Theresa Chu, RSCJ

Birth: November 7, 1924
Profession: July 29, 1955
Death: February 1, 2025

Religious of the Sacred Heart, Sister Theresa Mei Fen Chu died on February 1, 2025, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She was 100 years old and a religious for 78 years. Theresa was born on November 7, 1924, in Shanghai, China, and was the ninth child of Mathias Chu and Josephine Chung. She was named Mei Fen by her father, who also had her baptized Theresa. Out of all her siblings, Theresa was closest to her older 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 in 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. Honoring 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 to leave China and continue religious life in Japan or to leave religious life and return home. Her decision made, three months later Sister 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 would return to China.

After making her first vows in Obayashi, Japan, in 1950, Sister Chu left for two years of study at Manhattanville Graduate Division at Kenwood in Albany, New York. There she earned an M.A. in European Civilization, gained an appreciation for the beauty of English literature, and advanced in her language skills. December of 1952 found her crossing the United States and boarding a cargo ship in the company of Mother Sheldon, to return 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 1954 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, the juniorate of the Society.

Back in Japan, after working for a few months at the International School in Tokyo, 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, and knowing neither the history nor the language of Korea, Sister Chu 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 several years brought her back to studies in the United States. She earned a PhD at the University of Chicago with a dissertation on “The Religious Dimension of Mao Zedong’s Thought.” After earning her doctorate and while working at the United Methodist China Liaison Office in Hong Kong, 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 would pose 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. Soon she became a citizen of Canada. After retirement at age 67, Theresa was able to return to China and volunteer her services to the church there. She taught in seminaries and worked with novices in local congregations of women. 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, at the age of 90, she moved to Caritas Residence where she continued her ministry of relationship building and advocating for social justice.

“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.”

Sister Theresa Chu fell into a deep sleep a couple days before she quietly completed her earthly journey on February 1, 2025, at Caritas Residence in Halifax. The RSCJ in Halifax, Sisters of Charity at Caritas and Sharron Dolan, RN, had been with her throughout the day. 

A funeral mass was held for Sister Chu on Thursday, February 6, 2025, at the Caritas Residence in Halifax, Nova Scotia. 

Memorial contributions may be made in memory of Sister Chu to the Society of the Sacred Heart, P.O. Box 958047, St. Louis, MO 63195-8047 or online at https://rscj.org/donate.