Graced History of Hong Kong CLC
Prior to 1967The Sodality of Our Lady [Marian Congregation] was established in Hong Kong. Our late Cardinal Wu and some priests were members of the Sodality as seminarians in the South China Regional Seminary.
1967New name and new beginning: Christian Life Community
1968 On the Feast of the Annunciation, Pope Paul VI confirmed the General Principles of the World Federation of the Christian Life Communities
1970 The World Assembly in Santo Domingo: a crisis and a challenge (the GP were amended and approved in 1971 by the Holy See).
1971In HK therewere about 200 members in 15 CLC groups, most of them
students in 9 High Schools or in 2 Universities. There were 4 young adult groups [2 of university graduates, and 2 in parishes].
1972 WorldVice- EA Fr. Nick Rieman SJ and Executive Secretary Jose
Gsell visited HK from 8 to 10 July.
1973WGA in Augsburg, Germany: HK Delegates left CLC long ago.
Deathof Bishop Francis Hsu; succeeded by Bishop Peter Lei
1974First young adult group for many year,Evergreen,formed
1975Bishop John B. Wu became bishop of Hong Kong. Later Cardinal.
1976WGA in Manila, Philippines: HK Delegates left CLC long ago..
1978Fr. Seán Ó Cearbhalláin S.J.became national E.A. and attended the
1979 Rome Assembly: The re-vitalization of the CLC in HKbegan.
Eadaoin Hui did the month-long Sp.Ex: our first member to do so.
1979WGA in Rome: HK Delegates left CLC long ago.
The first Asia Pacific Meeting took place for three days after the Assembly ended. It was financed by the East Asian Assistancy of the Society of Jesus. One of the fruits was the Asia Pacific Formation Programme, for one month, July-August 1981, in Novaliches Manila.
1980- 1stHK Formation Programmefor youth plus a 6 or 8 Days’ Retreat.
- EvergreenCLC made a group 19th Annotation Spiritual Exercises.
- Since 1980, CLC has conducted formation programmes for youth and adults, short retreats, and Spiritual Exercisesfor individuals and groups
1981 Asian Formation Programme.[Manila]Eadaoin, Annie Lam, Fr. Seán participated. [also three others who some years later left CLC]
1982- WGA in Providence, USA: Delegates: Eadaoin Hui, Joseph Chan.
The World Federation became the World Community, and HK Federation eventually became CLC (Hong Kong)
- World ExCo appointed ac Commission, [HK + France] with Fr Nick Rieman as Chair, to start updating the GP incorporating the notion of ‘World Community’ and other issues such as inclusive language.The HK members were: Eadaoin, Jennie and Fr. Seán
- Fr.PatrickO’Sullivan and Jose Gsell visited HK and gaveworkshops
- Annie Lam was a member of a World ExCo Formation Teamworking
groupexploring the role of EA, Guides, Coordinators in CLC.
1983Formation materialsprepared for ten meetings for student CLC groups
1984 - DuringWorld CLC Day celebration, members suggested amendments to the GP. Later, the first version of the amended text prepared by Fr. Rieman was discussed and comments forwarded to Fr. Rieman.
- Annie Lam represented CLC at the Youth Colloquium in the Vatican
1985 - Annie Lam represented CLC in International Catholic Organisations Colloquium
1986 WGAin Loyola:
Delegates: Eadaoin Hui, Jennie Chor.Eadaoin elected as Consultor
The Working Group on GPcontinued to work on the revision of GP.
1989Jennie attended the meeting in Romeon the revision of GP.
1990- WGA in Guadalajara, Mexico: Delegates: John Tan, Grace Tse.
- TherevisedGP (and GN) approved by a large consensus, confirmed by the Holy See on 3 Dec.1990. (GP3 and The Progressio on: Deepening Our Understanding of the General Principles #6 contributed by Fr. Seán).
- HKstarted preparing for the next WGA as the ‘Host Country’
- Formation of lay guides for Spiritual Exercises, using video tapes from Creighton UniversityUSA.
1992Celebration of the Silver Jubilee of CLC
1993Fr. Elizalde, World Vice-EA of CLC, visited Hong Kong. We had an informal sharing on community common ministry.
1994- WGA in Hong Kong:: Delegates Amy Chan, Annie Lam.
The first time the WGA was held on secular premises not in a Catholic institution: more in line with our theme of mission in the secular world.
1996- Formal invitation from the Columban Sisters to assume responsibility for MarymountSecondary School [MSS] andMarymountPrimary School [MPS]. A Preparatory Reflection Group (Fr. Seán, Eadaoin, Amy Chan, Jennie, Amy Lim, John Tan, and Aloysius To) considered whether to bring the invitation to the Community and decided to do so.
- Annie Lam represented CLC in attending the 4th World Conference on Women of the United Nations in Beijing.
1996- After several months of community discernment, CLC accepted the invitation to assume responsibility for (MSS) and (MPS).
- Loyola Centre, a collaboration between individual CLC members and Jesuits to promote Ignatian Spirituality, began. CLC members began giving the Spiritual Exercises.
1997CLC [HK] formally assumed responsibility forMSS and MPS
A student faith sharing group was formed in MSS.
1998WGA Itaici. Delegates: Alice Law, Daphne Ho.
1999- First pilgrimage to Loyola
- HKFederationlegally changed name to Christian Life Community (Hong Kong).Henceforth membership refers to individuals, not groups.
2000- OnSept.9th, the practice of formal commitment in CLC was resumed.
37 members made permanent commitment and 15 temporary.
- Fr. Patrick O’Sullivan came to HK to give a retreat and talks
2001- Second pilgrimage to Loyola
- Marie Schimelfenig [USA] invited and gave a Formation Programmeon living the Ignatian Charism as a lay person.
2002October:In preparation for Nairobi, the World Exco organized the second Asia Pacific Regional Meeting in Manila..
2003- WGA Nairobi. Delegates: Sonya Chan, Sandra Chan.World ExCo co-opted Sandra as Consultor.
-JosephChorappointed as ‘Coordinator of Collaboration with SJ’.
Nov. 2003 He attended Jesuit-Lay Partnership Workshop [Manila].Formation programmestarted for lay guides for the Sp. Ex.
2004- Third pilgrimage to Loyola
- Astudent CLC group was formed in MSS
- Several CLC members attended the SJ retreat and a workshop on Collaboration in Taiwan.
2006Organised the Ignatian Conference jointly with the SJ
2007Fourth pilgrimage to Loyola
2008- A Reflection Team was formally established to assist ExCo in moving the CLC[HK] towards becoming an apostolic community
- The CLC Leunis Institute was established to promote Spiritual Exercises and Ignatian Spirituality as a common ministry.