Cardinal Kung’s American Confessor Right Rev. Monsignor John V. Horgan-Kung RIP

I met Monsignor John V. Horgan-Kung a couple of years ago while visiting Joseph Kung, the nephew of the heroic Cardinal. After being released from prison and house arrest in 1988, the Cardinal was taken to the United States by his nephew. A prisoner in Communist China for almost thirty-three years, the Cardinal had not been to confession in since September of 1955. Monsignor Horgan spoke French and so did the Cardinal. When they met, Cardinal Kung asked him if he could hear his confession in that language. The Monsignor became the Cardinal’s regular confessor that day and for the next twelve years until Cardinal Kung died in March of 2000. After the Cardinal’s death Monsignor Horgan legally added the Kung name to his own in honor of his saintly penitent. The obituary is found on the Cardinal Kung Foundation website here.