HONG KONG (SE): Pope Francis named Father Luc René Young Chen Yin of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, apostolic administrator of the Catholic Vicariate of Rodrigues, in the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius, on January 4, ACI Africa reported on January 5.
Born on the island of Rodrigues in August 1960, Father Young left for Calcutta, India, as an aspirant of the Missionary Brothers of Charity in 1984. Months later, he joined the Oblates and began his priestly formation. He was ordained in February 1992.
Father Young served in various capacities, including parish priest, ministry among street families, prison ministry and working with foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong.
Since 2008, Father Young worked with disadvantaged orphans, abandoned children and workers from poor villages in China.
The ecclesiastical territory of Rodrigues had been vacant since September 2020 when Bishop Alain Harel was transferred to the Diocese of Port Victoria in the Seychelles. Maurice Cardinal Piat of Port Louis, appointed Father Jean Maurice Labor as interim administrator in October 2020.
The Apostolic Vicariate of Rodrigues was erected from the Diocese of Port Louis in October 2002. It has 38,714 Catholics, according to 2017 statistics.
