Bishop Paul Tan resigns

Apr 06, 2015

By Vincent D’Silva
This year the Universal Church celebrates Easter on April 5. It is also the 75th birthday of Bishop Paul Tan SJ and is also the day he leaves his office as Bishop.

Canon law requires bishops to submit their resignations when they turn 75.

Bishop Tan confirmed that he submitted his resignation to Pope Francis through the Apostolic Nuncio in Malaysia.

“It rests with the Holy Father to respond to the request I have put before him,” he said with a smile that spoke of his relief.

“It is not unusual for a bishop’s resignation not to be accepted until a successor has been chosen,” he said.

The diocese of Melaka-Johor waited 18 months for Fr Paul Tan to take up office. His predecessor, Bishop Emeritus James Chan, retired in 2001.

On his retirement plans, Bishop Tan stressed that he had made a discernment retreat with Fr Anthony Ponnudurai, SJ, in Singapore recently.

He said, “Two years before the retreat, it was clear to me that Janda Baik, a place for retreats was a good place for me to retire.”

“I asked God what was the greater good — to stay in the diocese or return to the Society of Jesus,” he said.

Upon meditating, the bishop said, “It was clear that every time I thought about my decision, the greater good was of putting in proper order the retreat centre in the diocese.”

The bishop said he received a lot of strength and confirmation from God.

“When I thought about the other choice of going back to the Society of Jesus, I was not filled with consolation, rather I had a lot of unpeaceful thoughts,” he said, adding that he shared this with his spiritual director who confirmed his decision.

Since it became known that Bishop Tan would be tendering his resignation upon reaching his 75th birthday, he agreed that there has been much speculation as to who might succeed him.

He revealed that the next person to succeed him could come from among the priests of the diocese or from without, adding that “there is a possibility that the person may come from outside the diocese. However,” he said, “it all depends on Rome.”

Looking back on his vocation as a priest and bishop, he said, “Many of the things in the diocese have been put in order and streamlined although still more needs to be done.”

He said he was happy with what he has accomplished thus far. “In the year after my Episcopal ordination in 2003, I was disappointed that there were only 28 catechumens for baptism in the diocese for the year 2004,” he stated.

“Today”, the bishop disclosed, “we thank God we have many, more than 28, literally.”

Bishop Tan was grateful to Pope (Saint) John Paul II for giving him the opportunity to serve the Church in Melaka-Johor all these years though he found the burdens of Episcopal office onerous.

He said, “I have always wanted to do the will of Jesus Christ and I shall do it till the end of my life no matter what happens.”

After all these years in the episcopate, Bishop Tan says the work of a bishop is heavy but rewarding since he is doing God’s work, looking after God’s people.

He remarked, “I enjoyed the position but not the heavy responsibility which is a challenge. All in all, I am happy and at peace with God, others and myself.”

Speaking in jest he said, “I hope that Pope Francis would grant my request for retirement soon for which I would be grateful and thankful to him.”

An automobile accident in October 2005 and the damage it entailed has reduced mobility but not impaired his deportment.

Bishop Paul Tan is the second bishop of the Melaka-Johor diocese. He served as president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference (CBC) of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei for a two-year term from January 2011 to August 2012.

He was born on April 5, 1940 in Yong Peng, Johor. He entered the Jesuit novitiate in Hong Kong in 1959, and furthered his studies in the Philippines where he obtained his BA (Hons) in Humanities and MA in Philosophy.

He was then sent to Taiwan to do his regency, a period of apostolic work. In 1968, he was sent to Dublin, Ireland to do his Theology at Milltown Institute of Philosophy and Theology. After four years of study there he earned his Licentiate or MA in Theology.

In 1971, he was ordained a priest and began doctoral studies at École Pratique des hautes Etudes (EPHE) in France. His doctoral dissertation on the thoughts of Mao Zedong, founder of China’s communist party, was submitted in French and earned him a doctorate cum laude.

After his studies, he went to Colombia in Latin America for a final year of Jesuit formation. Back in Malaysia, he helped establish the Catholic Research Centre in Kuala Lumpur in 1977 to keep Catholics informed about Church teachings on ethics and social issues, as well as on political, social and economic developments in the country.

He said, “It was the late Tan Sri Archbishop Emeritus Dominic Vendargon who invited me to set up a centre with Mr and Mrs Chooi Mun Sou.”

He has also been active in ecumenism, having served as assistant secretary and later as executive committee member of the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) until he went to Rome in 1993. While there, he served as the Jesuit superior general’s regional assistant for East Asia and Oceania. The name of the Assistancy has been changed to “East Asia and the Pacific.”

Pope John Paul II appointed him Bishop of Melaka-Johor on Feb 13, 2003. His Episcopal ordination was on May 15, 2003.

Bishop Tan is fluent in English, French, Italian, Malay, and Mandarin. He can speak a smattering of Tamil.