DatoJohn Ha Tiong Hock (born 5 March 1947) is a Malaysian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the Archbishop of Kuching, 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, Sarawak. 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.[1]
Ordination and ministry
Ha first joined the religious order as a De La Salle brother.[1] However, he decided to join College General in Penang and was ordained to the priesthood on 14 December 1972. He was later sent to Rome, Italy to study at the Pontifical Biblical Institute. He then obtained a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture and later with Doctorate in Sacred Scripture.[2]
After a two-year pastoral work back in the Archdiocese of Kuching, 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. In 1997, he was appointed back to the seminary again.[2]
On 21 June 2003, Ha was appointed Archbishop of Kuching to succeed Archbishop Peter Chung Hoan Ting who resigned upon reaching canonical age. He was installed on 16 July 2003.[3] During his tenure, he was the president of the Malaysia-Singapore-Brunei Episcopal Biblical Commission.[4][2]
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.[5] Fr. Simon Peter Poh Hoon Seng was appointed and consecrated in September 2015.[6]
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 accepted Ha's resignation and appointed Auxiliary Bishop Simon Peter Poh Hoon Seng as his successor.[5] 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.[7]
