By Sue Careless

This is a very challenging time to be a priest, let alone a bishop, in Hong Kong. And now a former Toronto priest has been elected to the episcopate in this semi-autonomous city state.

Its official title is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, and for the past six months pro-democracy demonstrators have been protesting Beijing’s tightening grip on the region.

On Nov. 21st the Very Rev’d Matthias Der was elected Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of Hong Kong Island in the ecclesiastical Province of Hong Kong and Macau.

(There are two other dioceses in the Province of Hong Kong: Eastern Kowloon and Western Kowloon as well as the Missionary Area of Macau.)

Der was one of four candidates. After only two rounds of voting, Der obtained two-thirds majority votes in both House of Clergy and House of Laity and was elected the Bishop-Coadjutor of the Diocese of Hong Kong Island.

The testimonial signed by all members of the electoral college was then presented by Archbishop Paul Kwong to Der.

Archbishop Kwong will be retiring at the end of 2020.

Born in Hong Kong, Matthias Der is the son of Canon Edmund and Mrs. Margaret Der and moved with his family to Taiwan in 1966 where they lived for ten years. (It was in Taiwan that Matthias’ brother, Canon Dr. Philip Der, who is also an Anglican priest, was born.)

In 1976 the family moved back to Hong Kong and in 1981 Matthias attended a boarding school in Hawaii. In 1984 Matthias studied for his undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto and obtained his Masters of Divinity at Wycliffe college in 1990.

That year he was ordained to the diaconate in the Diocese of Toronto and to the priesthood the following year. For twenty years he served as incumbent at St Christopher’s, a church plant of St John’s Chinese Congregation (now known as St. John’s, Willowdale). He was made an Honorary Canon of St James’ Cathedral in Toronto in 2007.

Matthias Der was appointed Dean of St John’s Cathedral, Hong Kong in July 2012 and was officially installed later that year. The cathedral is the largest Anglican church in Hong Kong and has two thousand worshippers at seven services on Saturdays and Sundays. The services are conducted in four languages: Mandarin, Cantonese, Tagalog and English.

No date has been set yet for Matthias’ consecration but it is likely to be some time in the spring. And his brother Philip plans to attend.

Philip Der succeeded Matthias as incumbent at St Christopher’s in 2013. The church has two sites – one in North York and one in Richmond Hill – and three congregations based on the language used in each service. Their father Canon Edmund Der is also active in the parish’s ministry.

The website for the Province of Hong Kong describes the bishop-elect as “passionate about nurturing disciples, and making the Christian faith relevant to people’s lives” and that Matthias Der “is actively sharing the gospel, doing pastoral work and guiding the outreach ministry in ways that are relevant to the society.”

According to the Constitution and Canons, the electoral college for the election of Bishop Co-adjutor consisted of all licensed clerics of the Province, lay members of the Diocesan Synod of Hong Kong Island, and lay representatives of the other two dioceses and the missionary area of Macau in the General Synod. TAP

Religion in Hong Kong

OF THE 7.4 million people who live in Hong Kong, over half have no religious affiliation and identify instead as either atheists or agnostics. Just 43% of the population practices some religion.

Traditional Chinese religions were not encouraged during the British rule, which favoured Christianity. With the end of British colonial rule and the return of sovereignty over the city-state to China, the renewal of Buddhist and Chinese folk religions has occurred.

According to official statistics for the year 2016, among the Hong Kong people who belong to an organised religion there are: over 1 million Buddhists, over 1 million Taoists, 480,000 Protestants, 379,000 Catholics, 300,000 Muslims, 100,000 Hindus and 12,000 Sikhs.

Christians account for 11.6% of the population or 827,000 people, most of whom are Protestant (6.5%), the rest primarily Catholic (5.1%).

Yet despite its low numerical numbers, Christianity is one of the most influential religions in Hong Kong. It gained influence partially due to its existence in Hong Kong under British Crown rule from 1841 to 1997, and the work of many Western mission agencies from various countries. The Anglican church held a nominally privileged status through the influence of the British colonial government.

After the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China, governmental support of the Church of England was reduced.

The ruling Communist Party of China distrusts missions and humanitarian entities with international religious ties. China officially supports State atheism and views all religion including Christianity as subversive. Beijing has closed many churches and schools on the mainland and continues to persecute minority religious groups, most notably the Muslim Uyghurs. (Since 2016, it is estimated that a million Uyghurs have been detained in Xinjiang ‘re-education’ camps.)

Since 2010, mainland China has gradually limited the Hong Kong Christian community’s ability to organize their churches in mainland China. Chinese officials also have barred mainland residents from attending certain religious conferences in Hong Kong, and sought increased oversight of mainland programs run by Hong Kong religious workers.

Protestant organisations operate three post-secondary institutions: the Chung Chi College at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Baptist University and Lingnan University. They run around 144 secondary schools, 192 primary schools, 273 kindergartens and 116 nurseries.

The Protestant community operates about 16 theological seminaries and Bible institutes, 16 publishing houses and 57 bookshops. They run seven hospitals, 18 clinics and 59 social service organisations, 74 day care centres, 17 children’s homes, 35 homes for the elderly, 106 centres for the elderly, two schools for the blind and deaf, 47 training centres for the mentally disabled and 15 camp sites.

Two ecumenical bodies facilitate cooperative work among the Protestant churches in Hong Kong. And two weekly newspapers, The Christian Weekly and The Christian Times, are run by Protestants.

Today many of the Catholics in Hong Kong are immigrants from the Philippines and attend services conducted in Tagalog. Like the Protestant churches, the Catholic church also operates numerous schools, hospitals and social service organizations in Hong Kong. –Wikipedia

Government & Politics

(Staff) WHEN A century and a half of British colonial rule over Hong Kong ended in 1997 and the island was handed over to mainland China, the understanding was that Hong Kong was to retain its economic and social systems as a democratic society for 50 years.

Hong Kong’s Basic Law, as agreed upon by China and Britain, meant Hong Kong would retain its own currency, legal system, and parliamentary system until 2047. Hong Kong would exercise a limited form of self-government while foreign affairs and the military would still be controlled by China.

Yet China has consistently violated the Basic Law regarding the governance and semi-autonomy of the island.

In late November a landslide election victory in Hong Kong for opponents of Chinese rule has given new hope to protesters who have been demonstrating in the streets for six months non-stop. The protests began over a now-withdrawn extradition bill that would have allowed Hong Kongers to be sent to mainland China for trial. But calls for full democracy have kept the protesters in the streets.

Along with universal suffrage, the demonstrators’ demands include an independent inquiry into alleged police brutality. Amnesty International claims that police have used torture on some of the protesters that they have arrested.

Democratic candidates secured almost 90% of the 452 district council seats. The district councils deal with local issues but their members also form part of the election committee for Hong Kong’s chief executive. The current chief executive, Carrie Lam, is unmistakably pro-Beijing. The next vote for her office is in 2022.

“No matter what happens, Hong Kong is a part of China and a special administrative region of China,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi said after the election. “Any attempt to mess up Hong Kong, or even damage its prosperity and stability, will not succeed.”

Lord David Alton, a member of Britain’s House of Lords who came to Hong Kong as part of an informal electoral-observation group saw it differently:

“With nearly three million people voting, it shows that people in Hong Kong want more democracy, not less. There’s a real thumbs-up that has just been given to democracy, the rule of law, free speech – the values that Hong Kong has embraced over many decades and does not wish to see surrendered or disappear.”

While many democratic nations want to support Hong Kong, they are often afraid to offend Beijing, since China is such a huge trading partner. Yet on Nov. 27th the United States passed legislation strongly supporting the pro-democracy moment. The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act requires the U.S. State Department to annually certify that Hong Kong retains enough autonomy from mainland China to deserve favourable trading terms, and could lead to human rights violators in the region being sanctioned. A second bill bans the export to Hong Kong police of munitions such as teargas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and stun guns.