The Rt. Rev. Richard Sui On Chang, Bishop of Hawaii from 1997 to 2007, died Aug. 30 after a short illness. He was 76.
Chang was the fourth Bishop of Hawaii, and its first bishop who was born of Chinese ancestry. A native of Honolulu, he was a graduate of Trinity College (Hartford, Conn.) and Church Divinity School of the Pacific. He studied further at the University of Hawaii. He was ordained to the diaconate in March 1966 and to the priesthood six months later.
He served in several roles in Hawaii before becoming the diocese’s archdeacon from 1970 to 1974. When the Rt. Rev. Edmond Browning, the first Bishop of Hawaii, became presiding bishop, Chang served as his assistant and chief operating officer from 1986 to 1996. He was consecrated as bishop in January 1997. Bishop Browning was chief consecrator.
The bishop is survived by his wife, Delia, and daughters Holly and Hannah.
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
