Bishop Ignatius Wang
Most Rev. Ignatius C. Wang
On Dec. 13, 2002 Pope John Paul II appointed San Francisco Monsignor Ignatius Wang to the post of Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Bishop Wang is the first Catholic Bishop of Chinese ancestry and of Asian background to be appointed in the United States.
Most Reverend William J. Levada, Archbishop of San Francisco, said, "This appointment gives me great pleasure and recognizes the rapidly growing number of Asians, especially from Eastern Asia, who have immigrated to this country from China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines and other countries." Nearly one-quarter of the population of San Francisco is of Chinese ancestry.
Bishop Wang (pronounced Wong) has served in the Archdiocese of San Francisco since 1974. He was a Parochial Vicar in several parishes and in 1982 he was appointed pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Church in San Francisco, making then Father Wang the first Chinese Catholic pastor in San Francisco. In 1989, Pope John Paul II named him a Prelate of Honor of His Holiness with the title of Monsignor. He also has served in the Archdiocesan Tribunal and as Coordinator of the Chinese Apostolate.
Bishop Wang said, "I express my deepest gratitude to Pope John Paul II, who -- upon the recommendation of the Congregation for Bishops and Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States made this appointment. I also thank Archbishop William J. Levada for his confidence and trust in me. I will work in collaboration with him and Auxiliary Bishop John C. Wester in attending to the spiritual needs and welfare of our local Church."
Bishop Wang was born in Beijing, China in 1934, the fifth of eight children in a family that had been Christian for twelve generations. He attended Catholic schools and began his studies to become a priest at the Regional Seminary in Hong Kong. He was ordained a priest in 1959 in Hong Kong at the Church of St. Francis of Assisi. After his ordination to the priesthood, Bishop Wang was unable to serve in China because of the Communist government. He was sent to Rome where he completed a doctorate in Canon Law in 1962. Unable to return to China, he took an assignment on the Caribbean Island of Grenada, where he served as a parish priest and Vicar General of the Diocese of St. George.
In 1974, he moved to San Francisco to be near his widowed sister, who had small children and was in poor health. When his sister died of cancer, Bishop Wang became guardian of his sister's children.
He speaks Cantonese and Mandarin.