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各位教友 : 相信你們已見到堂區中心的建築工程正進行得如火如荼。有些教友會直覺地認同有此需要，有些卻會反覆思量，探求勞師動眾興建堂區中心的理據。 時移世易，堂區單單作為崇拜上主的地方已經過時了﹔現今教會已被大眾視為一個團體､一個以天主的名號而聚集在一起的大家庭。每逢主日﹐祂的子民都被召集在一起朝拜祂､讚美祂和以行動宣示自己的信仰。堂區生活亦由此而變得多姿多彩﹕有禮儀的規劃､福傳的事工､肢體的互助﹐及林林種種的活動來見證我們的信仰。 恆久以來，有一部份的堂區活動都在神父宿舍內進行。但世事總在不停變動，現今教會希望神父也能擁有自己的個人空間，把家居和工作場所分開。試想當你正要用膳或梳洗時，你的工作伙伴還留在會客室裡議事，那何來家的感覺呢﹖ 一個更重要的因素是我們要放眼將來，為未來的團體打好基礎。有賴上主的眷顧，我們既已擁有歷史悠久和充滿藝術氣色的漂亮教堂 (看，那些彩色玻璃) ﹔我亦有幸能擁有舒適的居所，得以充分休息。但其實堂區對空間的需求已日漸逼切，這亦是高瞻遠矚的 Fr Brian 毅然策劃興建堂區中心的主因。 面對建築工程的開展，我邀請了一些教友幫助我尋求大家共同參與這浩大工程的方法。本星期開始，我們會推行「認購磚頭」籌款活動，我們盼望這亦可幫助大家在堂區留下你的歷史足跡。 希望這活動能為日後同類形籌款活動帶來一個美好的開始，請大家踴躍參與。 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: As you know, we are trying to build a new Parish centre with Offices and meeting rooms. Some of you may ask why? Well the reasons can be simple or complicated. Simple would be just to say, ‘because we need one’. Complicated would be trying to explain why is it that we need a parish centre now. Times are changing; the days where the parish was seen only as a centre for worship are staying in the past. Nowadays, the Church is seen more and more as a community, a family who under the name of the Lords gathers together every Sunday to worship Him and give Him thanks and also as the community that following the invitation of the Lord is invited to show its faith through actions. This is where other aspects of the parish life come about: Planning for Liturgies, planning for Catechesis, planning for helping those in need, planning for ways to help people to live and express their faith. So far, part of this planning has to happen in the Presbytery (the priest’s house), but again, as times are changing, the church wants priest to be able to see the presbytery more as a home and less as a working space. No one would be happy if suddenly your co-workers decide to have a meeting in your living room, you may enjoy the company, just about the time you are having your dinner or when you are ready to get a shower. At the end of the day you need a place you can call home. As you can see, the reasons are not that simple and require a shift in the way we see our community. Our role as a community is to do our best to provide not only the community of today but more importantly the community of the future, our youth and children, with something they can build upon. We are blessed that we are not starting from zero, we have a beautiful church, full of history and art hardly seen in churches today (look at the stained windows) and also I am blessed to have a place I can go back at night and have a good rest. But this is not all that the parish needs, as times changes also our needs for space. That is why, with the vision of Fr Brian, our community has committed to this project. With this project in front of us, I have invited some members of our community to help me in finding ways where the community can get involved and can feel they are contributing for this important project. Starting this week, we want to start the selling of pavers, these will be incorporated in the final design and we think is a good way to invite the people to ‘leave their mark’ for the future. Hopefully this will be a good start for our fundraising activities. Details of the selling of these pavers are printed in the Newsletter; I hope you can help us. Peace in Jesus Fernando Montano MG |