say that such an operation, carried out by an institution – the Catholic Church – directly and indirectly responsible for an extremely vast and differentiated real estate – knows a great deal of demagogy. I cannot believe that the bishops and the parish priests cannot find other places that are not churches to offer Christmas lunches. With empty or half-empty seminaries and convents in the Church, do we need to finish with tagliatelle, lambrusco and panettone? But come on … Certainly it is not something that could happen in the world of Orthodox Christianity, or Judaism, or even I believe in Islam. On this theme, Stilum Curiae is pleased to host a reflection by Giorgio Spallone.
FIVE-HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD DEVOTION CELEBRATED IN SAINT LAWRENCE’S CHURCH – Damanese community pays homage to the Virgin of Candelaria
Armindo Vaz
Marco Carvalho
The memory of a long forgotten battle, held more than four hundred years ago in far away India, was evoked in Saint Lawrence’s Church in the first weekend of the month, but hymns, prayers and the tender melody of a violin were heard instead of the guns of a bygone era.
Macau’s small Damanese community came once again together on February 2nd to celebrate the feast of the Virgin of Candelaria (known locally as “Nossa Senhora das Candeias”), the patroness of their hometown. Located 170 kilometers south of Mumbai, Daman was under Portuguese administration until the end of 1961, when it was incorporated in the Republic of India following a successful military intervention.
Celebrating the first day of the Year of the Pig at Cathedral
To celebrate the first day of the Year of the Pig last Tuesday, February 5, the Catholic Diocese of Macau offered Masses in honor of Our Lady of China, praying for a prosperous year ahead. Bishop Stephen Lee celebrated Mass at the Cathedral, asking all the faithful to meditate on the encounter of God and men through the life of Our Lady, and her relationship with Jesus. After Mass, firecrackers were lit and the traditional lion dance was performed at the entrance of the Cathedral, marking the start of the New Year.
PASTORAL CARE FOR MIGRANTS 2ND FUN DAY – Joy that unites
Ross Belle Balatbat
The Pastoral Care for Migrants, led by the SOLT Fathers, organized the second yearly thanksgiving involving all those who volunteer in the ministry, the parishioners and the different members of the the various Filipino religious and civic organizations in Macau. This year it was held on the 7th of February which was dubbed “Fun Day.” Fr Alejandre “Andy” Vergara, Apostolic House Servant of the SOLT missionaries in Macau, said that it is a “Fun Day” but he pointed out that it meant sharing the grace of joy that God has bestowed on each individual, so that each participant will truly feel the presence of the Lord through the attendees who are one in gratitude for the past activities organized by the Pastoral Center.
NEW YEAR DINNER HELD FOR THE MACAU CATHEDRAL STAFF
Bishop Stephen Lee graced the New Year dinner held for the Macau Cathedral staff on Monday, 25 February at the Macau Tower. The bishop thanked everyone for their work in the service of the Church and of society at large. (Photo by Ivan Leong)
FRANCISCO VIZEU PINHEIRO, ARCHITECT AND CATECHIST – We are free to decide between good and evil. The way we choose matters.
– Marco Carvalho
A well renowned architect, Francisco Vizeu Pinheiro took up a new challenge two years ago: to teach the Word of God and to convey the doctrine of the Catholic Church to a group of adults. He is responsible – along with Father Daniel Ribeiro and former Portuguese Consul-general Carlos Frota – for the efforts made by the Diocese to promote the catechumenate within Macau’s Portuguese-speaking Catholic community. A member of Opus Dei and a teacher at the University of Saint Joseph, Mr Vizeu Pinheiro talks about the obstacles he found, but also of the personal growth he has experienced ever since he assumed the role of spiritual advisor.
CLIMAX OF A MUSICAL FEAST – Concert celebrates 80 years of Sacred Heart Canossian College English Section
– Benedict Keith Ip
The Music Association students of the Sacred Heart Canossian College English Section (SHCCEC) gathered in the Cultural Center of Macau in the evening of January 20 to for a concert to celebrate the school’s 80th-anniversary. The concert was performed twice in the campus on January 19, this being also part of the anniversary program of the SHCCEC.
