Peninsular Malaysia to have an Institute for New Evangelisation

PENANG: An Institute for New Evangelisation is to be set-up soon in Peninsular Malaysia.

“We want this new evangelisation and mission to be at the very heart of the Church’s ministry, for all clergy, religious and laity,” said Bishop Sebastian Francis during the rededication of the Church of the Assumption and the opening and blessing of the Roman Catholic Museum on January 1, 2018.

“Whatever is your ministry in the Church or in the communities, all of us — you included — will have to have this sense, this spirit of new evangelisation and mission.

“We are here to affirm the new evangelisation and mission which has to be the very heart of the Church. These will enable us to counter the growing secularisation and individualism in our society.

“We will continue with the mission that God the Father and Jesus Christ first entrusted to the Holy Spirit; and through the Holy Spirit to us.

“The Holy Spirit is the Lord of this Mission and we are only the collaborators.

The Holy Spirit will move us forward — never backwards. Thus leading us to the expectant second and final glorious coming of Jesus Christ and also inwardly towards the Kingdom of God within our hearts,” said Bishop Sebastian.

In their pastoral letter, the Peninsular Bishops quoted the keynote address for the Asian Mission Congress given by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle in October 2006.

Cardinal Tagle stated, “The Church in Asia, in a very special way, tells her experience of Jesus ‘which is more effective if it springs from the experience of the storyteller.’ The story of Jesus ‘manifests the identity of the Church among the poor, cultures and religions of Asia.’ This way, she keeps not only the memory of Jesus dynamically alive but also provides meaning to the Church’s symbols of faith. In fact, the story of Jesus generates the Church in forming community.”