Hong Kong 2007

This past Christmas we were blessed to have been able to take a trip to visit Colette’s brother, Fr David Ullrich O.M.I. (Oblates of Mary Immaculate) who heads the Hong Kong delegation for the Australian Oblate Province. The Oblates is a missionary order founded by St Eugene de Mazenod on January 25, 1816 when he and four companions came together to preach missions in Provencal, in the rural countryside of southern France. Currently there are over 4,440 Oblates in all - young men, old men, Oblates in formation, priests, Brothers! The Oblates have a presence on 5 continents.

Fr David has been in Hong Kong for approximately 1½ years of a 3 year assignment with a potential extension. One of his missions is to bolster Chinese vocations in order for Chinese to be working with Chinese.

On one of our evenings at the end of our visit Fr. David asked us, “What did you think of your visit? What are your take aways?” With those questions in mind we sat down to reflect what this visit meant to us.

There were so many things we experienced in two short weeks visiting Fr David. From the bright lights of Hong Kong to the dim streets of San Mao. From the schools of Notre Dame, Mazenod and Oblate Primary of Hong Kong to the centers of Assisi, Mazenod, Marco Polo, Bakhita, Ricci and One Minute English. From the parishes of Notre Dame and St Alfred’s in Hong Kong to the simple community in San Mao and the Catholic community in Xinxing. From the glitzy stores in Hong Kong to the street vendors of San Mao. With all of these images where does one begin?

One begins with the dedication and love of the Oblate fathers, the Cannosian Sisters in San Mao, the principals of the schools and the lay ministers of the communities. What we saw are people who give of themselves to help provide a better life to those whom they are helping.

One of the impressive images for us was the schools the Oblates administer. While we didn’t have an opportunity to visit the students of Notre Dame as they were taking exams, we could watch them from our residence above. Fr. David took us to visit the Mazenod Primary school where Principal Ms. Lai Kit Lee and assistant principal Christina gave us a tour of the facility. It was quite impressive and we could see that these students were getting a quality education. We did have the opportunity to stop in an English class being taught by “Uncle Larry” McElroy and visit with some of the 5th graders. We next visited the Oblate Primary school and met Principal John Leung. We were welcomed by the students who all were gathered in the courtyard before entering their classrooms. It was very touching to hear all of the children (~650 students) praying in unison the Hail Mary as a blessing for us. Once the children were in their classrooms Fred gave us the grand tour. It was inspiring to see the energy of the children and teachers and we were treated again to a song by the music class.

But this didn’t prepare us for the “Centers” of San Mao on the mainland of China although the desire to learn by these students was just as determined. Our journey to San Mao started with a 4 hour train ride to Zhao Qing. When we arrived at the train station we hailed a taxi to take us to San Mao. We told the driver of our destination & he simply laughed and said that San Mao was the last place he expected to take us. Once we arrived we understood his comment. We thought we had entered a different world. The next few days probably had the greatest impact on us for this trip.

Fr. John Weatherspoon, OMI, met us soon after checking into our hotel. After dinner Father asked if we could accompany him to visit and pray over a 12 year old boy who had a brain tumor and surely would die in short order. It was painful to see this young boy lying in his hospital bed with no hope of survival as his mother, grandmother and a friend stood by him trying to give him comfort. We joined Fr. John and Fr. David in prayer which the family seemed to deeply appreciate. As we left the hospital we wondered why more couldn’t be done for this young boy. (Since our return Fr John has informed us that Mario has passed on). By now it was nightfall. Fr John started to take us through an area which looked to us like a bunch of shanties. He said that these buildings housed multiple families, some of which had electricity. There seemed to be one common toilet facility for the community to utilize. The next day would prove to be an eye opener when seeing the shanties in sunlight.

The next morning we joined Sisters Rose and Salina and lay worker, Rosa, for Mass. We learned about the work the Canossian Sisters and Rosa do with the children and families of this region. The major task they undertake is trying to educate people about their health and nutrition. They feel it is important to teach about good hygiene and how critical it is to the welfare of the children. Yet, good hygiene is a real challenge in their living conditions.

Our first visit of the five “Centers” Fr. John cares for was to the Marco Polo Center where a clinic is also located. Here the teachers care for around 40-50 young students and for some people who have some medical conditions. Fr. John is expecting this Center to grow and is hoping to bring the students from the Mazenod Center to the Marco Polo Center. While at the Marco Polo Center Fr. Martin, a Salesian priest from Macau, and some of his students arrived to volunteer help over a 4 day visit. Fr. Martin said he was first introduced to Fr. John’s work while a student and now he brings his students to volunteer.

We next walked from the Marco Polo Center to Sister Rose’s Bakhita Center. It was heartbreaking walking through this area as we encountered a woman who was making shoes for a living. She said she makes the shoes for a company and gets paid roughly one US dollar a day. We weren’t prepared for what we saw next as our next stop was gut wrenching, the Assisi Center which is housed in a garbage dump. Fr. John said that he wishes there were some way to get the people moved from the dump but there really wasn’t any place for them to move. At Assisi he tries to focus on health and education trying to get the parents to send the kids to the Marco Polo Center. His current teacher for the Assisi Center is on maternity leave so the teaching was on hold until her return. Our last two stops took us to the Mazenod Center and the Ricci Center. All the Centers were full of enthusiastic young children eager to learn, polite and grateful for the pencils we handed out.

Our next adventure was a bus ride with Fr. John and Fr. David to visit a Catholic community one hour away. Fr John was asked by the local Chinese parish priest for assistance which Fr. John felt was an honor. We attended our first Cantonese Mass and were deeply touched by the faith of this community. The date was December 22 so, liturgically Mass would be for the 4th Sunday of Advent. But because no priest would be available for Christmas Day, Fr. Lee, Fr. John and Fr David con-celebrated Christmas Mass for them. Afterwards, Fr. John hosted a Christmas party with the children (60-75 children). We were asked to help and played the roles of Mrs. Claus and Santa Claus.

Back in Hong Kong for Christmas we attended Christmas Eve English Mass at St Alferd’s, the midnight Cantonese Mass at Notre Dame and the Christmas Day English Mass at Notre Dame which Fr David was the celebrant. It was a day full of celebration and we were impressed with the beautiful music and liturgy.

What are our takeaways of our trip? There are several. First, what a wonderful God we have who provides for everyone through other people, their love and dedication. He also provides through benefactors who give materials, food and money. What a good and glorious God all over our world. Second, the Oblates are doing a great job in their mission work. We asked Fr. David and Fr. John what they would ask for to aid them in their efforts and they both said volunteers. It’s not just the money but money is always required to meet such needs. We’ll take that cause back home with us. Third, there is the joy of being with our brother in his environment. He so loves his work and the people of China. Hong Kong is like his home away from home.

If you are interested to viewing images of the work the Oblates are doing on mainland China you can visit Fr John’s website at http://www.china8.org. If you would like further information about their overall mission please contact Fr David Ullrich at dppu@igc.org or visit their website at http://www.chinaomi.com.

To view more pictures of our trip you can view them at Our Pictures

Jack and Colette (alias Santa & Mrs. Claus)