ASIA/HONG KONG - “Follow me” (Mk 1:17) is the theme of the Diocesan Year for the Laity, centered on its “Vocation, Communion, and Mission”

Hong Kong (Agenzia Fides) - "Follow me" (Mk 1:17) is the theme of the Year for the Laity 2011 organized by the Diocese of Hong Kong, under the subheading "Vocation, Communion, and Mission." At the official announcement of the event, which took place on World Mission Sunday, the two Vicars-General of the diocese confirmed the basic objective of the Year for the Laity: that the faithful live their Christian identity with a spirit of joy, to build a community based on communion, carrying out the mission of evangelization. According to reports from the Kong Ko Bao (the Chinese version of the diocesan bulletin), the President of the Preparatory Commission, Vicar General Msgr. Dominic Chang, said: "We want to invite the faithful to discover anew the grace of baptism, to rekindle the zeal of their faith, and of evangelization." According to Msgr. Michael Yeung Ming Cheung, Diocesan Vicar, "the Year for the Laity highlights the conversion and mission of the faithful, and we hope for the close cooperation of faithful and priests to build the Church." To invoke the Lord's help in achieving these objectives, the diocese will hold a prayer vigil on December 31. The diocesan priests are also preparing for the Year for the Laity: missiologist Fr. Stephen Bevans, SVD has been invited to lead the priests' retreat in January, to help the priests in sharing ecclesial commitments with the laity. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 12/11/2010)