Today (May 27) I went with several parishioners to the Catholic cemetery at Chai Wan to pay respect to some of our common friends. I will talk specifically about two deceased: Fr Stephen Edmonds MM and Mrs Leung Lee Hang Shiu.

Fr Edmonds, an American, was a member of Maryknoll Fathers. Right after his ordination in 1940, he came to China as a missionary. In 1949 after the liberation of China, he came to Hong Kong to continue his mission. The Star of the Sea Parish at Chai Wan was founded by him. After his retirement, he still lived in the priest’s residence of the parish until his death. He chose to be buried in the Catholic cemetery at Chai Wan so that he could be close to his people, living and dead. In the more than twenty years after his retirement, he continued to visit different jails every day, rain or shine. During his mission in Chai Wan, in addition to building the church and providing education, he also organized a youth soccer team which he brought into jails to play matches with prisoners, showing his sincere effort.

As to Mrs Leung Lee Hang Shiu, I met her by chance when I visited the Hong Kong Eastern Hospital. At that same, I was serving at the Star of the Sea Parish. I found that her table was packed with books on Buddhism and so discussed with her the meaning of life. At a later date, I learned that her husband was a Catholic. After some time, she decided to follow her husband to believe in the Catholic faith. However, she tried to delay her baptism. She said to me: “You may say that I am silly. I am afraid of baptism because I found that those sick persons who were baptized were summoned by God on the third day. This thought is naive, but I am scared!” She was eventually baptized on the feast day of the parish in August of 1999 and returned to the Father’s home in January of 2000.

Please pray for these two friends.