Fifty years ago, the Sisters founded a girls\u2019 school here in Hong Kong. What is especially meaningful is that they founded a \u201cCatholic\u201d school for the \u201cunderprivileged\u201d, in terms of gender and social status, in a peripheral area far away from the city centre.\u00a0 Their mission of providing education for the girls here was a generous response to the call of God and timely response to the needs of the Hong Kong community then.\u00a0 The Catholic education they provided has uplifted and changed the lives of many,\u00a0as we students were given the chance to develop our God-gifted talents and prepared ourselves better for a fulfilling life. It is indeed very encouraging to see that our alumnae have made contributions to society in various capacities and different walks of life over the past few decades.<\/p>\n
A catholic school<\/strong><\/p>\n Our school is a “Catholic” school and that has made all the differences for the students entrusted to its care.\u00a0 Here students are guided not only in their quest for knowledge but more importantly, they are nurtured with the Gospel values witnessed by the Sisters. This value-oriented education is indispensable for the character and value formation of students, especially in a society marred by undue emphasis on keen competitions, pragmatic concerns and material rewards.<\/p>\n I appreciate much that since its birth in 1969, the school has attached great importance to moral and value education. For instance, despite the very tight school timetable, two periods of Religious and Moral Education in every cycle are allocated to all forms. Together with other learning activities and formation programmes, and with the example of the Sisters, the core values of Catholic education have been passed on to the students and the spirit of love and service immersed in the school campus.<\/p>\n Evangelization at school<\/strong><\/p>\n Being missionaries, the Sisters have played the role of sowers in the school vineyard.\u00a0Their visible acts of affection, as manifested in the ways they interacted with students and staff, have perhaps been the best means of evangelization in the school.\u00a0 Their living witness have sown seeds of faith in the hearts of many school members.\u00a0 \u00a0There were students, teachers and staff members who were baptised in response to the call of God through the mission of the Sisters. \u00a0 Even though many are still not Catholics, I am sure that the teaching and examples of the Sisters have positively impacted their lives in one way or another.<\/p>\n The presence of the PIME Sisters in the school in the past 50 years has truly been a great blessing for our alma mater and is always deeply appreciated, as reflected by the testimony of many past students and ex-teachers. Here below I quote the words of some who have expressed their deep gratitude to the Sisters on the occasion of the school\u2019s Golden Jubilee.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Sr. Magdalene Pirodda and Sr. Theresa Pathickal started their mission here, they did not know the language and were unfamiliar with the Chinese culture.\u00a0 Yet, they courageously withstood all hardships and strove to contribute their best to the school.\u00a0 We are deeply grateful to what they have done for us\u2026 (a past student)<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWithout the support and encouragement of the Sisters, I would not have been able to receive secondary education and then university education.\u00a0 I would probably have started working in a factory after finishing Primary Six\u2026. Their mission in the school has graciously changed the lives of many young girls entrusted to their care\u2026\u201d (past student)<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe Sisters are very courageous, committed and have great faith in God.\u00a0 Though I am not a Catholic, I was much impressed by what they have done for the school, and I thank them in particular for the moral values fostered in us. To me, \u2018Love and Service\u2019 is more than a school motto, it is my life-long maxim.\u201d (past student)<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cHaving been a student and then a teacher at Pope Paul VI College, I could truly feel the care, affection and support of the Sisters. No words could express my deep gratitude to them.\u201d (past student & ex-teacher)<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI joined the school as a teacher in 1973.\u00a0 The Principal, Sr. Theresa, was fully committed to her mission in the school.\u00a0 She cared not only for the students but for the teachers and other staff as well.\u00a0 She is indeed a very respectable Sister\u2026 I will always cherish the strong team spirit and <\/em>a warmly family-like atmosphere in the school.\u201d (ex-teacher)<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWhenever I think of Pope Paul VI College, I think of Sr. Theresa and the other pioneer Sisters because of their selfless contribution to the school.\u201d (ex-teacher)<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI am confident that our students will inherit and transmit the positive values they have assimilated at Pope Paul VI College.\u201d (ex-teacher)<\/em><\/p>\n The footprints of the PIME Sisters on the 50-year journey of Pope Paul VI College will always be cherished and remembered dearly. May God bless the Sisters abundantly and accompany them to spread His fragrance of love in this big school family and elsewhere!<\/p>\n Connie Lam – Lay Associate – Hong Kong<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pope Paul VI College (Hong Kong) has just celebrated its Golden Jubilee. \u00a0This milestone anniversary was a testimony to the missionary service of the PIME Sisters who have left their footprints on the school\u2019s half-century journey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":27994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"googlesitekit_rrm_CAow8ovLDA:productID":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[107,15],"tags":[774,1186],"class_list":["post-27981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-evangelization","category-missionary-life","tag-hong-kong-en","tag-msi-lay-associates"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mdipime.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/contesto-def.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdipime.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdipime.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdipime.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdipime.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdipime.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mdipime.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdipime.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdipime.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdipime.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdipime.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.mdipime.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/bde1f4c3-de55-445e-a346-47573c3146c1-300x135.jpg\")
<\/p>\n