Stephen Tong SJ, Provincial superior, the Chinese Province of the Jesuits
When Jorge Cardinal Bergoglio was elected as Pope Francis on 13 March 2013, and the Jesuits in the Roman Curia came to know about this, there was a sense of mysterious silence among them. No celebration! No shouts of joy! Like Our Lady without clear understanding in the Nativity and later in finding the Lord in the Temple, they simply treasured all these in their hearts.
Likewise, when he was asked again to accept the appointment to be the new shepherd of the Diocese of Hong Kong in early March this year, we, as his provincial consultors and Father Chow, were dumbfounded as it came with Pope Francis’ explicit expectation, exactly under the horizon of our [Jesuit] fourth vow to the pope.
It was in great contrast to the atmosphere last December when all of us made clear our support of Father Chow’s declining this very request. In our Jesuit way of proceeding, the idea or desire of becoming a bishop is out of the question. St. Ignatius had made every effort in Rome to keep his companions from being recommended or named into such positions by the higher authorities of the Church. This is our Jesuit culture and tradition. But humans propose, God disposes!
…he encouraged people to express what they were really feeling and thinking, rather than simply doing the right things while carrying their complaints within
The first time we met was in 1989 at our Wah Yan Residence, Kowloon, when Stephen was doing his regency by teaching in the school and I was improving my English by attending some of the classes there in preparation to go to Singapore for the novitiate formation.
We were both blessed to have Archbishop Dominic Tang and quite a big group of Irish fathers living with us then. In those four months, basically a reserved person by character, I was impressed, yet somewhat challenged by Stephen’s audacity to see traditions from the contemporary angle, confidence to be outspoken, and sensitivity to the minority and those suffering from injustice.
Due to his psychology background, he encouraged people to express what they were really feeling and thinking, rather than simply doing the right things while carrying their complaints within. In conversation, I could immediately feel his aura of being a leader with spontaneity. He is caring, persuasive, decisive, and responsible.
In 2010, a few years after his doctoral studies in Education at Harvard University, Stephen suddenly brought the innovative idea to our community of establishing the Jesuit Liberal Art College in Hong Kong. He was encouraged by a few old boys of Wah Yan. I was in no doubt of his calibre to coordinate such a huge project with a good team of professionals. But many of us had reservations about its feasibility in terms of financial commitment and the personnel involved, and were not surprised when our former superior general, Father Adolfo Nicolás, finally turned it down.
However, what I feel amazed about the whole episode is the movement of God’s providence. If the project went ahead, it would be a tremendous burden for the college to recruit enough students from the mainland to sustain it, as political and social turmoil appeared in the last few years.
If Stephen had become the founder of the college, he would definitely not have become the provincial. Yet, if he had not initiated that project to draw all the attention of the province, he might not have become provincial either. If he was not provincial, nobody knows whether the Vatican would have considered him to be the shepherd for the Diocese of Hong Kong. What a winding path along which the Lord is leading Stephen and those around him!
All his amazing traits can only be understood in his identification with the Lord of Love: ‘in love there is no fear” (1 John 4:18), and “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd!’ (John 10:10-11)
The last four years saw a close collaboration between us, as I was his consultor of the province. Though Stephen can be strong and direct in expressions, he is humble, willing to listen and learn from others, and to apologise naturally after acknowledging his mistakes.
He has enabled us to be a collaborative team, complementing each other for the good of the province. There is no hesitancy or worry among the team members to speak out our own perspectives and opinions. Consequently, a number of milestones have been achieved under his leadership.
In the last two years, he was not discouraged by the restricitons of the pandemic that meant he was unable to visit our brothers and collaborators in Macau, Taiwan, the Mainland and overseas. But he used all the available means to communicate with them.
By God’s grace his incessant energy allows him to keep pace with all the demanding tasks under limitations, as he also does not sleep much and is a strict vegetarian.
All his amazing traits can only be understood in his identification with the Lord of Love: “in love there is no fear” (1 John 4:18), and “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd!” (John 10:10-11).
