Being patriotic requires ‘extra effort’ by Hongkongers who grew up in colonial era, city’s top Catholic cleric says
- Bishop Stephen Chow acknowledges recent call for patriotism could spark ‘complicated emotions’, but says faith can help teach people to love country, church
- ‘People can live a good life if the government lives up to its mission, and vice versa. So we should hope for dialogue between the administration and the church,’ he adds
Being patriotic requires “extra effort” by Hongkongers who grew up in the colonial era and the obligation is even more difficult after a decade of political and social change, the city’s top Catholic cleric has said, also insisting that loving one’s country was a key religious teaching.
Bishop Stephen Chow Sau-yan, the head of Hong Kong’s Catholic diocese, on Friday elaborated on his recent call for patriotism during his historic trip to Beijing, saying he understood that such a stance was bound to spark “complicated emotions” but it had also attracted support.
Writing in Kung Kao Po, the diocese’s official publication, the top cleric acknowledged it was challenging for Hongkongers to feel patriotic, a value widely promoted by local and central authorities.
“Like many Hongkongers, I grew up during the colonial era when national sentiment and identity could hardly be part of our consciousness,” Chow wrote. “It can be said that our blood does not carry any love for the nation.”
“It requires extra effort to alter this mentality and it is even more difficult to do so after experiencing the social and political changes over the past decade.
