Father Paul Hu, SOLT passed away on Saturday, July 16, of heart complications. He was a priest of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity.
Father Hu was born in Beijing, China to Mingjian Hu and Ruijai Wang. He attended seminary under a time of severe religious persecution in China. Persevering in the midst of these conditions, Father Hu was ordained to the diaconate in 1986 for the Diocese of Beijing and to the priesthood in 1994. Shortly afterwards, he was forced to flee his homeland.
Father Hu arrived in the United States in 1994 and was introduced to SOLT. He continued studies and formation in SOLT at Holy Apostles Seminary in Connecticut and made his perpetual promises in 1998.
One of Father Hu’s first assignments as a SOLT priest was at Our Lady of Corpus Christi where he served as a teacher and counselor. After seven years, he was reassigned to be the Parochial Vicar at St. Ann’s Parish in Belcourt, North Dakota in 2011. His final years were spent serving the people of the Diocese of Corpus Christi out of Casa San Jose until his health prevented him from continuing to work.
This past month of June 2016, after serving as a missionary priest in the United States for more than two decades, Father Hu was granted U.S. citizenship. His mission to spread the faith had been welcomed in a country where freedom of religion gives opportunity to those who seek to follow the evangelical command of Christ: “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations.”
Father Jerry Drolshagen, Regional Priest Servant, remembered him as “very heroic in his dedication to the faith.” Father Hu’s bishop from Beijing also paid tribute to him in a letter of recommendation written years ago: “Father Paul Hu is a priest with extreme deep faith and outstanding in his strong leadership quality.”
Father Hu is survived by his mother and two siblings.
A Rosary for Father Hu will be prayed tonight, July 20, at Our Lady of Corpus Christi Chapel at 7 p.m. Bishop Michael Mulvey will celebrate the Funeral Liturgy at Our Lady of Corpus Christi Chapel at 3 p.m. on Thursday, July 21. Burial will follow at St. Anthony’s in Violet.