February 4, 2008   •   VOL. 46, NO. 3   •   Oakland, CA

Father Thomas Ng honored for work
as musician and pastoral minister
 

Father Thomas Ng stands next to one of his retirement gifts — a Chinese calligraphy describing his ministry and offering a blessing for peace, happiness and health. CARRIE McCLISH PHOTO

By Carrie McClish
Staff writer

Father Thomas Ng first realized he had a vocation to the priesthood when he learned the news from a higher source — his mother.

While attending a Salesian school in Macau, the youngster heard his mother tell one of the school officials that “he will be a priest.” Decades later, the priest chuckled and said, “Maybe mother had a vocation.”

Father Ng, the longtime director of the diocesan Chinese Catholic Pastoral Center, said his mother’s statement was based more on family history than divine intuition — his mother had an uncle who was a priest of the Hong Kong Diocese and a cousin was a priest of the Diocese of Macau. Ng spent time with his great uncle and eventually felt drawn to become a priest.

Last fall, after more than four decades in the priesthood, Father Ng, who turns 76 in April, retired from active ministry. During 30 of those years he provided pastoral care to those who had emigrated from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. He has also reached countless Chinese Catholics with the liturgical music he has composed. Additionally, he served as a hospital chaplain at Oakland hospitals and he continues to say Mass and hear confessions at St. Leo Church, where he lives.

Born in Hong Kong, Ng was a youth when his parents moved their children to Macau during the Second World War. After graduating from a Salesian high school, he went to the order’s novitiate in Hong Kong. In succession he spent three years studying philosophy, three years in pastoral work and teaching, and three years studying theology in Italy and England before his ordination to the priesthood in 1961.

The new priest spent several years as a teacher and headmaster at schools in Hong Kong and Macau. Then he became a student once again when he was granted permission from his Salesian superiors to study music at Ohio State University. There the priest, who first took music lessons at the school in Macau, earned three degrees — a master’s in music education, a master of musical arts (composing) and a doctorate in music education — in three and a half years.

Father Thomas Ng has composed the music for four Masses in Chinese and is currently setting the Responsorial Psalms to music. CARRIE McCLISH PHOTO

Today the priest still plays the piano when a musician is needed at the Chinese Mass. Also an organist, he writes music for the Chinese liturgy and has composed at least four Masses, including one called the St. Leo the Great Mass which he dedicated to a Salesian priest, Father William Smith, his first music teacher.

His music can be found in hymnals and Mass books for Chinese Catholics and includes opening and recessional hymns. He has also written versions of the “Our Father” and “Ave Maria.”

Asked if he makes any money from his compositions, he shook his head and replied, “You work for God, not for money.”

Father Ng came to the Oakland Diocese in 1977 and soon learned that Bishop John Cummins, was looking for a priest to serve Chinese Catholics in the diocese.

Father Ng began his ministry at St. Joseph Parish in Fremont with 25 people attending the Mass celebrated in Mandarin. Soon there were more than 100 people in attendance every Sunday. A Cantonese speaker who admits his Mandarin was “not too good,” Father Ng asked Father Stanislaus Poon, a native of Shanghai, to help him. “Father Poon worked hard,” he said of the now retired priest.

Today, Chinese liturgies are also celebrated at Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Union City (Cantonese), St. Jerome Church in El Cerrito (Mandarin), and St. Leo Church in Oakland (Cantonese), where Father Ng has lived for more than 30 years.

Father Ng considers the growth of this Chinese Catholic community a miracle because many native Chinese are Buddhists or worship gods that are local to their native communities.

In addition to his work with the Chinese Catholic community, Father Ng also served as a chaplain for three years at Kaiser Permanente, Peralta and Merritt hospitals. The greatest challenge was being called at night to rush to a facility to anoint and comfort those who had fallen ill, been shot or had become injured in other ways. “It was hard work,” he said.

Father Ng’s retirement began in high spirits when members of the St. Leo Parish and the Chinese Catholic community organized a retirement party last fall that drew over 400 people, including Bishop Emeritus Cummins and Auxiliary Bishop Ignatius Wang of San Francisco.

Among his gifts was a red poster containing Chinese calligraphy inscribed with characters that reflect his ministry and wishing him happiness, health and longevity. “It is beautiful,” he said. He also expressed wonder at another gift — a color portrait of himself painted by a parishioner.

Father Ng marked his retirement with a November visit to Shanghai where he visited the She Shan Cathedral, named a minor basilica by Pope Pius XII in 1942, and St. Ignatius Cathedral. He also traveled to Hong Kong where he presided at the wedding of a niece. The priest described the trip as a pilgrimage to offer thanksgiving to God for the 30 years he spent working in the Oakland Diocese.

Though retired, Father Ng plans still has plenty to do. He continues to preside at Mass at least once a week at St. Leo Church. The Chinese music company that has published his works would like him to write the music and accompaniment for the Responsorial Psalms for all three years of the Lectionary. Although he admitted that it is a lot of work, he is happy “to have after retirement a project, a big project,” he said
In appreciation for his service to the diocesan community, Father Ng will be awarded the diocesan Merit Medal on Feb. 16.

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