Archbishop of Singapore: Praying at work, a sign of Christian witness
Singapore ( AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Archbishop
of Singapore is inviting employees of parishes, schools and other Catholic
institutions of the city - state to come together and recite the Liturgy of the
Hours. Morning,
noon and vespers prayer are daily appointments in which the community can and
must come together to address their intentions to God, "As you are all aware - the prelate recently stressed - the battle cry of
the Universal Church is the urgency of the work of the New Evangelization which
entails, in the first place, a personal conversion of every Catholic, from the
Pope to the bishops, priests, religious and laity".
In
a letter sent recently to the community, Msgr. William
Goh Chye Seng stressed that the primary challenge "is the renewal of our
personal relationship with the Lord". He
invites the faithful to "encounter him in a real and concrete way" so
that "we can proclaim the joy of the Gospel to those who do not know it
yet".
Together
with the recitation of the Liturgy of the Hours, the Archbishop of Singapore
invites employees of Catholic institutions to meet at least once a week for
Bible study, as well as to "ask to
take a five-day paid leave to do an annual spiritual retreat".
In
Singapore, the local Catholic community actually consists of more than 200 thousand
Catholics, representing approximately 5 % of the population (Buddhism is the
most popular with 43 %, followed by Christianity with 18%, 15% Islam,
Hinduism and Taoism 11:05 %). The local
church is going through a phase of growth and dynamism that led to the recent
opening of a theological seminary, termed a real "milestone"
for the local community.
Smaller
than New York and without natural resources, the city-state's 2010 gross
domestic product (GDP) stood at 285 billion Singapore dollars (about US$ 231
billion), up 14.5 per cent, the highest in all of Asia. However, wealth is not
equally distributed and the city-state's economic prosperity has accentuated
the disparity among citizens. Singapore's Gini coefficient - a measure of
income distribution inequality - now stands at 0.48 (it was 0.444 in 2000). The
Gini coefficient ranges between zero (perfect equality) and one (perfect
inequality).
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30/05/2022 16:38
