Church History 2

“On St. Barnabas’ Day the Rev. Daniel Gee Ching Ng, deacon in charge of the Church’s Missions to the Chinese in San Francisco and Oakland, was advanced to the priesthood in Grace Pro-Cathedral, San Francisco…On the morning of the Seventh Sunday after Trinity, in the chapel of the San Francisco mission for Chinese, the newly ordained priest in charge celebrated his first Eucharist. It was, perhaps, the first time a Chinese priest had offered the Holy Mysteries in the Chinese language on the Pacific Coast. On the next Sunday the communicants of the Oakland mission assembled to join for the first time in offering their highest act of worship in their own tongue, and in receiving the Holy Communion from their own priest.”

The Living Church, 1913.

“On the first Sunday in Advent, 1913, the Bishop of California made his first visitation to the Chinese Mission in Oakland for the new ecclesiastical year. The occasion was the annual open meeting of the Bishop’s Committee of Churchwomen of Alameda County, which for four years past has raised funds for the support of the Mission.”

 The Pacific Churchman, 1914.

”Since last year the communicant list of the Missions has greatly increased. At that time the Chinese communicants on the east side of the Bay numbered only four. During the course of the year now past eleven men were baptized and confirmed. The class of ten men confirmed last May was perhaps the largest number of Chinese confirmed at one time in the United States.”

Report from the Rev. D.G.C. Ng., Rector, True Sunshine Mission, Oakland, from the Diocese of California, House of Churchwomen, Ninth Meeting, January 27-19th, 1914.

“Last year at the close of the report of the Bishop’s Committee, we spoke of a dream we had for the future-which was, that we should have at some time a Church home of our own, in which to carry on more effectively the work among the Chinese in Oakland. The young Chinese men of the Mission also had this vision, and early in the past year they went to work most practically to bring it to pass, raising among themselves the sum of $250.00 towards the purchase of a house and lot…A suitable house, at a reasonable price, was found in the center of Chinatown, number 320 Sixth street. By great good fortune there was on the back of the lot a large shed, 47x20 feet, which had been used as a Chinese lodging-house…In the day-school there are sixty children enrolled. The Sunday School has increased to an average attendance of forty-one. Sixty-nine young Chinese men have attended the night-school. The sewing school numbers ten Chinese women. There have been ten baptisms during the year, and nine have been confirmed.”

Report by Harriet B. Bakewell, Secretary of the Bishop’s Committee, from the Diocese of California, House of Churchwomen, Tenth Meeting, January 26-18th, 1915.

“The record of the past in True Sunshine Mission, Oakland, has been superb. Thousands of young American-born Chinese have been taught the speech and the customs of their ancestors, and Mr. Wu considers this instruction the most important wedge in the introduction of Christianity into Chinese homes. Young and older people have also been taught English. And always, along with the language classes, in the well-attended Sunday School and Church service, religious training has been forcefully driven home.”

By Loring A. Schuler, The Pacific Churchman, February 1942.

“The east-bay Chinese community will benefit from the new facilities which will be made available at the True Sunshine Episcopal Mission, 163 Ninth street, following the consecration service for the newly erected Chapel at True Sunshine, this Sunday, January 29, 1950, at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Members of the clergy from bay-area churches, both Chinese and Caucasians, Chinese civic leaders, and representatives of Chinese family associations, and friends of the church will gather to witness the service, which will mark another milestone in the history of the Chinese Episcopal Church in Oakland…When the Chapel was completed last September, some 2,500 people witnessed the opening service, including many delegates to the 56th General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, which was meeting in San Francisco at that time.”

Chinese Press,Friday, January 27, 1950.