Hong Kong’s Bishop Stephen Chow expressed hope on April 13 for the Catholic ordination of women, joining several European bishops who have expressed similar sentiments in recent years.
During his homily at the Hong Kong diocesan Chrism Mass, Bishop Chow said he had “turned to English, just to address our ordained brothers, and I hope one day maybe ordained sister[s] too.”
The bishop’s homily did not focus on the topic, instead calling priests and deacons to “synodality through our own ministries in collaboration with the different capacities, or different roles, among the People of God… discerning the direction in which the Spirit wants us to move as a body.”
With an allusion to the language of Pope Francis, the bishop also called his clergy to be “shepherds…realistic yet transcending, not stuck in a specific time or space, and not being shepherds without the smell of the sheep.”