An amazing labour of love

 An amazing labour of love

On various occasions in recent years people who come to our church, Church of St. Francis Xavier of Mongha, for Sunday Mass may have been fascinated by a great number of decorative items displayed for sale on long tables in the church garden. The decorations are so artistically designed and skillfully made that they draw great crowds and it is often with great joy and satisfaction that the successful buyers take them home.

The articles for sale are the products of a makeshift factory, now known as the “Dream Workshop (夢工場)”. It is actually a small space occupied by a rectangular table in the lobby of our Parish Center. Most of the items for sale serve festive decoration purposes such as Christmas wreaths, Chinese New Year slogans and lanterns. There are also items with religious symbolism including Easter candles, baptism candles and even memorial crosses to be offered to the ancestors on All Souls Day. In fact, there are a wide range of products that appeal to parishioners who care to celebrate a feast day or a festive occasion with something of practical utility and of originality in design. Most importantly, they see it as an opportunity to help the needy as the items are all sold for charity.

Who are the makers of these fascinating articles? A team of about ten parishioners are seen sitting around the long table on Sunday and Saturday afternoons, often on weekday evenings, too, enthusiastically engaged in their work of painting, calligraphy, paper folding and mosaic tile crafting. Unwanted scraps are fashioned into beautiful homemade cards. CNY red packets, glued together in various patterns, are turned into artistic wall decorations, lanterns with red tassel pendants, and wind chimes with bells. The team is indeed greatly admired for their creativity and artistic talents. It is amazing how they turn discarded scraps into one-of-a-kind articles of tasteful beauty.

This is indeed a labour of love as the dedicated volunteers are willing to sacrifice some of their leisure time to help collecting fund to help the needy. Through their exemplary act of charity, they help spread love in the parish and beyond. And as some of the products bear a Bible verse label or a blessing quote, they serve to remind the users of God’s words, too. In this way the volunteers are somehow also contributing to the mission of evangelization.

In view of its growing popularity, the “Dream Workshop” is likely to increase productivity to meet the rising customer demand. Soon, this dedicated team will once again fling themselves into the production of Easter gifts. It is hoped that more people will be interested not only in the purchase of the products but will also join the dream team to get themselves involved in this amazing labour of love.