From Fr Will in Hong Kong…
Subject: RE: Palanca to HONG KONG
Dear Jim
De Colores! Both the Team and the new Cursillistas of HK#2 were truly overwhelmed by the wonderful messages of encouragement, prayers and love pouring out from all of you, our Australian Cursillo friends and mentors. We cannot thank you enough.
HK Cursillo #2 was a joyful time, full of fun and laughter, learning, sharing, and spiritual growth for us all. Evelyn our Lay Director, Alison our Proctor, Aron and John our musicians, Andrea who led us in morning exercises, Maddy, Rosanna, TK and Saki our table leaders, Kate and Rita made a fantastic team, with Robert and myself as Spiritual Advisers. The men’s table (St Francis) were all HK Chinese and they naturally conducted all their discussions in Chinese, which was fine, although all of them are also quite fluent in English and well able to understand and join in everything. The women’s table (St Clare) included Rese (Theresa) who is English, so they did everything in English which was also fine.
The retreat house on Cheung Chau Island is a place of such peace and beauty that it’s easy to forget the hard beds and pillows! Last night there was a huge thunderstorm around 2am and many of us lost an hour or two of sleep. But we were still up for Mananita and Andrea’s morning exercises.
Being on Cheung Chau we felt far away from the troubles in Hong Kong. One of our new Cursillistas, Esme, said it was like being in paradise. But we all have to come down from those mountain-top experiences, back to the ‘new normal’ in Hong Kong – MTR stations smashed up and closed, not knowing how or when we might get home, and the weekend – now almost daily – violent confrontations between protesters and police. We slightly shortened the programme so that we could finish with Clausura before lunch today, to avoid the trouble that always comes in the afternoon and evening. Thankfully everyone reached home safely. We pray all the time for peace in Hong Kong, and we also committed ourselves to bring the peace and hope of Christ into our environments – family, work, church.
And now we’re starting to make plans for HK#3! We may have this in May next year, rather than wait until next October. Hopefully now we’ve done it once, the second time will be easier.
Please share this snapshot of HK Cursillo #2 with other Cursillo friends. We’ll send some photos too. Thank you all so much again.
Ultreya!
Will