The Serra Club of Hong Kong inaugurated its 2026–2027 term on July 21 with a Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, followed by a fellowship gathering and a birthday celebration for members born in July at Caritas Restaurant.
The opening general meeting featured a keynote reflection by Father Edward Chau King-Fun (周景勳神父), a diocesan priest ordained in 1980 who currently serves at St. Margaret’s Church and heads the Philosophy and Religious Studies departments at Holy Spirit Seminary College.
Father Chau, who has been involved in interreligious dialogue and efforts to bring Chinese cultural traditions into conversation with Catholic theology, invited participants to embrace a “3-Step Spiritual Practice” for modern lay apostles:
Reflection: Cultivating inner stillness to recognize God’s quiet presence amid the rapid pace of modern life.
Integration: Harmonizing Christian faith with personal identity and traditional Chinese cultural wisdom.
Action: Translating interior contemplation into concrete acts of charity, humble service, and public witness.
“True spiritual growth requires a seamless harmony between contemplation and action,” Father Chau said, urging members to deepen their interior life with God while engaging with the contemporary world.
Drawing on this spiritual framework, the incoming club president urged members to anchor their service in St. Paul’s invitation to transformation:
“Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)
A Heritage of Vocational Stewardship
The new term marks another chapter in the club’s six-decade history of local ministry and regional expansion.
Founded in Seattle in 1935, Serra International established a presence in Hong Kong when its local chapter was formally chartered on Feb. 25, 1963.
Established during a period of rapid postwar growth for the local Church, the club sought to encourage local priestly and religious vocations to serve expanding parishes, schools and social welfare programs.
Under its mandate to promote and foster vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life, the organization provided Hong Kong’s Catholic lay professionals with a structured platform for spiritual formation and support for the diocese.
Catalyst for Regional Growth
By the late 1970s, the Hong Kong branch had begun helping establish the Serra movement in other parts of East and Southeast Asia.
In 1979, club chaplain Father Joseph Cara and lay leaders in Hong Kong launched an initiative to expand the lay vocation movement into neighboring territories.
Father Cara traveled to Thailand to present the club’s organizational framework to local clergy and lay leaders. The initiative led to the sponsorship and formal chartering of the Serra Club of Bangkok in October 1980, helping lay the foundation for what is now the Serra Council of Thailand.
Bridging the Pearl River Delta
Now entering its seventh decade of operation, the Serra Club of Hong Kong continues to support vocation promotion and youth discernment in the diocese.
The chapter maintains a historical relationship with the Serra Club of Macau, with both operating under one district governor and coordinating vocation initiatives across the Pearl River Delta.
In partnership with the Hong Kong Diocesan Vocation Committee and the Hong Kong Diocesan Altar Servers Association, the club provides educational bursaries for seminarians, holds monthly spiritual gatherings and assists newly arrived foreign missionaries as they adapt to the local Cantonese culture and language.
