The Association of Pauline Cooperators
Association of Pauline Cooperators Celebrating 100 Years -
Wake up the World with the Light of the Gospel
To commemorate the centenary, the Association of Pauline Cooperators held an Eucharistic celebration at the Daughters of St Paul’s Convent on June 30, 2018. The Mass was presided by Auxiliary Bishop Ha Chi Shing. Members of the Pauline Family and more than 30 friends and cooperator’s relatives came to the occasion.
At the start of the Mass, Sr Grace Lee read the letter from Sr. Ann Maria Parenzan, Superior General of the Daughters of St. Paul to the assembly. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Association of Pauline Cooperators, a 9-day international convention was held in Rome in May this year. 300 Pauline cooperators from 25 countries around the world, including 7 members from Hong Kong, attended the convention. It was a memorable time for our Cooperators to come together, get to know one another and share their work experience. The theme of the Convention was: What it means to be a Pauline Cooperator in the Church today. We were pleased to see the Centenary Convention achieveing good results. With grateful hearts, we thanked God for walking with us and granting us grace and mercy.
During the homily, Bishop Ha spoke of St. Paul as one of the two most important saints in the history of the Church, alongside St. Peter. Paul was regarded as an apostle of the gentiles or messenger of the Good News. He was not afraid of hardships and distress. He took three missionary journeys and extensively established churches and communities in Asia Minor and Europe so that a large number of gentiles became Christians. Paul was unique and heroic, but tragic. His missionary work was full of challenges and hardships, but he let nothing stop him from exhaustion and suffering. What was there to keep him going forward? We think it was his belief and a complete trust in the Lord. Paul believed that it was God’s calling. God had taken care of him when he was in the mother’s womb and God had chosen him. He was touched by God’s grace and his faith in God gave him courage to do more missionary work than others: “But when God, who had set me apart from the time when I was in my mother’s womb, called me through his grace and chose to reveal his Son in me” (Gal 1:15)
Bishop Ha also encouraged us to memorize that day’s Gospel verse: “I should preach him to the gentiles ” (Gal 1:16). We should bring Jesus Christ to the world today with the spirit of St. Paul.
During the Mass, one of our sisters in Christ, Maria Lam, made her commitment to be a Pauline Cooperator and Pauline Charism and promised to carry out the mission of the Pauline Family.
In 1917, blessed Fr. James Alberione founded the Association of Pauline Cooperators in Alb, Italy. The Hong Kong Group was established in 2008,which is a small community with lay men and women. In the past decade, the cooperators have made mistakes and come across obstacles, but God’s grace has helped us through and strengthened us. We would like to give thanks to the Fsp sisters, friends and all benefactors who have given us assistance, support and courage in various ways. May the Lord grant to each one of us grace to cope with the next ten years and let us experience his joy and blessing.
Dominic Lau
July 6, 2018
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