Benedict Keith Ip
The Diocese has made its first step. On September 26 and 27, the Diocese of Macau set up a forum at the Macau Polytechnic Institute to discuss three major aspects of the Diocese since the 20th Century – namely, pastoral care, charity work and education. The forum publicly invited scholars, co-workers, faithful and people who were interested in updating their understanding of the opportunities and challenges that the Diocese is currently facing. The forum attracted more than one hundred participants in each sector, which is quite successful considering that it was an academic event.
As the forum came to a conclusion, Fr. Louis Ha, a veteran Hong Kong historian, said that the Diocese had many things worth sharing and deserved more discussion. In responding to his words, it is important to learn from this experience in preparation for more groundbreaking conversations in the future. I would also like to try and relate some of the important points that he highlighted.
First of all, the forum title is somewhat intriguing. If we try to compare the English and Chinese titles, the term “Catholic Faith” only appears in English. It is only implicit in Chinese given the contents being discussed. In addition, the forum goes beyond the “Macau Chinese Lay Community”. Charity work conducted by famous Portuguese and foreign missionaries is an example of the vital connection between Chinese and Portuguese communities. In future, therefore, if the title can more clearly capture the scope of the discussion, it will significantly enhance the academic standard.
Second, this forum did a very good job in enlarging the scope of participants by focusing not only on works within the Diocese, but also the place of Catholicism in Macau society and its engagement with the world as a whole. Therefore, the forum brought people to anticipate the future, rather than to enjoy the glories and honors of the past.
And so we come to my third point, that it is imperative that the Diocese tackles the issue of education. Macau has built more living communities in new reclaimed areas as well as public housing complexes. However, none of the new schools are in those areas, nor were plans made to respond to those needs. The curriculum reform led by the government has deliberately eliminated religious education through the implementation of a civil education curriculum; it is odd that Catholic schools are not able to introduce their faith in the name of Christ. The reform also neglected a universal standard by excluding religious studies in high school – a component the education system needs if the government really wants to set up standard universal exams. A Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education, for example, offers test papers in Buddhism and Christianity (the latter in both Catholicism and Protestantism). Catholic schools also need to rethink their position in general, seeing as Macau basically offers free education nowadays, while before it was the Catholic schools that offered education to the poor at a fair price.
Anyway, the forum acutely pinpointed the very fact that the Macau Diocese is being forced to change, rather than the Diocese taking the initiative to shape the future. It was so long ago now that I cannot remember when we last had such a huge forum in the past decade, especially with Macau having experienced tremendous transformation since the handover as well as the booming casino era. I strongly encourage the Diocese to offer more events, which can partner with various universities. It is impossible to paint a better picture if we do not have a common understanding; the purpose of having more fora is for sharing information and holding discussions.
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