We arrived half an hour early for the 11.30am Mass. There were eight separate Masses scheduled for today (count them: English at 7.00, 8.00, 9.00, 10.00 and 11.30 am plus 6.00 pm; Tagalog at 1.00, 2.30 and 4.00 pm).
When we arrived, there were long queues and when we entered the church we found that the main body was already full, standing room only, so we went up to the balcony which also filled quickly. Before Mass began I amused myself by trying to calculate how many worshippers there were based on the number of people to a pew and then the number of pews; my estimate was 500-600 downstairs plus 300-400 in the balcony plus another couple of hundred taking Communion in the car park, as the Mass was also relayed there by loudspeaker...and this was one of eight Masses, today - and every Sunday!
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| The balcony from where we were sitting, at one side; it's standing room only |
The Mass was celebrated by elderly priest accompanied by three deacons. There was also a choir of 22 with a leader. The Mass responses and the words of the psalms and hymns were projected onto two large screens so that everyone could - and did - participate in the singing and responses.
A special word of appreciation for the singing.
The choir were excellent, very professionally outfitted in white robes with a red collar, and supplemented by a keyboard, electronic drum set, guitar, tambourine and maracas. The Filipinos are known as the musicians of Asia and St Joseph's congregation seems to be 95% Filipino, particularly maids who work as Amahs in Hong Kong. The responses and the praise were loud, tuneful, joyful and made with huge gusto - I'm sure there were smiles of appreciation and pleasure in Heaven.
After Mass, everyone milled around for a while.
Some took the opportunity to pay their respects in front of the Tabernacle, or at the Crucifix, or at the crib. Given the huge numbers attending Mass, it was great to see how effective the uniformed ushers were in directing attendees and keeping things moving.
According to Wikipedia, there are 379,000 Catholics in Hong Kong. Hong Kong Government statistics for 2015 showed there were almost 175,000 Filipinos here. Since more than 85% of the population of the Philippines is Catholic, I would not be surprised to learn that Filipinos make up as much as 40% of local Catholic worshippers (obviously more in the urban areas). They are a wonderfully visible (and audible) proportion!
And of course, since cellphones are ubiquitous in Hong Kong, the selfie sticks were put to use too after Mass ('Look Mum, we're at Mass today. Happy New Year!')...
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