Spiritual Corner - Celebration of the 99th Anniversary of the Founding of CDD
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, may peace be with you!
CDD was founded in 1927. On January 4, 2026, we will be celebrating the 99th anniversary of the founding of the Order.
The Founder, Cardinal Celso Constantini, named the Order “Congregation of the Disciples of the Lord” (CDD) because he wanted the members of the Order to emulate the disciples of Jesus to try their utmost to pave the way for the spread of the Gospels (Luke 10: 1-11; 17-20), so that the people of China would enjoy the life of salvation. Starting from 1948, CDD began to evangelize the overseas Chinese, and gradually established communities in Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore at various points of time. In 2007, upon the invitation of the Archdiocese, of Toronto, CDD began the evangelization work for the Chinese in Canada, and St. Agnes Kouying Tsao is our first parish established.
While CDD is celebrating her 99th anniversary, we, the Toronto community, cherish our participation in the Order’s achievements in the past 19 years. In retrospect, we have witnessed how, with the grace of God, and the fervent prayers and support of the parishioners, our Parish has evolved into what it is today. Our Toronto branch, like a mustard seed, showered by the grace of God, has developed from the efforts of a single religious at the beginning into a full-grown community. All these have resulted from the special blessing of God, and for these, we are most thankful.
We are particularly grateful for God’s blessings in vocation in the past 19 years. Firstly, we have Fr. Matthew Wang and Fr. John Wang who came to Toronto as seminarians and have been serving in the parish since ordination. Soon after that, Brother Louis Seto and Brother Gabriel Chow answered the vocational call and we look forward to witnessing their ordination in the near future. Jesus said “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few”. Let us continue to pray for vocation, pray that God will summon more zealous youth to come forward for spiritual cultivation and be willing to serve the Chinese parishes.
Last of all, I would like to share with you that Reverend Fr. Thomas Loh, our former Pastor, has assumed the duty of Pastor of the Saviour Of the World Chinese Parish in Mississauga on January 2. This is the new mission assigned to our Order by God. We pray that He will bestow upon Fr. Loh all the blessings that he needs in his new mission. Offering service in joy, magnifying the glory of God’s!
Your Pastor,
Fr. Francis Chong
