KOTA KINABALU: The Holy Father appointed Fr John Wong Soo Kau, director of the aspirants’ formation house in Kota Kinabalu as coadjutor archbishop of the Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu (area 11,558, population 3,746,000, Catholics 186,138, priests 38, religious 140). The archbishopelect was born in Sandakan, Malaysia in 1968 and ordained a priest in 1999.

It was a surprise as there were expectations of someone with seniority in priestly ministry to succeed the bishopric. “He is young. Is he capable of that responsibility?” “perfect choice”, “God had chosen him”, were some of these feelings in the air when they heard the news.

The Bishop elect, Rt Rev John Wong, seventh child of 11 siblings was born on June 6, 1968 in Sandakan, entered the seminary formation at St Peter’s College, Kuching, Sarawak in February 1992 after he completed one and half years preparatory course in Kota Kinabalu. Prior to his decision to move a step forward to answer God’s call, he was a salesman, travelling around Sabah for three and half years. Upon completion of his seminary formation, he was ordained deacon on Jan 8, 1998 at Sacred Heart Cathedral of the then Diocese of Kota Kinabalu.

On Jan 21, 1999 he was ordained as a priest at St Mary’s Church, Sandakan and then assigned as assistant parish priest of Sacred Heart Cathedral, Kota Kinabalu. With his ability to speak Chinese, Malay and English, he was tasked with looking after the youth group. In his Priesthood Ordination Souvenir Magazine, he shares, “During the course of studying English…my struggle to master it, was a real torture as English was a subject I seldom passed during my school days.” He has shown that no wall is too hard to be broken.

After serving four years in that parish, he was sent for further studies at the Institute of Teresianum, Rome and obtained his Licentiate in Spirituality. Upon his return, he was appointed as priest-in-charge of the Catholic Archdiocesan Centre, also known as Aspirant House in 2004 while helping out in St Paul Dontozidon Parish.

Apart from his responsibility as a formator for priesthood aspirants, he was also a spiritual advisor to several commissions and bodies within the Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu such as the Youth Commission and the Sabah Women Commission. Above all, he has 11 years as a priest before being elected as a bishop and at the age of 42, he is the youngest bishop in the Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei region. — By Pierre Kee