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各位教友 : 上個主日，我提到堂區內青年團體及兒童的重要性，今天，我想談談成年人方面的，我們身處的社會，常常無可避免地接觸到不少信仰上的挑戰，報紙、雜誌、電影、電視等媒體，不時對教會發出存有偏見及誤解的報導。 在這資訊爆炸的年代，天主教徒比以往任何一個時代，更易於進入探索信仰知識的領域。但是，我發覺不少人在信仰上仍然非常貧乏，固然，他們都老實地承認這一點，但卻同時甘願與這貧乏長期共處，「他們願意多學習一點嗎？」這是我心底的問號。有些人解釋道：那是成長時期的限制：只許聽、不許問的結果。然而當我們邁開第一步，走進天主教教義的寶庫時，那歷歷在目的各種宗教知識、教會傳統、彌撒禮儀及其中的典故，真是遍地芳菲，令人猶如遊歷一座豐纍的樂園，目不暇給、眼界大開。 在堂區層面上，我常思考信仰培育應從何處著手。幸運地我們的聖經研習班已完成了《路加福音》及《宗徒大事錄》，現在正開始研讀保祿書信，以迴應保祿年的召叫。 老實說，這聖經研習其實並不足夠，卻是一個好開始。縱使聖經是我修讀神學時常常徜徉其中，樂而忘返的科目，我對聖經的認識卻並非此中翹楚。這逢第二及第四個星期三，晚上七時卅分的聖經研習班，常使我樂在其中，在這裡眾人可以交換意見、提出疑問，即使有些問題與研習的聖經章節無關，也無傷大雅。我盡量把時間定為一小時，好讓參與者返家，為明天的各項事務作好準備。 在此，我鼓勵你們透過不同的渠道，多多鑽研自己的信仰，大至神學課程，小至天主教報刊，也能成為我們進修的途徑，在這資訊發達的年代，讓我們盡量充實一下自己吧！ 最後，我們的擴建工程已正式展開，誠邀各位共禱：願工程事事順利！ 主佑， 莫靖龍神父 (此乃莫神父致教友書信之意譯，書信內容以英文為準) |
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Dear Parishioners: Last week, in my weekly column I wrote something about the importance of youth and children formation in our community. This week I want to say something about the formation of adults. We live in a society and in a time where we are constantly challenged about our belief in the Catholic Faith. Newspapers, magazines, movies and even TV programs constantly present if not a very positive side of our Church, their affirmations sometimes are just based on misunderstandings and prejudices. Now more than ever, Catholics have the chance to go deeper in the knowledge of their faith, and in this era of information, be exposed to more insights and discussions than ever. Many times in my ministry, I find people who honestly accept that they don’t know much about their faith and I always keep asking myself: Do they want to learn? Some other people have said that this is the way they were brought up, using the listen and don’t ask principle but when they are introduced to the mere basics of Catholic Doctrine they are fascinated to find a world of knowledge, traditions, spiritual journeys and stories that help them to keep growing and searching in the spiritual sense. At the parish level, there is always the question of Where do we start? And I have asked myself that question many times. It was precisely when I was asking myself that kind of question that the “bible study group” was formed. Thanks God, we have been studying the bible for more than a year already and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit we have completed already two books from the New Testament: Luke’s Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. Now we are going to move on to St Paul’s writings, it matches the year of St Paul we are celebrating and also gives us the chance to keep studying and meditating on the New Testament. I honestly think this is not enough but I admit it is a start, my knowledge of Bible is just limited but it has been one of the main areas in my years in Theology that I felt really drawn into. Hopefully more people could come and benefit from these simple talks we try to arrange twice a month on the second and fourth Wednesday s of every month at 7:30pm. Something I really enjoy about these sessions is the moment when people can share their insights or just ask a casual question, sometimes related to the question but other times not necessarily. I try to keep the sessions to about one hour so everybody can go back home and be ready for the next day. I encourage you to make it part of your personal resolutions to learn more about our faith, this can be done by proper studies at the different places where studies of theology are given or maybe participating in the different formation activities planned in our own parish or even by reading more catholic material like Catholic Outlook, Catholic Weekly or some other Catholic Magazine. As I mentioned before now you have the chance to know more about your faith than ever before, take advantage of this and do something about it. I leave you with that. On a different note as you can see the building project has started, a few weeks ago I mentioned about the arrangements for traffic and parking during this time. I invite you to pray for the smooth development and the success of this important project. Peace in Jesus Fernando Montano MG |