Initially placed in charge of vocations and youth movements, in 1969 he obtained a license in theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University following a period of study of the English language in London. He was then sent to India where he was assigned an assistant in the parish in Mumbai and attended the theological faculty of the Pontifical University of Pune. Unable to obtain a permanent visa for India, he was transferred to Hong Kong. For several years he was assistant cooperator in Tsuen Wan.

In 1981 he returned to Hong Kong, first as parish priest of Yuen Long, then, in 1986, he was appointed Director of the HK Press Office and of the AsiaNews Agency.