Father John O. Chang is grateful for his priestly vocation. And even though there had been numerous learning curves, life experiences, twists and turns before his priesthood ordination and in the 25 years since, in the end he wouldn’t have it any other way.
PHOTO GALLERY: Fr. John O. Change-25th anniversary
If nothing else, he said he’s learned to “pray daily and ask God to give me the strength to give my life in service to him and his Church and the wisdom to learn about myself and my strengths and weaknesses. In this way, I can better understand how God wants me to use my God-given gifts and talents for the good of God and my neighbor.”
Father Chang, the eldest of nine children of Pamella Jung Chang and Dr. Owen Chang, was born in Philadelphia in 1955. After the family settled in Cinnaminson four years later, he attended Sacred Heart School, Riverton, and Cinnaminson’s St. Charles Borromeo School. He graduated from Holy Cross High School, Delran, and served as sports editor of the school’s Lance yearbook.
When it came to a career choice, there was no doubt that the 18-year-old John had his eye on the priesthood.
“I wanted to be a priest from when I was in third grade, and everyone knew of that desire during my high school and college years,” he recalled. It was his plan to enter the seminary after graduating from Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Mass., with a degree in theology. But in his junior year he changed his plans. He called the vocations director and “asked him to put it on the back burner because I knew I was not ready to go to seminary.”
Off to law school
Father Chang preaches during a Mass celebrated for the Feasts of St. Peter and Paul in St. Veronica Church, Howell. Vic Mistretta photo
The future priest changed vocational direction and applied to law schools, requesting and receiving a one-year deferral of his admission to Boston College Law School. After graduating from Boston College in 1977, he worked as a bank teller in Boston for one year. Following his 1981 graduation from Boston College Law School, where he was managing editor of the Boston College Law Review, he practiced law for 14 years in Burlington and Mercer counties, including six years at Camden Regional Legal Services. During his service on the Cinnaminson Township Committee, he served a one-year term as the town’s mayor, in 1986.
During his law career, the whispers he first heard in the third grade became too strong to ignore again.
“Although I loved being a lawyer, the call to priesthood returned and I entered the seminary at age 40 in 1995,” Father Chang said. Ever the writer, the future priest served as editor of “The Cavalcade,” the bimonthly magazine of the N.J. State Council Knights of Columbus during the year before seminary.
“I think God knew that this perfectionistic, thin-skinned, first-born child needed 18 years of what I call ‘seasoning’, so that I might be a bit more mature when I began my five years of seminary formation.”
Father Chang graduated from Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, Emmitsburg, Md. On May 20, 2000, Trenton Bishop John M. Smith ordained him to the priesthood in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton. The new priest’s first assignment as parochial vicar was St. James Parish, Red Bank.
After four years of ministry in St. James Parish, he spent the next four years in five parishes: a year as parochial vicar in St. Mary of the Lake Parish, Lakewood; four months as parochial vicar in Holy Name Parish, Delran; 10 months as parochial vicar in Nativity Parish, Fair Haven, and 17 months as administrator of St. Peter Parish, Riverside, as the successor for the parish’s deceased pastor.
On Jan. 4, 2008, Father Chang and seven other priests in the Northern Burlington Deanery were reassigned in preparation for the merger of eight parishes into four. He spent five months as parochial vicar in St. Paul Parish, Princeton, and then was appointed to a four-year term (2008-12) as parochial vicar in St. Mary of the Lakes Parish, Medford. Father Chang then served as pastor of St. Raphael-Holy Angels Parish, Hamilton, which had two worship sites and a school, from 2012 to 2016.
“I love being a parish priest,” he said. “I love celebrating the Mass and hearing Confessions, which are two of the greatest privileges (and responsibilities) of the priesthood,” Father Chang said. “I’ve loved serving in every parish to which I have been assigned, because the people of God are wonderful everywhere.”
A time for self-reflection
On Aug. 29, 2016, Bishop O’Connell granted Father Chang a medical leave of absence; he resided in Villa Vianney, the priests’ retirement home in Lawrenceville, for 10 months. Since July 1, 2017, he has served as parochial vicar of St. Veronica’s.
Father Chang expressed regrets that his argumentative nature may have acted to his detriment, calling this personality trait a difficult and continuing challenge.
“A silver lining of my [medical leave] in 2016 was that it enabled me to realize my brokenness and my need to accept people where they are,” he reflected, “and to try to be more humble and forgiving. … I also pray that anyone whom I have hurt or offended as a priest might find it in their hearts to forgive me or at least pray for me.”