Chow said his student group invited Cardinal Zen to celebrate an annual Mass for students Sept. 20.
He said a new protest anthem called "Glory to Hong Kong," which has recently spread virally online, has even made its way into the Masses that the federation have held.
"People in Hong Kong really like this song, and it's become a new anthem of the whole protest," he said.
"At the end of the Mass, we sang...'Glory to Hong Kong,'" he said.
He said a local parish started the practice of singing the anthem at the end of Mass last week, but this week the diocese published a set of guidelines warning against the singing of political anthems at Mass.
"Although the parish is sure that the Lord's ceremonies and the devotees are deeply concerned about the current turmoil in Hong Kong society, they do not agree that the social movement songs are applicable to the sacrificial ceremonies," the diocese Secretary General wrote Sept. 19.
Chow said the young people see the situation differently.
"But we don't think that the diocese has a very good argument. We don't think that they're right, so we still sing the song in today's Mass. And why we sing the song is because we want to pray for Hong Kong."
Last weekend, he said, there was a large protest in the city center, which Chow attended. He said like at many of the previous protests, the police used tear gas and water cannon to break up the protesters.
One of the protesters' demands is a full investigation into what they see as brutal tactics by the police throughout the protests.
"I think the police are trying to suppress the protests, so sometimes they don't actually approve the protest, but [people] still go outside. But actually for the protests that are not allowed by the police, some people may be afraid that they will be arrested, and will not go out. So I would say that actually the people trying to protest are decreasing."
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The protests are becoming more and more aggressive with more and more use of force, he said. Many protest activities, at least one almost every day, are scheduled for the coming two weeks, he said.
Jonah McKeown is a staff writer and podcast producer for Catholic News Agency. He holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and has worked as a writer, as a producer for public radio, and as a videographer. He is based in St. Louis.