A permanent deacon for London’s new Hong Kong community
James Shin Ka-leung will be ordained on Saturday in Westminster. He was already training for this ministry when he left Hong Kong and his profession as a lawyer in 2021, like thousands of his fellow citizens fleeing Beijing’s repression. He will coordinate the pastoral care of Catholic migrants from Hong Kong for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.
London (AsiaNews/Agencies) – One of the thousands of Hongkongers who moved to the United Kingdom in recent years will be ordained a permanent deacon in London, fulfilling his ministry among the many Catholics who left the former British colony.
The Sunday Examiner, the diocesan weekly of Hong Kong, reported his story in last week’s edition.
Before leaving for Britain with his family in 2021, James Shin Ka-leung was a lawyer in Hong Kong and was already part of a group of candidates for the permanent diaconate of the Chinese diocese after starting his training in 2015, following a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
Shin will be ordained next Saturday in Westminster Cathedral, London, by Auxiliary Bishop James Curry, along with two other new permanent deacons of the diocese of the British capital: Eze Ugoala and Paul Hewitt.
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales has already appointed Deacon Shin to serve as coordinator of a committee that provides pastoral assistance to new Catholic migrants from Hong Kong.
Fr Bruno Lepeu, a French missionary of the Missions Etrangères de Paris, will also be present at the ordination. He knows the Chinese context well and is about to travel to London to provide pastoral assistance to migrants from Hong Kong.
After Beijing’s brutal crackdown under its national security law, almost 300,000 Hongkongers took advantage of the UK’s open door policy over the past three years – by virtue of their status as residents of a former British colony, they already had dual citizenship.
Christians are a substantial part of this wave of immigrants, largely young families, which AsiaNews covered recently.
According to a survey by the British and Foreign Bible Society, Christians represent 18 per cent of the newcomers, proportionately far more than existing Christian communities in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
While many immigrants “strive to integrate into local parishes, they miss the familiar liturgical and pastoral practices of Hong Kong, which they find more interactive, intimate, and culturally relevant,” Shin told the Sunday Examiner. “As a result, many small faith groups have formed in various regions, organising pastoral activities like prayer groups, catechesis classes, and Sunday school.”
Shin explained that there is a strong desire among migrants to have Hong Kong priests visit, celebrate Mass, and carry out pastoral activities in Cantonese.
For this reason, Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing of Hong Kong will visit several regions of the UK in mid-July and communities are eager to meet him.
Last Saturday, four new permanent deacons – Wilson Choi Wai-san, Joseph Ng Wai Hang, Francis Mok Chun-keung, and John Siu Sze-chuen – were also ordained in the Diocese of Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, the local Church began to ordain permanent deacons again in 1997. Today they number around 30, constituting a significant experience for Asia, where relatively few dioceses have introduced this ministry.
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