HONG KONG (SE): “Even though it is a small community, they come together to attend Mass and cherish their time here. This is a true witness to the community spirit of the Christian faith,” said Tarcisio Isao Cardinal Kikuchi, the archbishop of Tokyo, during a recent visit to Hong Kong, where he celebrated Mass for the city’s Japanese-speaking Catholics at St. Margaret Mary’s Church in Happy Valley on August 23.
Cardinal Kikuchi noted that keeping the faith carries particular challenges for Japanese Catholics: Christians remain a small minority in Japan, and in Hong Kong it is all too easy for expatriates to drift away from living their faith altogether. Against that backdrop, he said he was moved to see overseas Japanese sustaining such a vibrant community of faith.
Two decades ago, at the height of corporate postings to the city, the Hong Kong Japanese Catholic Society counted more than two hundred members. As economic tides shifted and companies scaled back their overseas assignments, the expatriate population gradually thinned. Today, the core group has settled at around 20 faithful—smaller in number, perhaps, but no less steadfast in devotion.
The community’s endurance owes much to the quiet selflessness of its lay leaders and a succession of dedicated missionary priests. Chief among its founding figures was the late Maryknoll Father Adam Gudalefsky, who spoke fluent Japanese, welcomed every newcomer personally, and for years anchored the community at St. Margaret’s. His example left a lasting mark: inspired by his ministry, one community member went on to answer a religious vocation and joined the Salesian seminary in Japan.
Community leader, Akio Nishida, still remembers being baptised by Father Gudalefsky 15 years ago. Months after the elderly priest returned to the United States, he died during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, at the age of 92.
Before he passed, he left Akio with a final charge: to carry on the spiritual work and continue shepherding the local Japanese faithful.
Akio took those words to heart. He and his wife, Teresa, pledged to keep the community alive—vowing to sustain it even if only one member remained. Beyond their administrative duties, the couple now offers flexible, one-on-one catechism classes and Bible study sessions designed around members’ busy work schedules.
Following Father Gudalefsky’s death, Masses were celebrated in Japanese by Father Timothy Mulroy and Father Brian Vale of the Columban Fathers, and in English by the late Claretian Father Mario Vincenzo Bonfaini.
Cardinal Kikuchi noted that keeping the faith carries particular challenges for Japanese Catholics: Christians remain a small minority in Japan, and in Hong Kong it is all too easy for expatriates to drift away from living their faith altogether. Against that backdrop, he said he was moved to see overseas Japanese sustaining such a vibrant community of faith
Today, Mass is celebrated in English by Father Andrew Kim Yong Jae, parish priest of St. Margaret’s; Father Remy Kurowski, chaplain to Hong Kong’s French-speaking Catholic community; Divine Word Father Franz Gassner, and Father Peter Lo Pak-wing.
To assist the English-speaking priests, Akio created a custom bilingual booklet. It pairs the celebrant’s parts in English with the congregation’s responses in Japanese, helping members follow and pray through the Mass effortlessly.
Starting in July, the community welcomed Jesuit Father Alexe Pak Chong-hwan of Matteo Ricci College, who now comes from Macau once a month to celebrate Mass in Japanese—a great help for members who struggle with English homilies.
Sustaining a language-specific fellowship in a city like Hong Kong, where Japanese Catholics are scattered and English-language Masses are never far away, takes no small measure of dedication. Yet for Akio, the effort is well worth it. “Using our mother tongue in Mass is essential,” he says. “It touches the heart in a way no other language can.”
The community also stays connected to Japan itself, producing an online monthly newsletter that shares news of its gatherings and events in Hong Kong. It regularly welcomes visiting Japanese Catholics who come to the city for international Church events, such as Taizé gatherings and hymnal exchanges.
The community’s warmth has drawn in members well beyond its Japanese core, including Italian and Singaporean Catholics, along with a number of local residents who now attend the 11:00am Sunday Mass regularly.
Among them is Jerome Li, a local Chinese altar server who has been a fixture of the group for more than 10 years. He first joined to practise his Japanese, but stayed on, moved by the missionaries’ quiet dedication—from Father Gudalefsky, who continued serving the community despite his failing health, to Father Bonfaini, who travelled tirelessly from Macau to be there. Jerome later studied in Japan and, on his return, resumed his service to the community, now also lending a hand with translations.
During Cardinal Kikuchi’s visit, Li brought his five-month-old son, Aquinas, to Mass for the first time, so the cardinal could give him a personal blessing. Watching his son sleep peacefully through the blessing, Li spoke of a quiet hope—that Aquinas grows up healthy and, perhaps one day, follows in his father’s footsteps as an altar server for this small but resilient community.
