Bishops planning for Pan Malaysia Pastoral Convention in 2026

PLENTONG, JOHOR: The Catholic Bish- ops’ Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei held its 103rd meeting January 7 – 10 at MAJODI Centre, Plentong.

The Conference opened with Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Joseph Marino’s address in which he highlighted the migration of East Malaysians to Peninsular Malaysia. He also affirmed the role of the Mission Schools to the nation as reported in the newspapers recently. Finally, he echoed Pope Francis’ challenge to bring the faith from a pastoral ministry of mere conservation to pastoral missionary con- version.

The Assembly also saw Rt Rev Richard Ng, Bishop of Miri, taking over the role of Epis- copal Secretary to the Conference from Most Rev William Goh, Archbishop of Singapore. Charles Bertille, who had just returned to Malaysia after completing his tenure with Fondacio in the Philippines, is the Executive Secretary, taking over from Angila Yong.

One of the items on the agenda was the meeting of nine priests representing the nine Arch/Dioceses of Malaysia with their Arch/ Bishops. This was to begin the process of planning for the Pan Malaysia Pastoral Con- vention which will replace the Peninsular Ma- laysia Pastoral Convention (PMPC) in 2026, with the participation of the Arch/Dioceses from Sabah and Sarawak.

The team had drawn up a proposal which includes a roadmap at Diocesan and Parish level to bridge the gap between the different Arch/Dioceses in the journey toward 2026. This proposal was endorsed by the Arch/ Bishops for the team to continue with their discussion and planning.

The team will be led by Archbishop Julian Leow of Kuala Lumpur for Peninsular Malaysia, Archbishop John Wong of Kota Kinabalu for Sabah and Bishop Joseph Hii of Sibu for Sarawak.

The Arch/Bishops also met with the Major Superiors of the Religious Congregation and informed those in Malaysia to prepare for the Pan-Malaysia Religious Assembly (PMRA) to be held in 2022.

This is a follow up to the Malaysian Catho- lic Clergy Assembly (MCCA) which was held in July 2018.

Article reproduced from Herald Malaysia online