Born: 28 September 1917,
Entered: 30 May 1937, Novaliches, Rizal, Philippines - Marylandiae-Neo Eboracensis for Hiberniae Province (MARNEB for HIB)

Left Society of Jesus: 20 October 1938

Irish Province News 12th Year No 4 1937

China :

From Hong Kong Letters :

Wah-Yan :
The College opened on April 12th after the Easter and Tsing Ming holidays. We came fourth at the Inter School Sports. Two of our best runners had sprains and strains, and were unable to run.
There are 38 under instruction in our Catechism classes, but, as regards baptism, much parental opposition has to be overcome, as the following figures show. Parents definitely opposed, 17; Parents say “too young” 7; , not yet ready for baptism, 10; will be baptized shortly, 3.
Last January, H. E.. The Governor of Hong Kong appointed a special Committee, consisting of four prominent citizens (non Catholics) to investigate the future of the University. Their report has just been published in the local papers. One of their suggestions is that “certain local missionary bodies (notably the Jesuits)” should be invited to take lectureships in the University.
On May 18th, John Tse, our second Chinese candidate for the Society, sailed for Manila to begin his noviceship under the American Jesuits. John has been a pupil of Wah Yan College during the past give years. He knows three Chinese dialects and English. One of his sisters is a Carmelite in Hong Kong.
During Pentecost, Father MacDonald visited Canton, where he gave a series of lectures on Catholic Action, some in English, some in Chinese.
Father G. Byrne was presented with a Coronation Medal as a token of the Government’s appreciation of the work done by him in the Colony.
At Wah Yan, on the Feast of Corpus Christi, nine new members were received by Father Rector into the Sodality of Our Lady. All these new members are converts from paganism, and many of them have surprised us by the readiness with which they seem to have absorbed the Catholic spirit. The new Catholics take the Sodality very seriously, and the election of new members is carried out with great scrupulousness. A gathering of the members on the evening before the reception, on the occasion of a farewell tea to our novice, John Tse, who was an official of the Sodality revealed the fact that there is a bond of union and sympathy between the Catholic boys which is greater than we could have expected. This is very largely due to the influence of some of the leading boys, who are greatly respected, and give excellent example to the others. The speech made by the Prefect of the Sodality, Thomas Woo, during the farewell tea to John Tse, could hardly have been improved upon by a Catholic boy in any country. It showed a deep appreciation of the value of a religious vocation, and was expressed with a frankness and absence of self consciousness that were proof of real sincerity, Father Ryan is the Director of this. Sodality.
At Ricci during the month of May the students, on their own initiative, decided to recite the Rosary in common. An extract from the notice posted up on the House tabella by the Prefect of the Sodality inviting the students to attend, may be of interest :
“During the month of May the Rosary will be recited each evening in the chapel at 7.30 p.m. The chief intention will be to honour our Mother Mary, to whom the month of May is especially dedicated, and to ask her to grant us and our fellow-students success in our examinations. All are asked to join in this homely gathering.”
The members of the Sodality gathered several bundles of old clothes and presented them to the Little Sisters of the Poor. About fifteen students went to visit the Home for the Aged which is conducted by these Sisters.
Earlier in the year, Wah Yan won the Inter-Schools' swimming championship, and so had not much difficulty in also winning the Inter-Chinese-Schools' swimming championship.

Irish Province News 13th Year No 2 1938

Hong Kong Letters – January :

Wah Yan :
During the month of December we had fifteen baptisms--one of them a Chinese General who had been wounded earlier in the war. One of the boys is the best long-distance runner
in the College, a half-negro from Jamaica. Another of them is proving a regular apostle. He has already got his elder brother, has induced one of the finest families in the school to ask for baptism en bloc, and says that he will get one of his best friend, nicknamed “The Mosquito,” who has hitherto been regarded as unhookable.
The number of baptisms this year has been : Boys, 32 , others, 12, Total, 44. Since we took over Wah Yan we have been responsible for 217 baptisms.
The Christmas Examination began on December 11th and ended December 18th. During them we were allowed the valuable assistance of Messrs. Lawler and Walsh from Taai Lam Ch'ung. The distribution of prizes took place in the Queen's Theatre, one of the largest in Hong Kong, This Prize Day was a very great success. H. E. the new Governor, Sir G, H. Northcote, consented to preside, and to give away the prizes. Two plays were presented , a translation of “The Bishop’s Candlesticks” in Chinese, and an abbreviated version of “Macbeth” in English, The Governor said of the former that the acting was the best he had ever seen at any school Prize Day. It made a very deep impression on the boys and will, please God, produce much fruit later on in the way of conversions. Mr. Robert Wong, one of our masters had charge of the Chinese play, and Father Craig of “Macbeth”. The star
performer was Peter Tse, a brother of our novice, John Tse, who took the part of Lady Macbeth.

Irish Province News 28th Year No 1 1953

NEWS FROM THE MISSIONS :

China :

Regional Seminary, Aberdeen, Hong Kong, November 17, 1952.

Coming of Age :

On October 28th 1931 tbe Regional Seminary opened its doors to its first students. Class began on October 30th with twenty students nine theologians and eleven philosophers. October 28th, 1952, saw the Seminary twenty-one years old. In those twenty-one years three hundred and fifty six students passed through its classrooms. Some of these, especially since refugees from the Red Terror began pouring into Hong Kong, spent only a few months in Aberdeen before passing on to other destinations in Manila, Spain, American Macao. We have records of the ordinations of one hundred and twenty-one, of whom sixty-three did all their Major Seminary studies, philosophy and theology, in the Seminary. All through the twenty-one years the annual numbers in the Seminary varied greatly, growing steadily till the Second World War broke out, then declining until 1945, when the increase began once more, reaching its peak in 1949, when a hundred and twenty seminarians were at the same time within its walls. Three Seminaries helped to swell our numbers at that time, Kingsing which went later to Manila, Hankow which was reassembled in Macao, and Shanghai which returned to Red China while the door was still open. In the last few years the annual number bas stayed between seventy and eighty. This year we have already seventy two and we are expecting another four from Formosa
We have one ex-Jesuit-novice, one ex-Dominican-novice, one ex-Carmelite-novice, one ex-Trappist-oblate, one ex-Picpus, and one candidate for the Dominican Order who was refused a Visa for America where he hoped to enter the Dominicans and is continuing with us waiting for a more auspicious occasion.
We have a few late vocations. One was a civil servant for about six years in Mauritius Island, another was a humble helper of a Missionary in China. Several were soldiers in Chinese armies in Manchuria, one studied for some years in Japan. Some of them have had to attend Communist schools.
We have thirty-six from North China and thirty-six from South China. Twenty-nine are Theologians, forty-three are Philosophers. They belong to twenty-four different Dioceses, or Prefectures, or Missions, scattered among eight Ecclesiastical Provinces including Mauritius, where an Irish Holy Ghost Father is Bishop. Seven of them are members of the Congregation of the Disciples of the Lord. They have all taken the usual religious vows. We are expecting four more belonging to this Congregation.
Last Summer we saw the ordination of twelve of our students in the Cathederal of Hong Kong. Already earlier in this year three had been ordained. All of these young priests are now busy at work. It is not possible at present to get back into China, but into Hong Kong have streaned an endless succession of refugees, poor and rich, fleeing from the Red Terror. Among these, many of our priests are working. There is Fr. John Tse, for example, hard at work with a Maryknoll Father at real pioneering work. They are starting from the very begin ning without a chapel, or school, and with a little rented shack to house them. Besides the work of instruction, preparations are going ahead for a school. And Fr. Tse is busy trying to get the refugees to run a co-operative to produce, and sell without middle-men, cane furniture. Away in the islands to the south, others are working. Three are in Java where in the first few months of their stay they converted four hundred adults. In Borneo, Fr. Paang is busy trying to help on education for Catholics. He plans at the moment a fifteen-classroom school. Others are working in Formosa.

Born: 25 April 1929, Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia
Entered: 13 December 1950, Rizal, Philippines (Neo-Eboracensis Province for HIB)
Ordained: 31 July 1964, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 02 November 1977
Died: 15 October 2004, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong - Sinensis Province (CHN)

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03 December 1966

Part of the Fatima Residence, Macau community at the time of death

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Father Joseph Tai SJ
RIP
Father Joseph Tai Yu-kuk SJ, passed away on 5 October 2004, after a long battle with cancer. He was 75.
Father Tai, was born on 25 April 1929 in Sabah, Malaysia to a large Chinese Catholic family.
He was a teenager in Hong Kong when the Japanese invaded in December 1941. He had joined a group of a dozen Catholics who, it was hoped, might one day become priests, under the charge of Father Dan Donnelly SJ.

Father Tai completed his education in Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, which was then in Robinson Road, before joining the order of the Society of Jesus in the Philippines in December 1950 when he was 21.

After completing his university education - including training in philosophy in 1959, Father Tai taught at Wah Yan College from 1959 to 1961. He read theology in Ireland from 1961 to 1965 and was ordained in Ireland on 31 July 1964.

Father Tai subsequently returned to Hong Kong where he became the assistant to the master of novices at the Xavier Retreat House, Cheung Chau from 1966 to 1979. He then served as parish priest at Our Lady of Fatima Church, Cheung Chau from 1979 to 1985, before being appointed parish priest of Ss. Peter and Paul Church, Yuen Long, from 1985 to 1991.

From 1992 to 2003, he was the parish priest of St. Augustine’s Church in Macau and also served as the principal of the Escola Caritas de Macau. He was fro many years director of the Apostleship of Prayer.

During his long years of service, Father Tai made friends easily and everywhere, giving spiritual direction to many sisters and finding time of quite a few Filipino domestic workers.

The Society of Jesus held a vigil at the Hong Kong Funeral Home on 8 October. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at the Christ the King Chapel the following day after which Father Tai was buried at St. Michael’s Cemetery, Happy Valley.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 24 October 2004

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 123 : Special Issue February 2005

Obituary

Joseph (Joe) Tai Y-kuk (1929-2004) : Chinese Province

Remembering Joe Tai SJ

Harry Naylor

Joe Tai died on October 4th, 2004. He had been in Dublin to visit an Irish family as recently as August, 2004. This family had befriended him when he was studying Theology in Milltown (1961-1965), and from then on was his benefactor. He always had warm thoughts of Ireland. He then went to London, where there was another family that had befriended and supported his works since early days. But there he collapsed and after some weeks in hospital returned to Hong Kong, where he immediately went to the Queen Mary Hospital. He had been there since October last year for treatment of a lymph "disorder" (cancer), but had been let go home in June. For his recuperation his friends arranged for him to take a Mediterranean cruise. He took that opportunity to go to Dublin.

He is first mentioned in Jesuit records in 1945. Fr. Dan Donnelly, who came to Hong Kong as a priest in 1932, wrote to the Irish Provincial mentioning Joe Tai as a young student with great potential to be a Jesuit. Fr. Donnelly was in charge of Loyola Language House on Castle Peak Road. With the 1939 war, no new Jesuits came to Hong Kong, so he used the facilities as a kind of “minor seminary”. He recruited young altar boys from the parishes and started with twenty in Sept 1940, when Joe was twelve years old. After the Japanese invasion in Dec 1941, Fr. Donnelly gathered 18 of them and took them into Free China and finally to Bombay, India. Of these, 11 returned with him to Hong Kong, and it was in this context that Fr. Donnelly's letter to the Irish Provincial mentioned Joe Tai as the most promising, and he was the only one who made it to Jesuit Vows in Manila. Joe retained a love and respect for Fr. Donnelly, a genius at mathematics and engineering, a pioneer enthusiast, who in 1950 finally retumed to work successfully around Bombay for another two decades of apostolic work. Joe inherited his optimism and enthusiasm, apostolic zeal and initiative.

His funeral was on October 9th in St. Paul's Convent at Christ the King Chapel, which is a vast stone church. At the Mass, there were over three hundred people, about fifty in dress of women religious, and over two dozen concelebrating priests. It was somewhat of a diocesan funeral, as Joe had been parish priest in Cheung Chau for five years, and again for the same length in Yuen Long. Bishop John Tong officiated, with Frs. Deignan, Russell and Leung in the sanctuary. Besides those on the altar, the following Irish Jesuits were concelebrating at his funeral: Frs. Tom McIntyre, Joe Mallin, Bernard Shields, Ciaran Kane, Jimmy Hurley, and myself. There were eight Jesuits of his community in Macau, where he had been since 1992 as pastor of St Agostinho Church and Director of the Caritas School for mentally handicapped, and as a retreat giver. He had helped with funds to build four primary schools in nearby mainland China. Fr. Thomas Leung, who had known Joe as a Regent in Wah Yan, HK, and later took over the Cheung Chau retreat house from him in 1979, preached the homily which traced their warm relations through the years. There were a dozen diocesan and other religious priests also concelebrating. He had been director of the Apostleship of Prayer for over thirty years, inheriting it from Fr Charlie Daly, and Spiritual Director of the Catholic Nurses Guild for twenty years until 1990. He was known by many Women Religious for his retreats, and especially for his direction at our retreat house in Cheung Chau, where he was in charge for more than a dozen years. He gave spiritual direction, and also used Asian forms of prayer.

He is missed by the Hong Kong Jesuits. We, Jesuits, are here to serve the local church and our Society, and have in mind to do all we can for the rest of China.

Born: 29 January 1923, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Entered: 17 August 1940, Rizal, Philippines (MARNEB for HIB)
Ordained: 31 July 1953, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 03 February 1958, Wah Yan College, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Died: 04 December 1993, Our Lady’s Hospice, Dublin

Part of the Cherryfield Lodge community, Dublin community at the time of death.

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03 December 1966; HK to CHN : 1992; CHN to HIB : 15 September 1992

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Father Francis Chan Fook Wai, SJ., a long-serving teacher in Wah Yan College Kowloon and a sought-after priest at St. Ignatius Chapel there, died in Dublin, Ireland, on 4 December 1993, aged 70 years.

Born to a Catholic family in Shamshuipo, Kowloon, in 1923, he graduated from Wah Yan College Hong Kong which was then situated on Robinson Road. He joined the Jesuits (Society of Jesus) in 1940 and went to the Philippines for his novitiate, taking his vows there under Japanese occupation in 1942.

After studies there in humanities and philosophy, he returned to teach for a year at his old school and then moved to Ireland to study theology in 1950-54 at Milltown Park, Dublin, where he was ordained a priest in 1953. He made his final year of spiritual formation in Wales, followed by a year of educational studies in London.

After returning to Hong Kong in 1956, he took up what was to be his life-long career as a secondary-school teacher, this time in Kowloon Wah Yan College on Waterloo Road.

He was to teach full-time at Form Five level for over 30 years, a period broken only by his going to Canada in 1969 to take a Master's degree in history at the University of Saskatchewan. Even after official retirement at 65 in 1988, he continued with a reduced teaching load for a further two years. During the course of those long years, he had served also as Prefect of Studies of the school and as the first Chinese Rector of the Jesuit community.

His pastoral work at St. Ignatius Chapel had begun as early as 1972 but from 1990 this became his main concern. There he had already become known for the many groups whom he personally instructed for Baptism. Every year he prepared two groups of over fifty adults. He often baptised a whole family, including grandparents and grandchildren.

In early 1992 he moved to England to care for the Chinese Catholics living in London. But soon after taking up that responsibility, he had to undergo major surgery. He was happy to be able to resume his pastoral work for some months but when the problem recurred in mid-1990, he sought medical treatment in Ireland and it was there that he died peacefully on 4 December.

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814 :
His early education was in Wah Yan College Hong Kong.
He made his Novitiate in Manila, and the studied Humanities and Philosophy.
1950-1954 he was sent to Ireland and Milltown Park for Theology.
After that he studied Spiritual formation in Wales and Educational studies in London.
He taught at Wah Yan College Kowloon and then in 1992 he moved to London, England to care for Chinese Catholics living there.

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 82 : September 1995

Obituary

Fr Francis (Frank) Chan (Fook-wai Chan) (1923-1993)
29th Jan. 1923: Born in Hong Kong to a Catholic family Primary studies: Tun Mui School, Hong Kong
Secondary studies: Wah Yan College, Hong Kong - Graduating 1940
14th Aug. 1940: Entered Society at Novaliches Novitiate, Philippines
15th Aug. 1942: First Vows at Novaliches
1942 - 1944: Juniorate at Novaliches, studied English, Latin and Greek
1944 - 1946: Philosophy at Novaliches
1946 - 1950: Regency in Wah Yan College, Hong Kong
1950 - 1954: Theology in Milltown Park
31st July 1953; Ordained a priest in Milltown Park by J.C. McQuaid
1954 - 1955: Tertianship at St. Bueno's, Wales
1955 - 1956: Diploma in Education at Strawberry Hill College, London
1956 - 1958: Taught in Wah Yan College, Kowloon
3rd Feb. 1958: Final Vows, professed
1959-1965: Prefect of Studies in Wah Yan College, Kowloon.
1965-1967: Fund-raising for new school wing
1967-1970: Studies for M.A. in history at University of Saskatchewan, Canada
1970-1990: Taught in Wah Yan College, Kowloon
1972-1978; Minister of community
1972-1991: Prefect of Church
1972-1982: Consultor of Vice-Province
1978-1994: Rector of Wah Yan College
1985-1991: Minister of community
1991-1992: Sabbatical Year
1992-1993: Director of London Chinese Catholic Association, St. Patrick's Church, London
1992: Transcribed to Irish Province
4th Dec. 1993: Died at Our Lady's Hospice, Harolds Cross

I suppose “single-minded” is the word that best sums up Fr. Francis Chan. I first noticed this when we were together in Theology in Milltown Park in the early fifties. For Francis it was slog and swot every spare hour of the day. The result was that he outshone many of his colleagues who considered that they were of higher intellectual ability than him. There was a certain amount of chagrin that Francis got his “Ad Grad” and was thus on the way to becoming Professed Father, while some of his colleagues had to be satisfied with becoming "mere" Spiritual Coadjutors.

Francis continued to show that same determination to achieve academic success after completing his tertianship in St. Beunos, North Wales. He first studied for a Diploma in Education in Strawberry Hill, London. Then, after his return to Hong Kong in 1956, he sat his Matriculation Exam and an external degree in history from London University - no mean achievement as he was a full-time teacher during that period. Later, he obtained a Master's degree from Regina University, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Francis devoted himself with the same single-mindedness to the very difficult task of fund-raising for Wah Yan College, Kowloon. He was Chairman of the Committee and gave himself wholeheartedly to the task, contacting his many friends and Past Students of the College.

When he became Minister of Wah Yan College, Kowloon he showed the same efficiency that he had displayed in classroom teaching and in his term as Prefect of Studies in the College. However, his single mindedness and his determination to achieve sometimes meant that he was lacking in the art of good personal relationships. However, I must say that whenever I visited the College when Francis was minister, or later when he became Rector, he was always most welcoming, considerate and attentive.

I think that this appointment as Minister of Wah Yan was really a turning-point in Francis's career. As Minister, he was in charge of the “School Chapel”. It needs to be explained that the “Chapel”, to all intents and purposes, is a “mini parish church”; funerals or weddings are not performed, but other normal parish activities are carried out. (The official designation of St. Ignatius Chapel is a “Pastoral Zone” - the only one in the whole diocese of Hong Kong!!). It was in this work that Francis really blossomed and it became evident that while he threw himself wholeheartedly into his work as a teacher, his heart wasn't really in it. This might help to explain why he never developed a close personal relationship with his students. Anyhow, he relished his work with the people who came to St. Ignatius Chapel and took a deep interest in them. He prepared very many for Baptism himself, when the general practice of the diocese was to leave this task to catechists. And the people loved him. When he later became Rector, and would normally have ceased being in charge of St. Ignatius Chapel, he continued his association with it. Still later, when he retired from full-time teaching in the College he was able to devote practically all his time to his “parishioners”.

The thought of the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997 was something that caused Francis a great deal of anxiety and he made no secret of the fact that he intended to leave well in advance of that date. So, in 1992 he left Hong Kong: first to visit his former parishioners living in Canada and then he came to Ireland. He obtained an Irish passport and became a member of the Irish Province in September of that year. Earlier, he had signed a three-year contract with the Archdiocese of Westminster to be the priest in charge of the Chinese Catholics in London - “Director of the Chinese Catholic Association, London” was his official title.

However, he soon experienced ill health and had prostate surgery in Dublin that same year. Against medical advice, Francis insisted on returning to his flock in London. He realised that, on account of his cancer, he didn't have very long to live so he paid a final visit to Hong Kong without revealing to anyone his serious medical condition. When the cancer worsened he had to leave his pastoral work in London and took up residence in Cherryfield Lodge in August, 1993. As his health continued to deteriorate, he moved to Our Lady's Hospice, Harold's Cross, Dublin where he died on 4th December, 1993.

Something of the single-mindedness that had marked his life was evident in his final illness. He knew that he hadn't long to live so he committed himself totally into the hands of his Creator. The nurses in the Hospice said that they had never seen anyone die with such peaceful resignation - a peace that was clearly evident on his face after his death. May he rest in peace.

JG Foley