3657(I)_China Province Ordination during the Bicentenary

By CIN Development Office

Hong Kong - In the afternoon of June 20, 2015, the ordination Mass of Fr. Carlos Cheung was presided by Cardinal John Tong of Hong Kong Diocese, His Eminence Cardinal Joseph Zen, Fr Godofredo Atienza, Provincial of South Philippines and Fr Lanfranco Fedrigotti, Provincial of China Province, with more than 60 Salesian and diocesan priests who concelebrated. The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception was full, with more than 1000 faithful already present even one hour before the mass.

One touching moment was after putting on the priestly vestment and the presentation of the bread and wine, Fr. Carlos received hugs from all the priests during the sign of peace. This showed the fraternity in the Church and Salesian brotherhood. Fr. Carlos even left the altar to receive blessings and hugs from his Salesian confreres who were on wheelchairs.

Before the final blessing, Fr. Carlos started his sharing by thanking all the faithful and the youth who came to his ordination Mass and prayed for him. He also took the opportunity to thank his parents' generosity, who offered their best to God and to the Church; he believe that God would reward them abundantly. He also thanked his novitiate batch mates who came along from the Philippines to join this ordination Mass. Finally, Fr. Carlos humbly sought fervent prayers from all the faithful for vocations in the Church and his priesthood.

Fr. Carlos did not only give himself to God as a gift to the Church, he also gave all the faithful 3 gifts: his ordination memento card, a vocation promotion pamphlet with inspiring quotations and a book that he helped to translate. This book was about the liturgy teachings of the former Roman Pontiff: Pope Benedict XVI.

Fr. Carlos thought that his faith formation started in the family. He recalled that his grandmother prayed her rosary everyday and walked to church for her daily mass. His mother’s company also had great influence on his faith journey. He liked St. Margaret Church a lot. So, his mother brought him to the church for Sunday Mass. During his upper primary studies, he had started to consider vocation. He prayer over it and felt that God granted him the grace and was calling him to become a priest. During his lower secondary studies, he opened the diocesan directory and found a special place called “Savio House”. He called the House and knew that this was suitable for him to develop his vocation. Finally, he decided to join the Salesian seminary. This was how the seed of his vocation was planted and continued to grow.