Theresa Chu

Died, February 1, 2025, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Born in Shanghai, November 7, 1924, Theresa was the ninth child of Mathias Chu, a French teacher, and Josephine Chung. Named Mei Fen by her father, he also had her baptized Theresa. Out of all the children, she had the closest relationship with her elder sister Mei Yu, Margaret.

It was with Margaret that Theresa came to know the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1940 when the two of them transferred to the new Sacred Heart School of Shanghai. Two and a half years later, Theresa found herself at the Jesuit run Aurora University, majoring in Political Economy. It was also at Aurora that she first encountered spiritual direction through the chaplain for women students. Thanks to his careful guidance, Theresa grew in the depth of her interior life and learned about meditation. After graduation, thinking that the time had come to fulfill her childhood aspiration to enter religious life, Theresa began to consider the Carmelites. Her Spiritual Director, however, turned her toward the Society of the Sacred Heart. Honouring her father’s wish that she wait a year, Theresa entered the Society in Shanghai on September 8, 1947.

At that time, Shanghai was under Japanese occupation and the news was censored. Aware of WWII having taken place, Theresa was only beginning to have a sense of the rise of the People’s Liberation Army and the Chinese Communist Party. It came as a total surprise to Theresa when, toward the end of her first year in the Society, a letter came from the Superior Vicar in Tokyo asking all Chinese novices and Religious to make a definitive choice: Either leave China and continue Religious Life in Japan or leave Religious Life and return home. Her decision made, three months later Sr. Chu left with the first group to go to Japan. She noted in some of her writing that ‘homesickness and other difficulties would come later.’ It was another 29 years before she could return.

After making her first vows in Oabashi, Japan, in 1950, Theresa left for two years of study at Manhattanville College, near New York City. There she earned her M.A. in European Civilization, an appreciation for the beauty of English literature, and advancing in her language skills. December of 1952 found her crossing the United States and boarding a cargo boat in the company of another Religious, Mother Sheldon, and returning to Tokyo. March of 1954 brought the death of Mother Sheldon and also the news that Theresa’s mother had died in Shanghai in January. Summer of ’54 brought approval to travel to Rome for the preparation time before final vows. First, though, six months in Toulouse! She made final vows in Rome on July 29, 1955 and followed that with a return to France for studies in Thomism at Montvillargenne.

After working for a few months at the International School in Tokyo following final vows and studies, Theresa received the news that she and six others were to go to Korea in the summer of 1956. Faced with shortages of water, heating, and basic plumbing, she knew neither the history nor the language of Korea and allowed her sense of adventure to carry her. That sense carried her for fifteen years; through being a headmistress, becoming a citizen of Korea, a University president, and ultimately, being asked to take a sabbatical to any country of her choice.

The next number of years brought her back to studies in the United States. This time, Theresa earned a Ph.D at the University of Chicago with a dissertation of “The Religious Dimension of Mao-Tse-Tung’s Thought.”

It was after earning her doctorate and while working at the United Methodist China Liaison Office in Hong Kong, earning a subsistence salary, that an invitation came to work in Toronto as the director of the Canada China Program of the Canadian Council of Churches. Knowing that her Korean citizenship was posing difficulties for her ever returning to China, Theresa once again packed up and left for the untried, unknown.

On January 1, 1981, she arrived in Canada on an immigration visa and joined the RSCJ living in Toronto. After retirement at age 67 and by then a Canadian citizen, Theresa was able to return to China and volunteer her services there. In her words, ‘I believe that the saving grace of Jesus Christ does not require any pre-condition of change in political systems; through my life and work, I hope that at least some people on both sides of the divided Church in China have heard this message.’

Once Theresa returned to Halifax, she was a part of the Barat Residence community. In 2014 she moved to Caritas residence where she continued her ministry of relationship building and advocating for social justice issues.

‘God has led me in spite of my resistances. Looking back, his rod and his staff were my comfort. Now God leads me on green pastures and beside still waters. For the rest of my life, my only wish is to serve and to learn to love.’