Fathers Mario Marazzi, Giosuè Bonzi, and Fernando Cagnin have been living in Hong Kong for many years—a place that was still a British colony when the first of the Italian missionaries, Father Paolo Reina, arrived back in 1858. In 2008, 150 years after his arrival, the fathers erected a stone marker to commemorate the beginning of their mission—always dedicated to serving the most vulnerable while proclaiming the Gospel. That marker is what we see in the photo they sent us.
On the far left is Father Giosuè Bonzi: since 1977 he has been co-founder and spiritual advisor of the Fu Hong Society (originally known as The Society of Homes for the Handicapped). Since 1997, he has lived as the “Big Brother” at the Encounter Family-care Home, alongside a small group of men and women with intellectual disabilities. It was the first of four Family-care Homes he initiated, and it’s where he hopes to conclude his missionary journey in Hong Kong–China, “as long as the Lord allows.” Next to him is Father Fernando Cagnin, who has spent over twenty years serving people with disabilities in Huiling, China. He is currently staying in Hong Kong due to bureaucratic delays with his work-residency visa for the People’s Republic of China. Father Ignatius Lo, a diocesan priest from Hong Kong, also lives as a “Big Brother” in one of the Fu Hong Society’s family homes. On the right are Father Franco Cumbo and Father Mario Marazzi, two missionary collaborators involved in supporting people with disabilities.
Back in 2010, Father Mario wrote to us about returning to Guangzhou (known to us as Canton) after a visit to his hometown on Lake Como in Italy. He shared how valuable his time was living alongside those he served. He also described a new high-speed train that would soon connect southern China to Wuhan—a city we all now recognize by name. However, the cost of a second-class ticket equaled half the monthly wage of one of the family home’s “mothers,” who had moved from the countryside for work. Their letters have always offered us rare and meaningful glimpses into a country that remains, in many ways, distant and hard to grasp. But through their voices, it somehow feels closer.
