HKSKH ordains two new priests at St John’s Cathedral

Publish Date: 04-May-2021

Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui ordained two deacons, Mr Kenneth Lo and Mr Matthew Lee, to the order of priesthood on 25 April (Good Shepherd Sunday) at St John’s Cathedral. The ordination service was originally scheduled for November 2020, but was postponed for six months because of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on public gatherings. Although in-person public worships are allowed since early April, due to social distancing measures, only clerics and a small number of parishioners were present at the service, most people watched the live stream of the ordination via the internet.

Archbishop Andrew Chan was the celebrant while Bishop Timothy Kwok and Bishop Matthias Der were concelebrants at the service. Dean Samson Fan and the Revd Tsui Yuk-fan presented the two deacons to be examined by Archbishop Chan. The two deacons declared that they believed the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God which contain all things necessary to salvation and they're conforming to the doctrine, discipline, and liturgy of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui. People who were present at St John’s Cathedral approved the ordination of Mr Lo and Mr Lee and were willing to support them in fulfilling their new pastoral duties.

In his sermon, Dean Chan Kwok-keung reminded Mr Lo and Mr Lee that priests must manifest the holy humbleness befitting a servant. Dean Chan welcomed them into the order of royal priesthood and be faithful servants of the Lord. He pointed out that Jesus is the model of servants and lived the life of a humble servant: he was born in a manger in Bethlehem; he was nailed to the cross on the Mount of Calvary, and he washed his disciple's feet at the last supper. Dean Chan said that priestly duties are closely tied to a holy humbleness and a faith rooted in Christ.

Dean Chan hoped that Mr Lo and Mr Lee would continue to share their Anglican faith with the brothers and sisters of St Mary’s Church, All Saints’ Cathedral, the dioceses and the whole province in the future so that their faith could pass on to the next generations.

After the sermon, the Bishops and priests laid their hands on the heads of the ordinands, Archbishop Chan anointed their foreheads with holy oil and presented them with bibles as a sign of their authority to preach the Gospel of Christ and minister the Holy Sacraments.