HONG KONG (SE): Jesuit Father John Russell, 97, passed away on September 22 at St. Paul’s Hospital, Causeway Bay. The missionary was well-remembered for showing God’s love while holding various positions in the diocese over more than 60 years, particularly within the Wah Yan community and on the diocesan tribunal.
In a death announcement by the Wah Yan community on September 23, Father Clement Tsui Lap-yan, supervisor of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, expressed his deepest gratitude for Father Russell’s love, service and various contributions.
Father Russell was born in Dublin, Ireland, on 24 August 1926, and decided at an early age to join the Jesuit order. He joined the Society of Jesus in Laoise in Dublin in 1943 and was ordained in Milltown Park in 1957. In 1962, he completed his doctoral studies in Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
He first came to Hong Kong to learn Cantonese in 1951, but returned to Rome to complete his studies. Upon his return to Hong Kong in 1962, he served the Jesuit Mission and the Diocese of Hong Kong in various capacities.
Between 1968 and 1972, he was the rector of Wah Yan College, Kowloon; he was the provincial of the Jesuit Vice-Province of Hong Kong from 1972 to 1978; the supervisor of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, from 1990 to 1993, and its rector from 1993 to 2007, as well as warden of Ricci Hall, University of Hong Kong from 1978 to 1990.
Father Russell taught at the Regional Seminary for South China—now called the Holy Spirit Seminary. A member of the Catholic Marriage Advisory Council since the 1970s, he was also a pioneer of the pre-Cana marriage formation programme in the city.
As rector of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel [Catholic Centre] from 2000 to 2012, he also provided support to many people who had marriage difficulties.
In 2012, he retired as the judicial vicar of the Diocesan Tribunal, a post that he held from 1986. Nevertheless, he continued to handle marriage-related cases for eight more years until July 2020. John Cardinal Tong Hon and the diocesan curia hosted a farewell party on 16 June 2020 to thank him for his service since the 1970s. [Sunday Examiner, 28 June 2020].
After retirement, Father Russell chose to stay in Hong Kong which he regarded as his home. “In his later years, he resided in our priests’ quarter’s witnessing the growth and changes of the college and Wahyanites, sending us blessings and being our symbolic figure whom we all loved and revered,” Father Tsui said in the death announcement.
A funeral Mass is scheduled for 10.00am on October 7 at St. Ignatius Chapel, Wah Yan College, Kowloon, followed by burial at St. Michael’s Catholic Cemetery, Happy Valley. Mourners are asked not to bring flowers.
May he rest in peace.
May he rest in peace.
