EULOGY OF BISHOP EMERITUS JAMES CHAN SOON CHEONG – 1st BISHOP OF THE MALACCA-JOHORE DIOCESE
24th April 2023, Monday
Sacred Heart Cathedral, Johor Bahru
Dear Bishop James Chan, Dear Ah Go Go Chan,
Indeed a man of God, on the go, unafraid of controversies, for the growth and development of the Church in the diocese.
Today, we thank the Trinitarian God for the gift of you, James Chan, as our first bishop of the newly erected Diocese of Malacca-Johore in the year 1973. Till your retirement in 2001, it has indeed been a story of ENDURANCE, of PERSEVERANCE, of FIDELITY, remaining true to your Episcopal motto – “To Serve is my Joy” in good and challenging times.
Thank you, on behalf of all of us, for 50 years as a Bishop. On the 8th of June, you were ordained a Bishop in 1973 and on the 8th of June in 2023, we would have celebrated your Golden Jubilee together but you will be in heaven celebrating. 64 years a priest, ordained on the 9th of August in 1959 in the Diocese of Penang.
Indeed, you were a pioneer and a founding father of this new diocese and laid its foundations with a dynamic nerve center which you initiated and built in Plentong, Majodi, withstanding all obstacles and challenges, so that we are all able to enjoy today these facilitiesin this diocese and beyond. You indeed had a pioneering spirit in the areas of evangelization, as Bishop Bernard Paul already said in the homily, through social communications and the printed media. Your good stewardship in financial and investment services has given not only the Diocese of Malacca-Johore, but the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei (CBCMSB) a good financial basis for the work of evangelization. Through it all, more important, you were a shepherd, a ‘turun-padang’ shepherd, with a care for people – everyone, a people-centered bishop, keeping always a cheerful spirit through all criticisms and challenges, wherever it came from. The words of Jesus in John’s Gospel 16:33 – “Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world” truly applies to you.
You cultivated a close bond with all the bishops of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei (CBCMSB) and made MAJODI truly a home for our twice a year conference of the bishops. You cultivated a close bond with all the bishops of Peninsular Malaysia who have worked closely as a pastoral team for many, many years. It must be remembered that you, James Chan, together with Archbishop Dominic Vendargon of Kuala Lumpur and Bishop Gregory Yong of Penang, were the founding bishops of Aggiornamento 1976, a milestone moment in the history of the Church in Semenanjung Malaysia. I attest to the affirmation of many priests and laity and religious, and one of them, a laicised priest of this Diocese of Malacca-Johore told me yesterday, I quote from him, “there were many things rolled up in him; and the way he lived and witnessed was an eminent example of God’s faithfulness to him as well as to us, regardless of our strengths and weaknesses.”
Dear Bishop Chan, it is a happy coincidence that you died on the 22nd of April and your close brother bishop, Cardinal Soter Fernandez, the priest who helped the three bishops to organize the Aggiornamento of 1976, his birthday and your death day, fell on the same day. You, together with Archbishop Soter Fernandez and Bishop Antony Selvanayagam of Penang, forged a close bond between the three dioceses of West Malaysia.
Archbishop Julian, Bishop Bernard Paul and myself, we hope to continue with this legacy. The three of you, Soter, Antony Selvanayagam and you, James Chan, you stood together and remained strong on the morals and values of the church, the gospel and the nation during the difficult years of Operation Lalang in 1987; and the three of you spoke with one voice and were among the first to respond, that the ISA of 1986 was immoral, and we salute you for your leadership. The truth will and has prevailed. It is often forgotten that important local church decisions, especially of Semenanjung Malaysia, affecting the nation and church, were taken by the three bishops of Peninsular Malaysia collectively and this is our heritage, our legacy. Through it all, you, James Chan, remained humble, simple and approachable to all, those who liked you and those who did not like you.
When you retired, you remained an obedient son of the Church to your successors and never interfered and I can testify to this. Your greetings to all who called you or met you especially after your retirement which has lasted for 22 years, was not a casual hello, even if you did not know who was the caller, you simply had your motto, your slogan “I love you”, and you said that to all, with no exceptions. Well, dear Bishop Chan, you got the essentials of the Gospel right. May your patient endurance, before and after your retirement for 22 years in suffering as well as in sickness and weakness, may your patient endurance be fruitful for the church in the Diocese of Malacca-Johore and beyond.
So dear Bishop Chan, pray for your successors, Bishop Paul Tan, pray for your successor Bishop Bernard Paul and the Diocese of Malacca-Johore; pray for the members of your family who will surely miss you and your friends; pray for the Church of Peninsular Malaysia, pray for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei (CBCMSB); pray for the Federation of the Asian Bishops’ Conference (FABC); pray for the Universal Church on a Synodal Journey with Pope Francis; pray for our nation Malaysia; pray for me, dear Bishop – at one time your son, your Vicar General, whom you ordained as a Deacon and Priest and then laid hands on me to consecrate me as your brother bishop; pray for your first love, dear Bishop Chan, which was the Diocese of Penang that you belonged to, the Diocese of Penang that gifted you to the Diocese of Malacca-Johore. Similarly, the Diocese of Penang that gifted Bishop Bernard Paul to the Diocese of Malacca-Johore.
Dearest Bishop Emeritus James Chan, celebrate your Golden Jubilee as bishop on the 8th of June 2023 in heaven, with all the angels and the saints. Thank you for the book you wrote on your life and spirituality, entitled “When the Fruits of the Rambutan Tree are about to Ripen”. Dear James, the rambutans you planted have indeed ripened; they are mature and they are ‘manis’ and they are sweet.
With hearts full of gratitude, we thank God for the gift and blessing of you, to all whom you encountered throughout your life journey and mission here on earth. We now have an additional intercessor in heaven. Your legacy in the Diocese of Malacca-Johore and beyond lives on in all of us. We are united with you in the communion of the saints, and in the communion of all the souls in purgatory.
May you rest in God’s Merciful and Eternal Embrace. Until we meet you again, Dear James Chan.
By Rt. Rev. Sebastian Francis, Bishop of Penang
President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei
(Transcribed from the Requiem Mass of the Late Bishop Emeritus James Chan)
