MRI Symposium | Sharing Confucian and Christian Values in a Broken World: “Challenges and Risks of Missionaries in Macau and Hong Kong”
MRI Symposium | Sharing Confucian and Christian Values in a Broken World: "Challenges and Risks of Missionaries in Macau and Hong Kong"
21
Nov
The MRI International Symposium 2025 “Sharing Confucian and Christian Values in a Broken World: Challenges and Risks of Missionaries in Macau and Hong Kong” will take place on 21 November, from 18:30 – 20:00, at the Conference Room in USJ Ilha Verde Campus.
About the Talk:
The Symposium focuses in its first part on the history of missionaries in Hong Kong and in Macau.The foreign religious, especially from Ireland, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland and Britain have played a critical role in building the civil society of Hong Kong. They established churches, primary and secondary schools, hospitals and clinics, homes for elderly people and other welfare institutions. They have given tens of thousands of Hong Kong people a modern education in English that transformed their lives and enabled them to work as professionals, in Hong Kong and overseas. These institutions are thriving today, while the number of foreign religious has greatly reduced. More dramatic still was how French and Italian Sisters accepted tens of thousands of unwanted children, mainly girls, and gave them a home, food and clothing and education, free of charge. Without this, the children would have died, become child labourers, domestic servants or prostitutes.
In the second part of the Symposium a podium discussion will focus on an evaluation of the two first rounds of the “Alfred-Deignan Awards for Responsible Entrepreneurship” which was awarded in 2023 and 2025 for small and medium sized companies in Macau and in Hong Kong. What are the key challenges in a market driven environment like Hong Kong and Macau in order to implement the lofty ideals of honesty and integrity? Which are the key factors of success? Is there still just mere dishonest lip service paid to business ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility as Fr. Alfred Deignan critically remarked some time ago? Do Christian schools just simply serve the rich or can they foster a sense of solidarity with the disadvantaged among their students and teachers?
About the Speaker, Chairperson and Panelists:
Mark O’Neill
Mark O’Neill was born in London, England and educated at Marlborough College and New College, Oxford. He worked in Washington, DC, Manchester and Belfast before coming to Hong Kong in 1978. He has lived in Asia ever since. He worked as a journalist for 30 years here, in Taiwan, India, the PRC and Japan, for Reuters, SCMP and many other publications. Since 2006, he has been writing books on Chinese, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau history and society. He has completed 18 so far in English. Eight have been translated into traditional Chinese and three into simplified Chinese.
Chairperson
- Prof. Dr. Florence Lei |Coordinator of the Sustainability Lab, Faculty of Business and Law, USJ
Panelists
- Prof. Dr. Jenny Philips | Dean of the Faculty of Business and Law USJ
- Mrs. Seow Yuen Loh | MSS Recruitment, Managing Director
- Fr. Stephan Rothlin SJ | Director Macau Ricci Institute at the University of Saint Joseph
Details:
Date: Friday, 21 November 2025
Time: 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM (GMT +8)
Venue: Conference Room (2F, Residential Building) USJ- Saint Joseph Green Campus
Language: English
Organised by: Macau Ricci Institute
Deadline of registration: 20 November 2025
For applicants who are joining online, We will send you a confirmation email and ZOOM ACCESS LINK after your registration.
*This is a free event and open to the general public
For More information, please visit the MRI official website.
