Rev. Fr. Dr. Matthew Chan Hung Kee of The Salesians of Don Bosco, officiated at this year’s School re-opening Mass. In his sermon, Rev Father Chan introduced the theme, putting our faith in God with the fine example of Our Lady of Sorrows. Since her youth, Our Lady has committed herself to accept God’s plan. Through The Magnificat, the renowned prayer recorded in The Gospel of Luke (1:46-55), the Blessed Virgin Mary has set a fine example of a true follower of Jesus: to live in hope, faith and love and witness Jesus through living up to the mission of charity in humility.

At the Eucharistic Ceremony, our students offered the Student Companion and Service Record Book as a token of commitments. Students also offered paper cranes, with which they put down their aspirations and goodwill for the new academic year.

Followed the offering, there came the commission of our Catholic Society Committee and installation of their leadership duty. They pledged to make Jesus known through being an example to the rest of the school. Teachers and students subsequently declared our commitments to live up to the theme of the year: Celebrating the Past with Gratitude, Embracing the Future with Hope, Sharing our Life in Love.

Followed the Mass, Sr Veronica, Miss Florence Kwok, the Vice-Principal and Mr Ignatius Chow, the Assistant Principal, officiated at the installation of student leaders in office. They took turns to present badges to the Head Girl Core Team members, Head Prefects, Deputy Head Prefects, President and leaders from Asterin, our Student Council elected.

Sr Veronica and advisers of our six houses presented badges and house flags to House Captains and their Deputies. After that, Miss Florence Kwok presented badges to Head and Deputies of Guidance Sisters, Careers Assistants and Student Librarians, IT prefects board and Green Torch. Mr Ignatius Chow presented badges to Ambassadors of Learning.

Cherry Chung, our Head Girl, gave a speech of appeal to invite students to play an active part in our 160th anniversary celebrations and make this year a memorable one. She further expounded on the theme of charity in humility, recapturing our alumnae’s generous donations to establish scholarships for current students, their readiness to share their life stories with us in careers talks, mentorship programme and on the speech day, their unyielding support to S5 Service Project and establishment of a woman centre in Cambodia to protect women’s rights. In the light of our past students’ untiring effort to promote charity, Cherry suggests that the best way to honour Sacred Heart’s long history is to engage in all kinds of charity in humility.

Sr Veronica, our Principal, rounded up the morning with a neat message on the fact that students are entrusted with the role as role models to exemplify Sacred Heart Spirit.