Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Hong Kong (Agenzia Fides) - Fr. Thomas A. Peyton, 81, a missionary of the Society for Foreign Missions, Maryknoll, was honored with the Red Cross of the Hong Kong Special Administration "for his contributions to the care of prisoners, the elderly and the poor." The reasons for this award explains that "for over 30 years, Fr . Peyton has considered the poor and abandoned as a priority of his service." According to reports from the Kong Ko Bao (Chinese version of the diocesan bulletin), along with Fr. Peyton, 4 other people who for years have devoted themselves generously to the weakest living in Hong Kong, received the "Humanitarian Award of Hong Kong". Fr. Peyton, sent by his missionary congregation in Hong Kong in 1981, was appointed chaplain to the prisoners in the mid-eighties. From that moment every week he went to prison to visit inmates, and also met the homeless. As he himself says, "every time I come to a new parish, the first thing I do is go around to get to know all the poor, the neglected and the weak in the area. I always say to the faithful that the function of the parish in the area is to spread the Gospel among the poor." Since 1994, Fr. Peyton often travels to treat leprosy patients. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 04/06/2012)
