Francis_Hon's Xanga

A rather new life

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:11:50 GMT

I'm now an "ordinary" parishioner. In terms of time, the change was gradual. I started relying on the new ExCo from November when they came to life. But in terms of mentality, it is quite a big switch. Now things happening around Parish Council and its working committees are nothing much of my business. I no longer look for gaps and ask people to fill them. My Parish is getting much more tranquil.

And it was in one of the Sunday afternoons when there was normally a Parish Council meeting, that I went to SOHO, alone, and enjoyed a delicious lunch, with a nice book in hand.

2 years is not a long time, but there are things that I have to make effort to pick up again. I had nearly forgone all my favourite pasttimes: from playing computer games and listening to music to casual reading and learning new piano pieces. And to add to the list, I seemed to have forgotten how to initiate little projects in life and to dream about possibilities.

To re-learn in order to become once again a 3-D person will be one of my new year resolutions, in this rather new life.

Some thoughts on the more macro Parish Council issues

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 07:38:56 GMT

As we are approaching the end of the 2006-07 term, I am taking the opportunity to revisit some more macro issues of the Parish Council.

1. On Role of Parish Council

There are two contrasting, but not mutually exclusive, thoughts as to the role of parish council: 1) as co-ordinator of parish activities, ensuring that time and manpower do not clash, and providing a platform for pius associations to co-operate in initiatives of mutual interest; and 2) as initiator of parish activities, proposing direction and agenda, and implementing them via groups and parishioners. The reality is that we do and should have them both, and that there are rooms for the former to be done more thoroughly, and the latter to be done with stronger mandate and better support.

The weighting between the two roles depend on the positioning of the priests, and the vision of an ideal parish. If the priests position themselves as ones who provide support, recognition and vision, rather than more specific direction and day-to-day agenda, it is then up to the parish council to play the role of an initiator, if we are to go beyond the routine of day-in day-out. And if our vision of an ideal parish is one that helps facilitating the love of God and neighbour in this increasingly diversified and pluralistic society, continuous refreshing of direction and exploration of new initiatives are actually inevitable. If it is the tendency of service groups and pius associations to be more keen on keeping their own tradition and agenda, it is the responsibility of parish council to help bringing the parish in meeting the challenges of the generation.

Whichever is the heavier role, the present structure of our parish council is not the most perfect in motivating and positioning our councilors. The principle responsibility of our councilors is to give comments, not to plan and to action. It is true that they are invited to be members of working committees, but such responsibilities are essentially auxiliary in the present structure, frequently seen as a 'side business' for councilors. Councilors can use parish council as a platform for co-ordination of resources, but more so, they should be collectively responsible in setting directions, and be motivated for implementing the direction, through a better division of work and a better structure in terms of accountability and line of support. The workhorse may be pius associations or working committees, but nobody but the priests with the parish council are in the position of setting directions and seeing them through.

2. On Plurality

Decades ago, needs and concerns within a community were not varied at all: health, education, employment, and in the case of a Catholic community, Faith. In our time, we still have our Faith, but our agenda becomes much more diversified: young people are no longer merely looking for a mass every Sunday followed by football matches. Parents are no longer just looking to get their children into a school. They want them to have good adversity quotient, get good exposure, and be educated in all aspects of life. Theoretically, a parish would have the option of remaining focused on religious things, but if we want to attract more people to join and to stay behind, and to serve their spiritual as well as secular needs, we in fact are facing a pluralistic community of an entirely different scale from that 30 years ago.

Hence besides Sunday masses, there are not much activities that can potentially be enjoyed by the whole parish: 1st May pilgrimage are not attractive to youths, sponsored walk and youth musicals are not suitable for some elderly, feast day dinner, wherever the venue and pricing, are bound to single out some group of parishioners. And it would not be effective to, say, appeal to the youths that it is their duty to support the 1st May pilgrimage as a parish activity. Whether we like it or not, it is a generation (adults and youths alike) where people are more driven by attractions rather than duties. Socio-economic factors, like long working hours, rising property price and increasing competition in workplace and education are also squeezing us of our leisure time and interests, and the precious time remaining are reserved for things that are really necessary or attractive.

Plurality can only be met by empowerment and decentralization. Directions, for example, evangelisation and the bringing about of hope, are to be drawn at parish council level. How they are to be progressed, however, are to rely on parishioners close to people from different sectors, or even, to rely on the sectors themselves. Families may want to organise gatherings and ask parishioners and friends to bring dishes and to chat and pray. Young people may want to hang out for half a day at church for ball games, NDS, chit-chat, BBQ and sharing. The micromanagement and implementation would not be possible if it is a top-down process, and to maximize effectiveness it is best an initiative from the target group itself. The parish council can put these groups together as a start, and should develop its leaders and seeing them grow. What should then be done is to enlighten and empower the group. It is certainly necessary for priests and parish council to keep an eye on what is happening, but the tenor should be to support. A pluralistic (not necessarily relativistic) and united parish would be possible with parishioners from different background involved and engaged.

3. On Talking and Doing

A not unusual comments heard about our parish is that there are too much talking but too little doing. But actually talking and doing are the two essential activities an organization must have, without which no establishment can survive. In order to grasp the thinking behind the saying, it can be understood that there are too much comments (with some of them even uninformed and ungrounded) and spontaneous ideas, but not enough careful thoughts and planning.

Talking and comments should certainly be encouraged. With pluralism mentioned above in mind, views and inputs from parishioners are vital channels for collecting ideas and boosting involvement. But bit and pieces ideas are better at solving immediate problems than in building direction and implementing initiatives.

Careful thoughts and planning mean, for example, finding the needs of our youth, thinking up the things to do to address the needs, and then creating the necessary action plan and timeline. All these are to be planned in the outset, and the flow from one element to the other has to be logical. And the plans should not be mere vision or wishful thinking, but practical, actionable blueprints. Our parish council is picking up in its planning, and it is a habit that has to be established for us to further flourish.

Planning is neither natural nor straightforward, and has to be encouraged. ExCos, working committees and ad-hoc project teams should be asked to submit their working plan (ideally a 1 to 2-year plan for working committees) and budget for council's discussion and approval. The more experienced ExCos should work with committee convenors and project holders to support their planning.

The problem of course remains as to how to implement these plans. Our parish is blessed to have a dedicated group of 'doers', who very effectively get things done. A good and practical plan will be a step towards bridging of thinkers and doers. Parish council is in the best position to bear the responsibility of identifying groups of thinkers and doers, position them so that they can work closely with each other, and encourage the establishment of plans as blueprints for their co-operation.

4. On being a Christian Community

We are Christians by our love. There is no doubt about that. But it is sadly a well-known experience that we are prone to indulge in our earthly businesses (even they are for serving the Holy Church) and to have forgotten about God. We sometimes behave as if we are a secular community filled by people with no faith.

On the other hand, it is not easy (probably not necessary as well) to differentiate between our parish and a secular organisation in terms of activities. For the reason we mentioned above, it may not be desirable for us to retreat into organizing only 'sacred' activities. And observing Caritas, Mother Teresa, the Salesians of Don Bosco..., all of them do provide secular services like education and health care. The one thing that differentiates us is our love: our love of God, and our love of our neighbours.

In order to help building a Christian community, the parish council can steer a better co-ordination with our priests in spiritual initiatives, including First Friday Mass, Novena, talks and prayer gatherings. The current inclination is for parishioners and working committees to involve in logistics and arrangements. If the priests welcome helping hands in taking initiatives and planning of contents, it will be a good way in helping our parishioners to enhance bonding with God.

Parish Council and pius association members are very often Marthas rather than Marias. Infrequent but regular prayer gatherings, bible sharing, cell group and spiritual development among helpers of the parish would help reminding us of the reason behind their hard work. And the Word of the Lord and work of the Holy Spirit will surely guide us in building a more loving parish.

The End of the Beginning

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 11:47:04 GMT

Now I have less than 1 month left as Chairman of the Parish Council! The moment of actually stepping down has been something I've been dreaming about - I'll shake hands and hug and laugh with my best friends. I'll start a new year and pretty much a new way of spending my time. But upon seeing something imperfect - 0 altar boys at the 6pm mass, lack of communication for 24 Dec..., I still have the urge to put things in shape, with as much time and effort I could afford.

I've promised myself that I'll be uninvolved next year - and I know I can do it. I'm strong, influential and dominating (in terms of agenda) enough for this term. For the new team of ExCos, that would be uncomfortably overwhelming. I may or may not be able to re-position myself, but there're many things (at least many work) that I can divert my energy to. My beloved Parish and its Council will always be in my prayers.

I wonder what life would bring me. And it's like the moment you step off the plane at a foreign place - a bit nervous, a bit curious, yet smiling and light-hearted. Just as what Churchill has said, "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

回復快樂

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 16:13:44 GMT

謝謝大家的關心和那不能言傳的支持。平常我以為只有我關心別人，沒有人會留意我；這次再讓我感覺到朋友的愛護。那數天的迷惘確實濃烈。現在我沒事了，回復快樂了。

x x x x

我已決定不參選堂區議會 -- 叫不少人失望，也讓有些人寬心。我相信我會捨不得（畢竟值得做的事實在多），但大概不會欲罷不能，或做「幕後黑手」（我對做幕前的興趣大得多，而唯一我有興趣的幕後工作 -- 做 research --，在堂區沒有賣點）。其實，還有很多事情等著我：事業、LLB的final year，多彈琴（這數天很掛念「我的蕭邦」），多讀閒書，多寫文字（在Xanga和Facebook自娛而已），看看有沒有新鮮的興趣，為未來打算，也多找時間和Joanne，爸媽弟弟，朋友在一起。我始終認為，我不喜歡fixity，不願意囿於一種看法，一種模式。想著，我竟有點期待明年的日子！

x x x x

這陣子家裏裝修，我們整家人搬往有點迷你的Service Apartment寄居。別人好像也有4個人住雙人房子的，但要是包括兩個平均年齡超過30歲的孩子，則好像有點少見?。我要麼睡沙發，要麼睡睡袋，但幸好回到這裏時通常都已累得交關，3分鐘內，必定入睡！

x x x x

讀本地傳媒報道緬甸的事情，總叫人想到六四的日子。為何執政者總是執著的？異見，其實又有多可怕？

x x x x

「春有百花秋有月，夏有涼風冬有雪，若無閒事掛心頭，便是人間好時節」

「世上本無事，庸人自擾之」

有說 "why is there anything but not nothing" 是其中一條最最 philosophical的問題。我也可以問自己，我究竟喜歡anything，還是喜歡nothing?

Disoriented

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 18:23:32 GMT

Under pretty enormous pressure from different parties regarding something which by no means is extremely important, but is nevertheless something major - the kind of impactful decisions that occasion would only arise 3 to 5 times in any given year.

I've been so used to considering other people's wishes. I've lost control of my own fate. I'm trying to orchestrate people's music - but I can't find my own voice. Worse - I was not aware that I need a voice of my own.

That's why I'm disoriented - don't know where I'm heading, don't know what people want from me, don't know what I want from myself. Busy and important, full of engagements and responsibilities, but spending most of my time in firefighting. That's me.

I want to go out - stroll on the street deep in the night, live in a European city with much limitations yet full of opportunities, try new ways of life. Why not?

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 17:50:32 GMT

This is the first night of Evangelical Night big rehearsal! I consider myself a veteran in this aspect, yet the evening was still somewhat stressful - widespread lateness (including adults), people seemingly not motivated, minor dubious matters like photocopying of scores.... But I believe that things would get much better on Saturday - the cycle is something that we all should get used to.

Atmosphere became much more lively when the rehearsal had concluded, and people were enjoying themselves even they had absolutely nothing to do. People love getting together, but don't impose an agenda on them - it bores them.

This was exactly what happened in the youth pilgrimage. The most popular "programmes" are watching TV and playing cards in the night, and playing NDS and sleeping on the air-conditioned coach. Once our youths are told to do something - visit a temple, climb a hill, say rosary, there would surely be grumbles somewhere. Have we, as organizers, failed to grasp their mentality? Or that, once we start organizing something, we're doomed to fail, since they by nature don't like being organized?

It comes to the classical dilemma of youth development in church - whether we should plan something good for young people, or that we should plan something they like. Theoretically, the two are not mutually exclusive (say, because we're the temple of the Holy Spirit, we rejoice in what is good for us), but it's hard to find the right balance - very often, we ended up with events that are plainly good, but distressingly unpopular (e.g. Lent retreat); or that we organized something which is basically happy, but not much else (e.g. some youth gatherings). Adding to that situation is the lack of helpers. It may be that we are not delegating enough, but we have to appreciate the fact that not everything is delegable, and not everyone is capable of / willing to being delegated. It ended up that we're burdened by so many detailed administrative work, exhausted in the vicious cycle.

Having said all that, the things that I still enjoy greatly are friendship and satisfaction. If I'm not the organizer, I would also love seeing my friends having a good time hanging around and doing nothing much. And the satisfaction of co-operating with people that I'm close to, seeing them grow, having songs that I write and arranged sung by hundreds of people, planning an event from a mere concept to reality (although itself a lonely process): all these satisfied me. And that's why I'm still around, doing more or less the same thing every year, making more or less the same complaints.

I do pray that the Evangelical Night will be a success; and that our young people will grow (and so would I): taking up new responsibilities, while still enjoying ourselves whatever positions we are in.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 16:55:19 GMT

這數個月，公司沒有一刻閒著。聖堂事無大小的事情，也從四方八面撲過來。

我不喜歡的無力感又出現了。

我已經幾乎把我所有的空閒時間都來應乎聖堂的工作（效率當然有高有低），但卻仍然停留在「撲火」階段 - 沒有什麼可以開創，只能兵來將擋；而且就算是撲火，也未必一定撲得到。是盡力而為了。是否問心無愧並不重要。我關心的，是我們所做的事，是否有益於堂區，有益於教友。

看來，仍然是這個老問題：大夥兒熱心，卻不一定考究處事方法；單打獨鬥的人不少，卻缺乏縱觀全局的人；各有宏大的目標，卻沒有歸一的優次。於是，個別的好人好事不計其數，整體的方向目標，卻在兜兜轉轉。

無論如何，祝我們有好的青年朝聖，好的佈道晚會！

Monday, July 09, 2007

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 12:55:46 GMT

露德聖母堂青年朝聖

2007年8月17日（五）至8月19日（日）

第一天：香港 --> 深圳 --> 韶關

景點：韶關南華寺、風采樓

第二天：韶關

景點：韶關市天主堂、丹霞山

第三天：韶關 --> 廣州 --> 深圳 --> 香港

景點：廣州石室教堂

收費：$1,000

即將接受報名！

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Sat, 05 May 2007 14:29:37 GMT

也學學我考試的朋友們：

29 May 2007 1000 - 1300 Criminal Law

4 June 2007 1000 - 1300 Law of Tort

11 June 2007 1000 - 1300 Land Law

Friday, February 16, 2007

Fri, 16 Feb 2007 13:13:21 GMT

I'm now working to re-define roles and relationships between Parish Council, its ExCos and Working Committees. We find that there're now predominantly 3 problems, which are closely inter-related:

too few people are doing plannings and making decisions. Others are unprepared, untrained, or are not given the right environment and motivation to do so
processes are highly centralised - and as a result, there are only time and resources for things that are urgent, routine, but not necessarily important
the needs of parishioners are very diversified, but we lack empowered helpers to serve those needs

I think quite some people are seeing our parish as a place with lots of red-tapes, rules and orders. Although that is not what I perceive, such feeling does prevent them from being motivated and engaged. There is no hope that a small team of 2 parish priests and 9 volunteer ExCos satisfactorily serves and plans for 1,300 parishioners (not to mention the neighbourhood community), many of them asking for different things.

Planned economy would not work. We need the liveliness and the sense of ownership of a market economy to create a vibrant parish.

x x x x

Work (which is getting more and more intensive), church matters and studying are taking up most of my time (not much is left, sadly, for Joanne, family and friends). Leisure time when I can enjoy music, reading and other interesting things is almost non-existent.

I can never forget, back in 2004, the moment I was back to Bristol after the Easter break: blue skies, green trees, fresh breeze, pubs with their windows wide opened, scent of coffee, sunshine at 8pm, big and welcoming bookstores, train journeys when I did nothing but read, places and knowledge to explore whenever I wanted to.... Quitting my job and going to Bristol was one of my bravest yet best decisions in life.

Now I learn through my day to day work. Yet life is hectic but not excited. Many things happen every day, but most are about the same bunch of people, same sort of situation. I'm longing for exposure and new experience. I know I'll become more and more "local", routine and a follower if things goes on. I may not be outstanding, but then I don't want to be mediocre.

x x x x

OK, enough of this.

We're approaching a happy holiday! Wishing you

健康快樂，事事如意！