博德的疑惑 Patrick’s Doubts

兩周之內接連發生嚴重天災，本月初緬甸發生大風災和昨天四川發生大地震，實在太可怕，死亡人數不斷增加，讓我們大家為受難者祈禱和捐款救助災民。香港天主教教區日前已發出呼籲教友捐款給緬甸災民，詳情請看：香港教區主教公署秘書長辦公處通告－－為緬甸風災災民募捐

香港教區於5月13日呼籲教友捐助四川大地震的災民，另外，令人感動的是上海天主教教區金魯賢主教得知災情後，立即捐出一百萬元人民幣捐款：上海教区向四川汶川地震灾区捐款。

四 川 大 地 震 賑 災 捐 款 方 法

團 體 ： 香 港 紅 十 字 會
部 份 捐 款 戶 口 號 碼 ： 匯豐 ： 004-567-650155-016 、 中 銀 ： 012-806-0-000161-7
查 詢 熱 線 ： 2802 0021

團 體 ： 聯 合 國 兒 童 基 金 會
部 份 捐 款 戶 口 號 碼 ： 匯豐 ： 567-354014-005 、 中 銀 ： 012-875-1-081085-5
查 詢 熱 線 ： 2833 6139

團 體 ： 香 港 世 界 宣 明 會
部 份 捐 款 戶 口 號 碼 ： 匯豐 ： 018-554444-001 、 中 銀 ： 012-883-0-002666-2
查 詢 熱 線 ： 2394 2394

團 體 ： 東 華 三 院
部 份 捐 款 戶 口 號 碼 ： 匯豐 ： 004-002-250553-016 、 中 銀 ： 012-875-0-027677-7
查 詢 熱 線 ： 1878 333

團 體 ： 中 國 福 音 事 工 促 進 會
部 份 捐 款 戶 口 號 碼 ： 匯豐 ： 005-237029-001 、 中 銀 ： 012-877-0-008055-8
查 詢 熱 線 ： 2394 9195

1.  UNICEF

http://www.unicef.org.hk/news/list_detail.php?id=234

2.  World Vision

http://www.worldvision.org.hk/appeal/Sichuan/emer_frame.html

3.  Red Cross

http://www.redcross.org.hk/home.cfm?Mid=2280&FMid=106&SMid=108&popup=0

4.  Oxfam

http://www.oxfam.org.hk/public/contents/news?item_id=75959&revision_id=76065&print=1

5.  Salvation Army

http://www.salvation.org.hk/Chinese/index.htm

After reading the recent news about the protests and crackdowns in Tibet, I feel very much compelled to pray for peace there. As usual, the Chinese government expels foreign journalists and bans them from covering the situation in Lhasa (This time, even journalists from at least six Hong Kong media organizations were placed under escort and ordered out of Lhasa. See Hong Kong Journalists Association’s statement: http://www.hkja.org.hk/portal/Site.aspx?id=A1-690&lang=en-US). Nobody can be sure about what the Chinese government is doing and will do to the Tibetan people who took part in the protests. State security officers and the propaganda officials in China are so nervous to send out negative news about the Tibetan protesters.

As human being, I now only want to pray for peace in Tibet. I sincerely hope that the Chinese government will listen to the demands of the Tibetan people and negotiate with them. Peace cannot be achieved if there is more violence.

This year is the 30th anniversary of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese. I feel very much honoured to be able to get involved in the preparation work to celebrate the group’s anniversary. What a coincidence! I become 30 years old this year as well.

Therefore, I can’t see any contradiction between faith and social justice. Rather, they are intertwined with each other. I would prefer to spending more time to help those in need to making any more excuses.

正在看一本有關天使的書，從前以為只有基督宗教和猶太教的信徒才相信有天使的存在，原來伊斯蘭教信徒都相信有天使的存在。

好奇心驅使下，上了維基百科 Wikipedia查看有關天使的文章，發現原來大有學問，看似虛幻的天使，卻在幾個主要宗教佔着頗為重要的地位。甚至許多人相信，在世間多行公義的人，死後會成為天使。

天使，作為神的使者，就像公義的化身。

傳統道德審判價值常有兩極的表現，對與錯，善與惡。傳統思想中，天使必引領人向善，魔鬼必誘惑人行惡。

道德觀念影響我們看人的價值，影響我們對事物是否公義的看法，但可以肯定，保障基本人權是來自天使的信息。

We had a great CLC Feast Day last Saturday (24 March 2007) before the Annunciation. Fr. Sean gave us a talk about how to identify “indicative” and “prescriptive” statements in our General Principles.

Two clauses about “option for the poor” caught my attention. I sincerely hope that my CLC community will soon be able to discern the “prescriptive” statements about “option for the poor” in the General Principles, so that we will be able to do something for the poor, but not keep thinking this kind of actions as merely “indicative” statements. God bless!

全球大部分人口都有信奉宗教，每一個宗教對社會的看法與影響各有不同。雖然幾乎所有宗教都提倡導人向善，但對道德價值的判斷卻有很大差異。

佛教愛談善惡因果；天主教、基督教、東正教等基督宗教則以神愛世人和罪為信仰核心；回教以朝拜真主為信仰生活基礎；還有其他不同宗教對信仰有不同的表述和體現。

對於社會和道德價值，宗教信仰起了很大的影響，主導了許多社會價值以及對人性的看法，甚至對國家政治發展起了一定的作用。

就以天主教為例，上世紀六十年代舉行了梵蒂岡第二次大公會議後，教會內引 起了一些關注社會公義的討論，隨後教廷成立了「宗座正義和平委員會」，專責關注世界各地所有有關人權、和平與公義等議題，香港天主教會在七十年代亦相應成 立「天主教正義和平委員會」，三十年來一直關注各種不同的社會公義和人權等議題，跟被邊緣化的人走在一起。

隨著社會對人權意識的提升，其他宗教亦相應出現類似團體，令宗教團體愈來 愈多參與社會運動，慢慢社會對宗教又形成了一種新看法。某些宗教如天主教對同性戀等問題因為信理的問題，已有既定的立場，因此在討論這個問題上，有些就算 是在其他社會公義問題取向開放的教徒，即便顯得甚為保守，甚至與同性戀這個弱勢社群劃清界線。這種道德價值的分歧，常常使參與社運的教徒與其他社運人士存 在一種微妙的芥蒂。至於要如何化解這種矛盾，除了彼此放下成見，真誠對話討論之外，筆者實在想不到有何妙法，還望各位社運前輩指點問津。

香港獨立媒體連結: www.inmediahk.net

The Christian Life Community (Hong Kong) [CLC (Hong Kong)] is going to have its annual General Assembly (GA) tomorrow. Just a few days ago, our CLC’s president Joseph sent us a very touching email asking us to try our best to take part in all sessions of the GA.

Last year has been a very hectic year for me as I took part in too many different activities and works with different civil rights groups. But I hope I can take part in more CLC activities this year and kick off my spiritual exercise.

Have been very busy with work and voluntary work at the Justice and Peace Commission recently. Have learnt a lot. I was lucky to have the chance to speak at St. Andrew’s Church last Sunday. Thanks to the excellent preparation work done by the staff at Justice and Peace Commission, the speech was very well received. The topic was about globalisation and the poor with reference to the commercialisation of Christmas. Due to globalisation, the problem of uneven distribution of wealth is becoming worse. The wealth gap between the rich and the poor has been further widened. I was so happy that a sister at the parish came to me after the mass liturgy on that day and asked me if she could use the text of my speech for the parish’s newsletter. I felt very much honoured by God’s grace to have given me the opportunity to speak for the poor at a parish with socially-minded people. Let us pray for the poor as Christmas is coming!

Haven’t written my spiritual reflection for a month. So many things have happened since I wrote the last one. I had appendicitis several days after I wrote the last reflection in mid-September. It’s so painful. It’s lucky that I had the operation to remove my appendix one week before I was scheduled to leave for Europe to attend some conferences there. Thank God, I recovered in just one week after the operation. It’s really God’s grace. I came across the entrances of many Catholic churches in Britain, Belgium and Spain. I felt very peaceful when I saw the magnificent architecture of the medieval churches there. Thank God for giving me the opportunity to have kind of pilgrimage during my business trip. During the trip, I prayed for my health and my family’s health. Lord, please grant us peace and health, so that we’ll be able to praise you everyday. Thanks for Your love towards us. Amen.

Have been sick in the last few days. My intestine was so painful. Thank God for helping me recover so soon. Suddenly, I feel that health is so important which is something that I have ignored in the past 30 years. Haven’t done much on spiritual reflection in the last week. Hope can do more again starting from today!