Last Chinese Mass held at Holy Name Parish

The assembly of the Chinese Mass at Holy Name of Jesus Parish after the final prayer of the liturgy’s last installment Dec. 28, 2019. Second row center from left are Holy Name pastor Father Arnold Zamora, retired Bishop Ignatius Wang and Divine Word Father Peter Zhai, director of Chinese ministry for the Archdiocese of San Francisco. (Courtesy photo)
 

Jan. 15, 2020
Tom Burke
Catholic San Francisco

Worshippers gathered Dec. 28 for the last Mass in Chinese at Holy Name of Jesus Parish in San Francisco. The Mass had been a regular part of the liturgy schedule at Holy Name each Saturday at 3 p.m. with Father Simon Jin as celebrant. Father Jin is a diocesan priest of China and recently transferred to the Diocese of Oakland to minister to Chinese Catholics in the East Bay.

The Chinese Mass has been a tradition at Holy Name since 1984 and some 40 people attended the liturgy regularly, Holy Name parishioner Louis Chan told Catholic San Francisco.

The Mass assembly is “mostly seniors,” Chan said but people “in their 20s and 30s also attend.” Along the way, the assembly has welcomed “a young family from China, plus visitors from the Far East now and then,” Chan said.

While it is unlikely that a new celebrant will come forward, Chan said the Chinese assembly “is still praying” one will.

The Chinese Mass is important for several reasons including sharing “our faith in a familiar language,” Chan said. “The fellowship after Mass was a wonderful time for conversation and refreshment.”

The Mass ending at Holy Name will, perhaps, encourage Chinese Catholics there to start attending Chinese Masses at other sites, some nearby.

Chan said the archdiocese’s aim to consolidate various Chinese Catholic communities may seem logical but it “ignores the sentiment and the sense of belonging built up in Holy Name over three-and-a-half decades.”

Divine Word Father Peter Zhai, director of Chinese Ministry for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, said that the Mass in Chinese is important to Chinese Catholics and that additional Masses in Chinese remain available at the following churches:
St. Monica Church, San Francisco, 9 a.m., Sunday; St. Anne Church, San Francisco, noon, Sunday; St. Gregory Church, San Mateo, 3 p.m., Sunday; St. Matthew Church, San Mateo, 3 p.m., second, fourth and fifth Sundays; St. Dunstan Church, Millbrae, 2 p.m., first Sundays. Celebrants include Father Zhai and Father Dominic Savio Lee of St. Matthew.

“The Chinese Ministry of the Archdiocese of San Francisco extends a warm invitation to all priests of the Archdiocese and their parishioners to join Bishop Justice, Bishop Wang, Bishop Walsh, and the Chinese community for the celebration of Chinese New Year with the New Year Eucharistic Celebration and Ancestors Veneration Ceremony at St. Mary’s Cathedral,” Father Zhai said in a flyer announcing the event.

In a conversation with Catholic San Francisco, Father Zhai said the New Year celebration offers an opportunity for families to gather in a cultural and religious experience that is singular to them. “Chinese people desire to be with one another,” he said. “It is a day of prayer. We are Catholic. We are God’s family.”

Holy Name will be represented at the banquet by “at least two tables of parishioners, plus usually a table sponsored by Holy Name Parish,” Louis Chan said.

Ministry to Chinese Catholics dates to the early decades of the archdiocese, which was established in 1850 in post-gold Rush San Francisco, according to “A History of Chinese Catholics in San Francisco” by Paulist Father Ricky Manalo, a chapter in “The 2008 Report: The Bay Area Chinese Churches, Research Project, Phase II,” edited by James Chuck and Timothy Tseng.

The Paulist Fathers arrived in 1875 and established their West Coast missionary post at Old St. Mary’s, serving Chinese Catholics who had come to America to find gold or work on the transcontinental railroad, Father Manalo writes. 
 
Chinese New Year Mass, Feb. 1, 2:30 p.m. with ticketed banquet at 5 p.m. To purchase banquet tickets, $60, contact Divine Word Father Peter Zhai at (415) 614-5575 or zhaip@sfarch.org. The Mass will be livestreamed at sfarch.org/events/chinese-new-year-mass.