Hong Kong’s Christian leaders urge people to mend rifts, spend time with loved ones in Christmas messages
- Andrew Chan, the Archbishop for Anglican Church of Hong Kong, calls on people to set aside their political leanings, seek a way to heal rifts as it is the ‘only path to happiness’
- Bishop Stephen Chow, of the Catholic diocese of Hong Kong, says time spent with loved ones cannot be substituted by material gifts
Hong Kong’s Christian leaders called on people to mend rifts by putting aside their political leanings, and spend time with their loved ones, in Christmas messages released on Thursday.
Andrew Chan Au-ming, the Archbishop for Anglican Church of Hong Kong, said “wishing each other ‘Merry Christmas’ could seem like a gesture of being disconnected from reality” as “deep-seated conflicts” were emerging amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and the economic and political crises around the world.
But he said now was “the time when we have to seek the positive within all that has happened”.
Christmas was a season of peace and joy and “[amid] the burning beacons of conflict, and as we hear the drums of war beating ever louder throughout the world, we are tasked to learn how to bring peace and to find joy in the regrets of life”, he added.
The archbishop called on people to set aside their arguments.
“For many years, we have seen disagreement and upheaval emerging both abroad and locally. These go beyond the superficial clashes, for the deepest damage they have done is formless: numerous friendships broken, familial ties tarnished, and old acquaintances turned into enemies, all because of different political leanings towards either global or local matters.
“This is a tragedy. When we all take our own stance as absolute, we create antagonists out of each other, and we fill our society with confusion.
“Trust will be no more, and relationships will break. We must therefore seek a way to heal the rifts in our family, our society, and our world, for it is the only path to happiness,” Archbishop Chan stressed in his Christmas message.
He cited as an example the late Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa, who had invited two wardens of the Robben Island prison where Mandela had been imprisoned, to attend his inauguration, including one who had tortured him.
“This, my friends, is healing, and this is the greatest achievement of Mandela’s personal and political life,” said Chan, who was installed as the Primate in January this year after Paul Kwong retired.
Bishop Stephen Chow Sau-yan, of the Catholic diocese of Hong Kong, meanwhile urged people to spend time with their loved ones during the festive season, although they might find it hard to be “hyped up” to celebrate the holiday as the end of the pandemic did not seem “to be readily in sight”.
“Closeness and love cannot be substituted by material gifts. The better way is to be willing to ‘waste’ time being with our loved ones, without [worrying about] the outcomes,” Bishop Chow said in his Christmas message.
“Spending time to be with them, listening to them emphatically, feeling for them, celebrating their achievements and failures, standing by them, looking ahead with them, and pointing to them the hope and love that are of God.”
Hong Kong’s Catholics had been without a permanent leader for more than two years since the death of Bishop Michael Yeung Ming-cheung in early 2019. The Vatican had brought former bishop John Tong Hon out of retirement to serve as the apostolic administrator until Chow took office.
