Dear Brothers and Partners in Mission,
I have been informed that Fr. General has appointed Fr. Stephen Tong, S.J. to be the next Provincial of the Chinese Province. After consulting with Fr. Tong, he will assume his new mission on 1st November 2021.We thank our Lord for giving us a new Provincial through the appointment of Fr. General. And we should give thanks to Fr. Stephen Tong for his generous availability for this arduous and challenging mission. My brothers and partners, your ardent support and closest cooperation with Fr. Tong is crucial for the fruitfulness of God’s Mission through our Province, united among the four regions.
Fr. Stephen Tong was born and brought up in Macau in a non-Catholic family as the youngest son among the five siblings. He finished his basic and secondary education there. He was baptized before he flew to Taiwan for his tertiary study in Civil Engineering in 1981.
In following his eldest sister’s footstep of choosing religious life, Stephen began to consider it after his baptism, and decided to join the Society of Jesus in 1990. He was sent to Singapore to enter the Novitiate, and then studied Philosophy in Manila, followed by two years of Regency in teaching in the Jesuit school, Estrala de Mar, in Macau. In 1996 he began Theology study in the Holy Spirit Seminary College and was then ordained deacon in 1999. Afterwards, he spent two years in Boston to pursue the STL while in between he was ordained priest on June 24, 2000, in Macau.
His first priestly mission was sent to Manila in 2001 as Pre-novitiate director and Socius to the Novice Master. From then on, Stephen’s ministry dwells within formation and Ignatian Spirituality. After finishing the Tertianship training in 2004, he was sent to Xavier House, Cheung Chau, HK to be the director up to this moment, giving retreats and spiritual formation in both HK and mainland China. He has also become province consultor since 2010 and then also the superior of HK community since 2012.
With gratitude and prayers,
Stephen Chow, S.J.
Provincial