By Cynthia Thuma - Florida Catholic
Photographer: JONATHAN MARTINEZ |FC
Michael Chik prays during the consecration of the Eucharist at the Chinese New Year Mass and Ancestral Veneration at St. Jerome Church in Fort Lauderdale.
FORT LAUDERDALE | Religion, tradition and family went hand in hand at the Chinese New Year’s Mass and Ancestral Veneration celebrated at St. Jerome Church Feb. 18.
Photographer: JONATHAN MARTINEZ |FC
Father Thomas Liang, visiting priest from Shanxi Province in China, holds up the Book of the Gospels during the Chinese New Year Mass and Ancestral Veneration at St. Jerome Church in Fort Lauderdale. Mass was celebrated in Chinese.
Photographer: JONATHAN MARTINEZ |FC
Father Thomas Liang, visiting priest from Shanxi Province in China, preaches the homily during the Chinese New Year Mass and Ancestral Veneration at St. Jerome Church in Fort Lauderdale. The Mass was celebrated in Chinese.
The Mass, veneration, luncheon and festivities that followed are an annual tradition of the Chinese Apostolate of the Archdiocese of Miami, which makes its home at St. Jerome Parish.
“Our Chinese apostolate has been established since August 14, 1996. Last year was our 21st anniversary,” said Helena Chan, a native of Hong Kong, now a resident of Hollywood, who serves as vice president of the apostolate. “We have a few people who participate in it who come from Miami-Dade County, but most of the people here come from Broward.”
The afternoon’s activities started with Mass, celebrated by Father Lian Feng Liang. The Ancestral Veneration followed immediately afterward, a solemn ceremony in which incense, fruit, wine and flowers are offered up in memory of departed ancestors.
“Father said during Mass that there’s a new generation out there, but we must come to respect what other generations before have done for us,” Chan said.
The tradition of revering God and at the same time venerating ancestors became widely practiced beginning in the early 1970s in Taiwan. It then spread through other Chinese-speaking areas because both are practices deeply rooted in the customs and culture of Chinese Catholics.
Photographer: JONATHAN MARTINEZ |FC
Father Thomas Liang, visiting priest from Shanxi Province in China, carries a fruit basket from the offering, at the conclusion of the Chinese New Year Mass and Ancestral Veneration at St. Jerome Church in Fort Lauderdale. At St right is Franciscus Chik, member of the Chinese Apostolate of the Archdiocese of Miami.
Following the ceremonies in church, the congregants headed to the parish hall where the Lunar New Year party was just warming up. Tables brimming with food, desserts, candies and beverages awaited them. Supplementing the feasting were plenty of traditional activities for children and families, including a lion dance and red envelopes, a particular delight of the children. Red envelopes are a traditional gift that brings both a small prize (usually cash), and the promise of good luck to the recipient.
The blending of church, tradition and family was particularly appealing to Jodi Ho, Chan’s daughter.
“My mom got me into going to church here, but I have found how to branch out to other people through it,” said Ho, a senior at the College Academy at Broward College. “This event means we get to go back to our culture; we get to reconnect. It’s an important day to me.”
The Chinese Apostolate celebrates Mass at St. Jerome Church, 2533 S.W. Ninth Ave., Fort Lauderdale every Sunday at 1 p.m.
Photographer: JONATHAN MARTINEZ |FC
Children and families enjoy the Dragon Dance performed by members of the Chinese Apostolate of the Archdiocese of Miami after the Chinese New Year Mass and Ancestral Veneration at St. Jerome Church in Fort Lauderdale.
Comments from readers