“To fight against hunger and food insecurity with the help of Artificial Intelligence”. This is the aim of a new academic consortium created through the initiative of the University of São Paulo, Brazil’s largest public university. The University of Saint Joseph has joined the project and it will foster the development of a new digital radio with a very particular mission: fight against global hunger.
The facilities of the Macau Catholic Culture Association are currently undergoing a major expansion to accommodate an increasing number of cultural events. The ongoing development will rehabilitate and expand the premises’ existing capacities, by adding an extra floor. From May onwards, the second floor of the Association’s headquarters will be used as extended exhibition space, O Clarim was told.
Caritas Macau has launched a fundraising campaign to collect donations for the victims of the earthquake that devastated eastern Turkey and northern Syria last week. The Catholic aid agency opened bank accounts in five local banking institutions and will place donation boxes across the city. The initiative, Paul Pun told O Clarim, will run until May.
From mid-December to mid-January, Father José Ángel Hernández had his hands full. Chaplain at the Conde de São Januário public hospital, the Mexican priest divided his time between Macau’s two largest health facilities. His mission? To offer spiritual comfort to those that were readying themselves to embark on their last journey. Despite being surrounded with people that were sick, he managed to evade catching COVID-19.
Forty Catholics and catechumens aged 18-35 years old will represent Macau at the 37th edition of the World Youth Day. The Diocesan Delegation will travel to Portugal in late July and remain in the country for two weeks. The pilgrimage will include time in Fatima and an opportunity to be with thousands of other young Catholics and Pope Francis. The Diocesan Youth Commission will offer several leadership and formation workshops over the next few months to help the participants prepare for this life-changing experience.
Bishop Stephen Lee has exhorted the faithful to pray for the shepherds and for more vocations, especially for the Catholic Diocese of Macau.
While the Catholic Church reinforces and integrates the particularities of Macau’s uniqueness as a multicultural space through religious practices, the Portuguese authorities in Lisbon need to pay attention to the Portuguese people who have already left Macau in recent years and others who say they will soon do so, claiming to some extent the “orphanhood” they feel in relation to the expected support from official institutions in Portugal.
The Filipino community in Macau prayed and danced once again in praise of Señor Santo Niño. The Sinulog celebrations and the devotion to the Holy Child of Cebu brought together more than five hundred devotees at Saint Augustine’s Church on January 15. Father Felipe Bacalso, SJ, who arrived in Macau in later October, presided over the ceremonies.
Paul Pun Chi Meng was earlier this month awarded the Medal of Merit in Philanthropy by the Government of Macau, an award that the Secretary-General of Caritas dedicated to Father Luís Ruíz and Mother Maria Góis, the pioneers of modern social work in Macau. Paul Pun spoke to O Clarim about the challenges Caritas has faced over the last few weeks, but claims the difficulties are already part of the past.
The inaugural edition of the Admirabile Signum Nativity Scene Contest, organized in December by the Macau Catholic Culture Association, was contested by 16 Catholic schools. Magdalene of Canossa School was awarded the jury’s prize and was crowned champion overall, while the Salesian Institute’s manger won the ‘Internet Popularity Award’ polling one third of the votes.