In praise of our elders (Sirach 44). Our MSC 60 years ordained group.
Albert Chan, with Harry Chan OFM, already celebrating the 60 years.
Celebrations like this are becoming more significant with our numbers in the province. Recent counting indicates that there are 46 members of the province 80 and over. We have to celebrate our elders.
So, Congratulations to the 1962 ordination group:
Albert Chan, Brisbane
Tony Young, Eastern Papua
Paul Brennan, Douglas Park
Bede North, Kensington
And In Memoriam, Brian Healy (2016)
[Also in that group, men who did not continue as MSC, Alan Reis, Brian Hingerty)
Albert Chan is the senior of the group.
From the archives:
Father Albert Chan was born in Rabaul on 15th November, 1933 and comes from a very devout family. He is the tenth child of fourteen children. His parents were the late Mr John Ah Chai and Mrs Rosa Chan. Father Albert said at his homily that not many of us would have known his mother, Rosa who died in 1943 during the Japanese occupation of Rabaul, but a lot of us would remember his father, John Ah Chai who lived to a ripe old age of 91. He used to walk 15 minutes to Mass every morning until he was too frail to do so.
John Ah Chai had two sons already priests in Shanghai, China (Fr. Luke (ordained 1941) and Fr. Gabriel, SJ (ordained 1947). He also had two daughters who were nuns (Mother Elizabeth, a Helper of the Holy Souls in China and Sr. Mary, with the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart currently working with the Chinese Catholic community in Darwin. When Communism took over, Frs. Luke and Gabriel were imprisoned and suffered terribly, so did Sr. Elizabeth. Fr. Luke died of illness on 7th October, 1973. Fr. Albert was never fortunate enough to meet Fr. Luke who left Rabaul before he was born but he met Fr. Gabriel for the first time in 1988. Fr. Gabriel was imprisoned for 34 years, probably “the longest gaoled Catholic prisoner of conscience.” Despite his sufferings, Fr. Gabriel held no bitterness but only forgiveness for those who had hurt him.
Albert received his primary education from the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart at St. Teresa’s Yang Ching School and the Sacred Heart School in Rabaul, New Britain, PNG. From 1948 – 1953, he was a student at Downlands College, Toowoomba, Qld.
He made his first profession 66 years ago in 1956. Afer studies at Croydon, he was ordained 60 years ago in 1962.
The first decades of his ministry were spent in education, teaching science, supervising dormitories and the many tasks in MSC colleges. He taught at Downlands, Monivae and Daramalan.
In the 1980s, he began a ministry to the Chinese in Brisbane with memories of his family in China and in New Britain. This ministry has flourished. While Albert has retired, he is still very much involved and lives still in Brisbane.
