HONG KONG (SE): Father James Wan Nga-pak, the former editor-in-chief of the diocesan weeklies of Hong Kong, Kung Kao Po and Sunday Examiner, passed away at Canossa Hospital at 8:00am on February 25 at the age of 87.
Born in 1936 in Heng Yang, Hunan province, Father Wan came to Hong Kong with his family in 1951. He joined the minor seminary in 1953 and graduated from the Regional Seminary of South China in 1964 and was ordained priest.
Father Wan was one of the pioneers of the Catholic press in Hong Kong. He was twice appointed editor-in-chief of Kung Kao Po, the first time from 1966 to 1970. During that period, he initiated a column for students’ contributions in the diocesan Chinese weekly and later founded a separate monthly paper for young people in 1970.
He served as editor-in-chief of both the Chinese and English weeklies from 1993 to 1996, and the Joyful Youth section was expanded in Kung Kao Po during his term. At this time he also had the opportunity to meet St. Teresa of Kolkata, ruing her visit in early March 1993.
Father Wan offered pastoral care to the Chinese community in Canada in two separate decades. From 1971 to 1979, he studied in Montrea and served the Chinese community there.
During this period, he set up the Golden Age Club of Montreal Chinatown where elderly people could gather and gave them support. Later, he served as parish priest for the Montreal Chinese Catholic Mission from 1996 to 2005.
In Toronto, he served at St. Agnes Kouying Tsao Catholic Church and the Chinese Martyrs’ Catholic Church from 2005 to 2010.
John Baptist Cardinal Wu Chen-chung appointed Father Wan parish priest of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception where he served from 1981 to 1993, before his second stint at the diocesan weekly.
Upon returning to Hong Kong from his service to the Chinese community in Toronto in 2010, he was assigned to the Immaculate Heart of Mary parish, Tai Po as the assistant parish priest. He held the post until 1 May 2020, when he retired and lived at the Catholic Diocese Centre.
A vigil will be held at 8:00pm on March 8 at Christ the King Chapel, Causeway Bay, followed by a funeral Mass, to be celebrated by Bishop Stephen Chow Sau Yan SJ, at 10:00am the next morning, at the same venue.
May the soul of Father Wan rest in peace.
