{"id":260405,"date":"2017-12-10T07:34:18","date_gmt":"2017-12-10T12:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aleteia.org\/?post_type=post&p=260405"},"modified":"2017-12-10T07:34:18","modified_gmt":"2017-12-10T12:34:18","slug":"hong-kong-plans-to-recruit-more-men-to-be-deacons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2017\/12\/hong-kong-plans-to-recruit-more-men-to-be-deacons\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong plans to recruit more men to be deacons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The Church there is booming and needs help:<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

The Hong Kong Catholic Church will recruit more married men to reach out to the needy as it encourages more young people to join the priesthood, a top leader of its 389,000-strong diocese has said.<\/p>\n

While the move aligns with Pope Francis<\/a>\u2019s appeal earlier this year to bring in married men to address the problems of a shortage of priests, local church leaders said their push was inspired by a different reason.<\/p>\n

Vicar General Reverend Dominic Chan Chi-ming also said the church in Hong Kong was not short of priests. However, in recent years only a few people have been ordained annually, while the number of followers has grown relatively quickly.<\/p>\n

According to the diocese, the number of Catholics in the city surged by 60 per cent from 242,500 in 1997 to 389,000 last year. But during that period, the number of priests declined by 10 per cent, from 326 to about 290 last year. And the ranks of Catholic brothers and sisters also fell.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of sacraments, we wouldn\u2019t say we are short of priests,\u201d Chan said. \u201cWe need to look at our followers who are very active, compared with those in Taiwan.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Catholic Church requires its priests to remain celibate. But since the late 1960s, married men have been ordained as \u201cpermanent deacons\u201d in Europe and the Americas to help priests in their ministry.<\/p>\n

Chan said while Hong Kong was the first Asian diocese to ordain permanent deacons in 1997, the move stemmed from the church wanting to perform more outreach and not leaving the task to priests alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout deacons, the priests had to do everything, just like Father Franco Mella<\/a> had to take to the streets,\u201d Chan explained, in a reference to the long-time activist who has fought for the rights of mainland families in the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cPriests were ordained to host sacraments \u2026 while the deacons are servants for the weak.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Read more.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Church there is booming and needs help: The Hong Kong Catholic Church will recruit more married men to reach out to the needy as it encourages more young people to join the priesthood, a top leader of its 389,000-strong diocese has said. While the move aligns with Pope Francis\u2019s appeal earlier this year to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":205873,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11252],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-260405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-open-mind"],"yoast_head":"\nHong Kong plans to recruit more men to be deacons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Church there is booming and needs help: The Hong Kong Catholic Church will recruit more married men to reach out to the needy as it encourages more\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2017\/12\/hong-kong-plans-to-recruit-more-men-to-be-deacons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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