一
位天主教神父希望直言不讳地说出自己对香港商界领袖、香港最大房地产开发商之一李嘉诚的想法，这已促成香港教会与李嘉诚代表见面，并且教会还发表了一份不同寻常的澄清启事表示"遗憾"，虽然该启事不是这位神父发出的。事件始于10月31日那天，天主教香港教区神父罗国辉(Reverend Thomas Law)在与他人讨论并批评香港房地产时将李嘉诚比作魔鬼。万圣节(Halloween)聚会结束后，罗国辉说，鬼都不能和贪婪的地产开发商相提并论，并说李嘉诚是"杀人不眨眼的真正恶魔"。
香港当地媒体纷纷引用了罗国辉的话，罗国辉的话传到了地产大亨李嘉诚的耳朵里。11月2日，李嘉诚旗下的长江实业(集团)有限公司(Cheung Kong Holdings)企业战略主管Gerald Ma在自己的办公室里会见了天主教香港教区副主教杨鸣章(General Michael Yeung)。据香港教区办公室表示，Gerald Ma在与杨鸣章会见期间给李嘉诚打了电话，李嘉诚与杨鸣章直接通话。李嘉诚的代表没有对此事发表评论。
Bloomberg
李嘉诚
而仍在香港的罗国辉有很多话要说。他坚持表示，他是在万圣节聚会结束后，在学校操场上跟一帮朋友闲聊时不经意说起的。
他说，我其实是在跟朋友开玩笑，不是在会谈或正式的布道中提及的。他说，自己本意不是要冲着李嘉诚，不是针对李嘉诚的人身攻击，只是用李嘉诚作为一个代表所有开发商的一个例子。
然而，罗国辉对自己说的话并不后悔。他说，我没有什么要补充的，亦不希望收回言论。他说自己知道当地媒体在场，他允许媒体在场。
虽然罗国辉说对于香港教区发表"遗憾"声明不予置评，但他一直通过社交网站Facebook回应此事。在上周五下午4点的一个帖子中，罗国辉写道：教会是上帝真言的喉舌，不应向权贵或名人屈服，亦不应为接受持续捐赠之物而"违背"自己的信仰和原则。这段文字受到了12名留言者的"喜爱"以及两名留言者的支持。
Cathy Yan
（本文版权归道琼斯公司所有，未经许可不得翻译或转载。）
A Catholic priest's willingness to speak his mind about Li Ka-shing, the Hong Kong business leader who is one of the city's biggest real-estate developers, has prompted meetings with a representative of Mr. Li and an unusual statement of 'regret' from the church -- though not from the priest.
It all started on Oct. 31, when Reverend Thomas Law of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong compared Li Ka-shing to the devil in a discussion criticizing property practices. After a Halloween party, the Rev. Law said that ghosts couldn't compare to greedy property developers and mentioned Mr. Li as the 'true devil that kills people.'
Local media picked up the Reverend's comments, which made their way to the property magnate. On Nov. 2, Gerald Ma, head of corporate strategy for Mr. Li's Cheung Kong Holdings and a devout Catholic, met with Vicar General Michael Yeung at his office. According to the diocese office, Mr. Ma called Mr. Li during the meeting so that he could speak directly to Mr. Yeung. Representatives for Mr. Li weren't available for comment.
This Thursday, the Catholic diocese released a statement in its church publication that expressed 'regret' for causing 'unpleasantness' for Mr. Li. The statement also mentioned that Mr. Li has decided not to pursue the incident and will continue to fund the diocese's Caritas charity. The diocese has otherwise remained silent about the incident â ' the bishop and high-ranking priests, including Mr. Yeung, have been on an annual retreat and are unavailable until next week.
Rev. Law, who remained in Hong Kong, has plenty to say. He insists that his comment was made in a casual conversation among friends, in the school playground after the Halloween party.
'I was actually making jokes with my friends,' he says. 'It was not a talk nor a formal sermon.' He says that he didn't mean to target Mr. Li, that it wasn't a personal attack on the businessman, and that Mr. Li was merely used as an example of all property developers.
However, Rev. Law doesn't regret making the statements: 'I have nothing to add to my comments nor do I wish to withdraw a sentence.' He said he knew local media was present and he had permitted them to be there.
Although the Reverend said he had no comment on his diocese's statement of regret, he is keeping the conversation alive on his Facebook page. In a post from 4 p.m. Friday, the Reverend wrote: 'The Church is the holder of God's Truth. It should NOT give in to the rich & famous, or 'compromise' our belief & principles for the comfort of the continuing donation.' The comment drew 12 'likes' and two comments of support.
Cathy Yan
It all started on Oct. 31, when Reverend Thomas Law of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong compared Li Ka-shing to the devil in a discussion criticizing property practices. After a Halloween party, the Rev. Law said that ghosts couldn't compare to greedy property developers and mentioned Mr. Li as the 'true devil that kills people.'
Local media picked up the Reverend's comments, which made their way to the property magnate. On Nov. 2, Gerald Ma, head of corporate strategy for Mr. Li's Cheung Kong Holdings and a devout Catholic, met with Vicar General Michael Yeung at his office. According to the diocese office, Mr. Ma called Mr. Li during the meeting so that he could speak directly to Mr. Yeung. Representatives for Mr. Li weren't available for comment.
This Thursday, the Catholic diocese released a statement in its church publication that expressed 'regret' for causing 'unpleasantness' for Mr. Li. The statement also mentioned that Mr. Li has decided not to pursue the incident and will continue to fund the diocese's Caritas charity. The diocese has otherwise remained silent about the incident â ' the bishop and high-ranking priests, including Mr. Yeung, have been on an annual retreat and are unavailable until next week.
Rev. Law, who remained in Hong Kong, has plenty to say. He insists that his comment was made in a casual conversation among friends, in the school playground after the Halloween party.
'I was actually making jokes with my friends,' he says. 'It was not a talk nor a formal sermon.' He says that he didn't mean to target Mr. Li, that it wasn't a personal attack on the businessman, and that Mr. Li was merely used as an example of all property developers.
However, Rev. Law doesn't regret making the statements: 'I have nothing to add to my comments nor do I wish to withdraw a sentence.' He said he knew local media was present and he had permitted them to be there.
Although the Reverend said he had no comment on his diocese's statement of regret, he is keeping the conversation alive on his Facebook page. In a post from 4 p.m. Friday, the Reverend wrote: 'The Church is the holder of God's Truth. It should NOT give in to the rich & famous, or 'compromise' our belief & principles for the comfort of the continuing donation.' The comment drew 12 'likes' and two comments of support.
Cathy Yan
没有评论:
发表评论