On February 3, 2013, Sunday, our Priory was graced by an unusual group of visitors: Provincials and Vicars of the Dominican Provinces and Vicariates of the Asia/Pacific Region, who were accompanied by the Assistant to the Master of the Order for this Region and the Assistant to the Master for the Apostolic Life.
The group of Dominican superiors, who are in Hong Kong for their annual meeting, was headed by Fr. Vincent Lu, O. P., Assistant to the Master of the Order Fr. Bruno Cadoré, O. P. The other members of the group were: Fr. Prakash Lohale, O. P., Assistant for the Apostolic Life; Fr. Kevin Saunders, O. P., Provincial of the Province of Australia and New Zealand; Fr. Gerard Timoner III, O. P., Provincial of the Philippine Province; Fr. John Kusumanalayan, O. P., Provincial of the Indian Province; Fr. Vincent Li, O. P., Vicar of the Chinese General Vicariate of Taiwan; Fr. Hiroshige Watanabe, O. P., representative of the Vicar of the Canadian Vicariate in Japan; and Fr. Javier Gonzalez, O. P., Provincial of Our Lady of the Rosary Province and host of the meeting. The Provincial of the Vietnamese Province, Fr. Ngo Si Dinh, O. P., was not able to make it to Macau while the Vice-Provincial of Pakistan Vice-Province, Fr. Paulus Pascal, O. P., could not make it to the meeting in Hong Kong.
Our brothers celebrated the Sunday Eucharist with us. The concelebrated Holy Mass was presided by Fr. Vincent Lu, who spoke in his homily of the exemplary life of the first missionaries to Asia and of our responsibility to follow in their footsteps by proclaiming God’s Kingdom and serving our peoples, especially the needy. After the celebration of the Eucharist, the brothers from the different Provinces and Vicariates conversed with us and then had lunch in a restaurant with some members of our Priory. After lunch, they visited the emblematic places of beautiful Macau. In the evening, they went back to Rosaryhill, Hong Kong, where their meeting continued for a few more days.
In their 2013 yearly encounter, the superiors of the Dominicans in this part of the world talked of the current situation of their respective Province or Vicariate, of other possibilities of collaboration among them, and of new challenges, including the New Evangelization. Fr. Jose Luis de Miguel, O. P., our Moderator of St. Dominic Center of Studies, spoke to them in Rosaryhill of the New Evangelization ant its challenges.
Our brother and major superior Fr. Javier Gonzalez, the gracious host of the gathering of Provincial and Vicars expressed his fraternal gratitude to our Priory for the generous and kind hospitality of the brothers. (FGB)