{"id":4693,"date":"2010-07-27T13:29:03","date_gmt":"2010-07-27T13:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2010\/07\/hong-kong-ordains-its-youngest-permanent-deacon.html"},"modified":"2010-07-27T13:29:03","modified_gmt":"2010-07-27T13:29:03","slug":"hong-kong-ordains-its-youngest-permanent-deacon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/07\/hong-kong-ordains-its-youngest-permanent-deacon.html","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong ordains its youngest permanent deacon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>And he&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cathnewsindia.com\/2010\/07\/27\/hong-kong-ordains-its-youngest-ever-deacon\/\">not as young as you may think: <\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\nThe Hong Kong diocese has ordained its youngest ever permanent deacon at the age of 45.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/young.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"young.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/212\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/07\/young-thumb-226x170-16742.jpg\" width=\"226\" height=\"170\" class=\"mt-image-left\" style=\"float: left;margin: 0 20px 20px 0\" \/><\/a><\/span>Stephen Kwok Ping-fai was one of a group of four ordained at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on July 24. Bishop John Tong Hon presided over the ordination Mass in front of a packed gathering of around 1,200.<\/p>\n<p>The ordinations bring the average age of Hong Kong permanent deacons down by five years and help dispel the notion that the post is reserved for retirees only.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Responding to God&#8217;s calling at a younger age will allow me to exert my utmost effort as a witness for God,&#8221; said newly ordained Deacon Kwok. &#8220;I will continue my career as a hospital radiographer while serving in the Church and I&#8217;ll strive to balance my time properly between work, family and service.&#8221;<br \/>\n&#8220;With the four new deacons, the average age has dropped five years to 60,&#8221; said Father Dominic Chan Chi-ming, Hong Kong&#8217;s Vicar General.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There are some aspirants in their 40s and the youngest is only 30. I think more and more young laymen have understood what the ministry entails, which has inspired their interest in joining,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The latest ordinations have also shown how diverse our permanent deacons are,&#8221; said Father Chan, who is responsible for deacon formation in the diocese. &#8220;However, a deacon does need to spend time on his formation and must possess a mature personality.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> There are more details at the link.  Congratulations, brother!  <em>Ad multos annos!<\/em><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>And he&#8217;s not as young as you may think: The Hong Kong diocese has ordained its youngest ever permanent deacon at the age of 45. Stephen Kwok Ping-fai was one of a group of four ordained at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on July 24. Bishop John Tong Hon presided over the ordination Mass&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deacons"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Hong Kong ordains its youngest permanent deacon - The Deacon&#039;s Bench<\/title>\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.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/07\/hong-kong-ordains-its-youngest-permanent-deacon.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hong Kong ordains its youngest permanent deacon - The Deacon&#039;s Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"And he&#8217;s not as young as you may think: The Hong Kong diocese has ordained its youngest ever permanent deacon at the age of 45. Stephen Kwok Ping-fai was one of a group of four ordained at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on July 24. 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