HONG KONG Church Continues Relief Campaign Until Eve Of Lunar New Year

Posted: 18th January 2005

Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong

HONG KONG (UCAN): Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong has extended the special collection for Asian tsunami survivors from one week to a month and exhorted Catholics to continue praying for the affected people during Lent.

According to a diocesan notice of Jan. 12, Bishop Zen called for the period of special collections for tsunami victims to be extended to Feb. 8. Earlier, the diocese urged every parish to keep a collection box for tsunami victims during the period Jan. 1-7.

This year Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, is Feb. 9, also the first day of the Lunar New Year. Bishop Zen appealed to all Catholics to continue praying for tsunami victims and survivors during Lent, the notice said.

Since Lent is a time for charity, the Church will continue to ask for help not just for tsunami survivors but for other needy people as well, a Church worker told UCA News Jan. 14.

As of that day Hong Kong diocese had received more than HK$10 million (US$1.28 million). A diocesan report categorized the donations, saying about HK$4.19 million had come from parishes, HK$2 million from individual donors and HK$1.47 from Catholic organizations, schools and Caritas units. The balance, some HK$2.55 million, had not been categorized but was believed also to have come mostly from parishes, according to the report.

Besides Caritas-Hong Kong, the diocese's charitable and development arm, six other international relief organizations based in Hong Kong together had raised some HK$700 million for tsunami relief work as of Jan. 8.

That included HK$141,788, from 764 inmates in Stanley Prison, a high-security facility. According to a Jan. 6 press release of the Correctional Services Department, the contributions, collected Jan. 3-5, were made at the request of the inmates, in response to appeals. Each inmate donor reportedly gave close to HK$200, about a month's salary from work done in the prison.

Maryknoll Father Sean Burke, a prison chaplain, told UCA News that the inmates responded to the disaster the same as many other people.

The earthquake and tsunamis that struck countries in the Indian Ocean region and as far as Africa on Dec. 26 left more than 170,000 people dead. Less than 500 of these deaths occurred outside the four hardest-hit countries. By Jan. 17 Indonesia was reporting more than 115,000 deaths, Sri Lanka more than 38,000, according to a Reuters report, India more than 10,000 and Thailand more than 5,300. But close to 30,000 people were still listed as missing in those four countries.

Article Source: UCANEWS