Hong Kong – December 2022 – Yesterday, 29 December 2022, the sad news has come to us of the death of revered and dear Msgr. Joseph Ti Kang, retired Archbishop of Taipei. He died at 07:59 hours this morning, aged 93. We pray and hope that this stalwart of the Church in China in the 20th and 21st centuries has already gone to his reward in the loving embrace of the Father. As Salesians of Don Bosco, we remember, in a special way, his warm and tender friendship for us.

Let the writer of this, in particular, share his own experience of this precious friendship. It must have been ten years ago, outside a church in Taipei. On the pavement outside the church, I approached Archbishop Ti Kang to kiss his hand. When he heard that I was a Salesian of Don Bosco, he exclaimed: "Oh, St. John Bosco! I owe my priestly vocation to Don Bosco. As a a boy, I read his life in Chinese translation ("十九世紀的偉人"). Don Bosco made me fall in love with the priestly vocation. At first, I even thought of becoming a Salesian. But, then, seeing the dire need of priests in my own Diocese, I decided to become a diocesan priest. And yet, throughout my life, I have constantly had St. John Bosco as a model and intercessor". As a matter of fact, Archbishop Ti Kang, in his life and work as a good shepherd of his flock, has always taken good care of the young and of the poor, especially of the Taiwanese Aborigines.

Archbishop Joseph Ti Kang was born on 7 May 1928 in Daokou, Henan Province, China. Sent to Rome to study by his Bishop just before the fall of China to Communism, unable to return to Red China, he was ordained a priest in Rome, in 1953. In 1975 he was appointed Bishop of Chiayi, Taiwan. Ten years later, in 1985, he became Coadjutor Bishop of Taipei, and then, in 1989, Archbishop of Taipei. In 2004 he retired, first in the Sacred Heart Primary School in Keelung City, then, in the last years of his life, in the Home for the Aged of the Little Sisters of the Poor in Pali Hsiang, Taipei Hsien, where he served as chaplain, celebrating every day Mass and hearing confessions.

After our first encounter, the occasions to meet dear Archbishop Ti Kang multiplied, also because in the meantime he had become a Cooperator Salesian, with a diploma personally signed by Rector Major Pascual Chávez. In August 2019 he was overjoyed when he could personally meet the new Rector Major Fr. Ángel Fernández Artime, in Taipei for his visit to the Salesian Family in Taiwan. A many-time repeated concern of his was the Beatification of Mamma Margherita, the saintly mother of Don Bosco. Having read the life of Don Bosco, the second person that impressed him most was Mamma Margherita. To speed up her Beatification, he often encouraged us to have recourse to her intercession, so that she could obtain from God the miracle that would open the way to her being declared Blessed by the Pope.

Archbishop Ti Kang would be readily available to hear our confessions and to preach our Monthly Retreat. We would invite him to the annual gathering of the Salesian Family in Taipei and he would make sure to be there. If we did not inform him of other Salesian gatherings, he would remind us: "Please, keep me informed! If I have no other pressing engagements, I will certainly come".

The last time Msgr. Ti Kang came to the St. John Bosco Parish in Taipei was in July this year. He came to concelebrate with Taipei Archbishop Thomas Chung An Zu (a past-pupil of our Technical School in Tainan and also a Cooperator Salesian). The occasion was the priestly and diaconal ordination of three of our young Salesians. The two young Salesians ordained deacons by Archbishop Chung are Vietnamese missionaries to CIN, namely, Deac. John Nguyen Quoc Tuyen and Deac. Joseph Tran Thien Phuc. The newly-ordained keep in their heart, as a precious gift, the memory of the loving and caring pastor, retired Archbishop Ti Kang who, in his old age, made it a point to be present at their ordination.

We pray and hope that dear Archbishop Joseph Ti Kang is now already in Heaven, in the Salesian Garden with his beloved Don Bosco, continuing from Heaven to take good care of us, both young and old. Heartfelt thanks for everything, dear Archbishop! May you rest in peace!