The Special Meeting of the 8th General Synod for the Election of the Archbishop was held on Sunday, 18th October (Feast of St Luke). The Rt Revd Andrew Chan, Bishop of the Diocese of Western Kowloon, received over half of the votes from all three houses in the Electoral College and became the new Archbishop-Elect.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the meeting took place simultaneously at Tang Shiu King Secondary School in Hong Kong and at St Paul’s Church in Macau through video conferencing.
The three candidates of the election listed in alphabetical order of their last names are: Bishop Andrew Chan, Bishop Coadjutor Matthias Der, and Bishop Timothy Kwok.According to the Canons of the Province, a candidate will be declared elected Archbishop if he receives the highest votes, which must be a simple majority of more than half of the votes received in his favour in all three respective Houses of the Electoral College, namely the House of Bishops, House of Clergy, and the House of Laity.
According the Constitution of the Province, upon the installation of the Archbishop-elect, he shall hold office and exercise the duties and functions appertaining to the office of the Archbishop until the end of the calendar year when he shall attain the age of seventy (such age being the age of retirement), the same Section also provides that a retiring Archbishop shall remain in office until the Archbishop-elect is duly installed. Archbishop Paul Kwong has reached seventy and shall retire by the end of the year.———————
Profile of Bishop Andrew ChanThe Rt Revd Andrew Chan was born in 1962. He was awarded Bachelor of Philosophy (Education) from University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK in 1987; Certificate in Theology from Salisbury and Wells Theological College in 1991; and Master of Arts in Pastoral Theology from Heythrop College, University of London in 2004.
Bishop Chan was ordained to the deaconate on 18 October 1991 and to priesthood on 29 September 1992. He was appointed Dean of St John’s Cathedral in May 2005 and was made Canon in November 2006. He was elected the second Bishop of the Diocese of Western Kowloon on 26 June 2011, consecrated on 25 March 2012 and enthroned on 26 March 2012.Bishop Chan is married with one son.
