Vatican accepts resignation of Bishop Wang
SAN FRANCISCO (May 18) --- Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation letter of San Francisco Auxiliary Bishop Ignatius C. Wang, which was submitted to the Vatican by Bishop Wang on his 75th birthday in February.
Bishop Wang, who has served in the Archdiocese of San Francisco for 35 years, was appointed auxiliary bishop in December 2002 by Pope John Paul II. At that time, he became the first priest of Chinese heritage to be named a U.S. bishop.
San Francisco Archbishop George H. Niederauer said, “On behalf of the entire archdiocese, I thank Bishop Wang for his decades of service to the local Church as a priest and bishop. His dedication and service have been a blessing to the priests and people of the archdiocese and our many ethnic communities, particularly the Chinese Catholic community. Truly, Bishop Wang has been a hardworking and generous servant of the Church.”
Bishop Wang was ordained a priest in Hong Kong in 1959. After being separated from his family by the Communist regime in China, he became a missionary in the West Indies. While serving as a priest in Grenada, he came to San Francisco in 1974 to visit his widowed sister, who was suffering from cancer. When he realized she was dying, he decided to stay in San Francisco, and after her death in 1978 he took charge of her three children, then aged 18, 16 and 9.
Initially, Bishop Wang took an assignment with the Archdiocese of San Francisco Tribunal. Later he served as pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish, director of the Archdiocesan Pontifical Mission Society and Propagation of the Faith, and Chancellor of the Archdiocese. He was ordained a bishop January 30, 2003. As bishop, he served as Episcopal Vicar for Religious and Vicar for the Promotion of Spiritual and Apostolic Life and Ethnic Ministries.
The news that Bishop Wang’s resignation letter had been accepted was announced May 16 at a Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral celebrating Bishop Wang’s golden jubilee as a priest and his Episcopal retirement. In retirement Bishop Wang will continue to live in San Francisco.
