HONG KONG (SE/Agencies): Bishop Norbert Pu Ying-hsiung of the Diocese of Chiayi, Taiwan, ordained Divine Word Missionary Deacon Robert Wong as a priest on August 10 at St. Joseph the Worker Church in Chiayi City. Father Wong is the first Hong Kong-born priest of the Society of the Divine Word [SVD].
In his homily, Archbishop Emeritus of Taipei, John Hung Shan-chuan, SVD, urged the congregation to keep both the newly ordained priest and the senior priests who have devoted their lives to the Church in their prayers. He also requested prayers for the seminarians helping with the ceremony, expressing his hope that God would guide them to eventually become priests.
Father Francis Tam Kam-wing, a diocesan priest from Hong Kong, assisted Deacon Wong as he vested his chasuble and stole, reported The Catholic Times, the weekly paper for the Archdiocese of Taipei.
Father Niewdana Leszak, the provincial superior of SVD China Province, thanked Father Wong’s parents and expressed his appreciation. He said that following the ordination, the new priest would travel to Europe for a conference before starting his work in the youth ministry of the Diocese of Chiayi.
Seven priests from Hong Kong participated in the ordination Mass alongside the concelebrants, among them was Father Johnson Dhos, the superior of the Hong Kong-Macau District of the SVD. Father Paul Kam Po-wai, vicar general of the Diocese of Hong Kong, presented Father Wong with an apostolic blessing parchment from Pope Francis after the service.
Father Wong was born in Hong Kong in 1984 and was baptised at St. Benedict Church in Shatin in 2004. After completing his studies at the University of Huddersfield in England in 2007, he began serving at Choi Hung Estate Catholic English Secondary School in 2008. He started his priestly formation at the Holy Spirit Seminary College of Theology and Philosophy in 2009.
In 2010, he joined the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions [PIME] and undertook missionary work in Thailand for a year in 2012. Upon his return to Hong Kong in 2013, he was involved in community initiatives with Caritas-Hong Kong and St. Peter’s Church in Aberdeen.
In 2015, Father Wong started his studies at the Fu Jen Faculty of Theology of St. Robert Bellarmine in Taipei. He became a member of the Society of the Divine Word in 2016. He made his first vows in 2018, and he took part in the Overseas Training Discipleship programme in Chile in the same year. He came back to serve in Taipei in 2021.
In 2022, Father Wong continued evangelisation work at Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan and was ordained a deacon in 2023. He continued his diaconate service at St. Joseph the Worker Church in Chiayi.
The ordination ceremony was attended by over 700 people, including over a hundred people from Hong Kong including family, and friends from different parishes and youth organisations.
