The Anniversary Mass

In 1977, some of the Catholic past pupils of the old Canossian School for the Deaf began to meet monthly at one of the Hong Kong parishes. That initial group plus many later graduates became the basis for what is today's Hong Kong Catholic Pastoral Association of the Deaf. Here some of the Catholic deaf leaders prepare for the anniversary mass in the chapel of their old school which is now Caritas Magdalene School.

In 1987 when Fr. Dittmeier arrived in Hong Kong, the monthly mass was made a weekly mass for the deaf group, separate from the hearing community. Sign language was introduced, and the group was opened up to membership by all deaf people.

Here the school chapel is almost full of past pupils, other deaf people who became Catholic, present and former teachers, and present pupils of CMS.

 

Several priests of different religious orders worked part-time with the early deaf group, particularly when they were having mass once a month. Some of those priests joined Bishop Joseph Zhen as concelebrants for the anniversary mass. Bishop Zhen has been an especially good friend to the disabled people and the Catholic deaf community in Hong Kong.

On the left is Fr. Fernando Montano, the present chaplain for the Catholic deaf community. The previous chaplain, Fr. Charlie Dittmeier, on the right, here tries to remember his Cantonese and Hong Kong sign language.