Dato John Ha Tiong Hock (born 5 March 1947) is a Malaysian

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pref ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He served as the

Archbishop of Kuching The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kuching ( la, Archidioecesis Kuchingensis) is a Metropolitan Latin archbishopric of the Roman Catholic Church in Sarawak, a Malaysian state on Borneo, however remains dependent on the missionary Roman Congreg ...

, from 2003 to 2017. Previously, he served as an auxiliary bishop of the same archdiocese from 1998 to 2003.

Early life and education

Ha was born on 5 March 1947 in

Kuching Kuching (), officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division. The city is on the Sarawak River ...

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...

. He studied at St Joseph's secondary school. At that time, the late Brother Albinus and the late Brother Hilary were instrumental in inspiring him to join the priesthood.

Ordination and ministry

Ha first joined the religious order as a De La Salle brother. However, he decided to join

College General The College General ( ms, Seminari Tinggi Katolik) is a Roman Catholic interdiocesan seminary located in Tanjung Bungah, Penang, Malaysia. The college's foundation can be traced back to the 1665 establishment of the Seminary of Saint Joseph in A ...

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

and was ordained to the priesthood on 14 December 1972. He was later sent to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Italy to study at the Pontifical Biblical Institute. He then obtained a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture and later with Doctorate in Sacred Scripture. After a two-year pastoral work back in the

Archdiocese of Kuching The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kuching ( la, Archidioecesis Kuchingensis) is a Metropolitan Latin archbishopric of the Roman Catholic Church in Sarawak, a Malaysian state on Borneo, however remains dependent on the missionary Roman Congregatio ...

, Ha was appointed to teach Bible at College General. After the St. Peter's College seminary was set up in Kuching, he was appointed as its second rector, from 1986 to 1991. He was commissioned to run the Bible Year and served as the rector of the

St. Joseph's Cathedral, Kuching , native_name_lang = , image = St Joseph Cathedral Kuching.jpg , imagesize = 250px , imagelink = , imagealt = , caption = , pushpin map = , pushpin label position = , pushpin map alt = , pushpin mapsize = , relief = , map capti ...

. In 1997, he was appointed back to the seminary again.

Episcopal and ministry

Auxiliary bishop of Kuching

On 17 January 1998,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

appointed Ha as auxiliary bishop of Kuching and

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

Canapium Canapium was a Roman–Berber town in the province of Africa Proconsolare. Its stone ruins are located near Henchir-El-Casbath, in the region of Mornag, Tunisia. The city was also the seat of an ancient Latin Catholic bishopric under the leaders ...

. He received his episcopal consecration on 6 June 1998 from Archbishop

Peter Chung Hoan Ting Peter Chung Hoan Ting (born 10 September 1928) was the metropolitan archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kuching, Malaysia from 1976 to 2003, the first archbishop of the diocese. Chung entered the diocesan minor seminary of the Di ...

with Cardinal Anthony Soter Fernandez and Archbishop

Gregory Yong Gregory Yong Sooi Ngean D.D., J.C.D. (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: ''Yòng Sui-ngèn'') (20 May 1925 – 28 June 2008) was the second, and the first local, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore. Biography Early years Archbishop Yong was born in ...

, serving as

co-consecrators A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches, ...

Archbishop of Kuching

On 21 June 2003, Ha was appointed

to succeed Archbishop

who resigned upon reaching canonical age. He was installed on 16 July 2003. During his tenure, he was the president of the Malaysia-Singapore-Brunei Episcopal Biblical Commission. After several years of serving as archbishop, Ha revealed that he was increasingly feeling his age after it gradually showed symptoms. Thus, he saw the need for an auxiliary bishop. He took a considered decision to write a letter to Fernardo Cardinal Filoni, requesting the appointment of an auxiliary bishop. Fr.

Simon Peter Poh Hoon Seng Simon Peter Poh Hoon Seng (born 15 April 1963) is a Malaysian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has been serving as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Kuching since 2017. He served as an auxiliary bishop of the same archdiocese from 2 ...

was appointed and consecrated in September 2015. On 4 March 2017, Ha tendered his resignation from the archbishop's office, deliberately coinciding with his seventieth birthday. He took into consideration age 70 as the perfect age for a person to retire. The following day,

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

accepted Ha's resignation and appointed Auxiliary Bishop

as his successor. Ha officially handed over the archdiocese to Poh on the night of 20 March 2017. On the same day, Poh was also installed as the third archbishop of the archdiocese.

Honour

Honour of Malaysia

* : **

MY-SAR Order of the Star of Sarawak - 3 ribbon PSBS

Commander of the

Most Exalted Order of the Star of Sarawak The ''Darjah Utama Yang Amat Mulia Bintang Sarawak'' (Most Exalted Order of the Star of Sarawak) is the highest state order in the state of Sarawak. It is conferred to those who rendered excellent service towards the development of the state of S ...

(PSBS) – Dato (2012)

References

External links

Catholic-Hierarchy.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ha, John, Tiong Hock 1947 births 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Malaysia Malaysian people of Hakka descent Bishops appointed by Pope John Paul II Living people 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Malaysia People from Kuching Malaysian Roman Catholic archbishops