Category Archives: Mar 2018

The Apostolic Nuncio to Malaysia, Archbishop Joseph Marino, officially launched the 90th anniversary celebration of the historic Church of Our Lady of Lourdes (OLL), on February 10, 2018, witnessed by some 1,400 parishioners and pilgrims.

Fr Frederick Joseph, parish priest, presented the first copy of the 58 page souvenir programme booklet to the Nuncio.

Also present to witness the event were several invited guests, including YB Charles Santiago, MP for Klang and YB Dr Xavier Jayakumar, Adun Seri Andalas. Fr David Reegon OFM Cap, Fr Vincent Thomas and Deacon AP Thomas were also in attendance.

A group of ‘over 80 year-old’ parishioners were seated at the front row. They were also presented with a copy of the souvenir programme by the Nuncio.

Later, the Nuncio, together with Fr Frederick, cut the anniversary cake, flanked by Fr Vincent, Fr David and Deacon AP Thomas.

Francissca Peter sang Ave Maria, a tribute to Our Lady and several other hymns during the dinner fellowship. The parish students and youths also presented a play and songs.

The Church of Our Lady of Lourdes is listed as a Heritage Building of the State of Selangor.

Article reproduced from Herald Malaysia online

The Servants of Christ from Galatians 1:10 was the theme of the Ordination to the diaconate of three seminarians — Leo Elias, James Pitchay and Louis Loi, on Feb 26, 2018 at the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

It was a proud moment for the parishioners of Kulim as two of their hometown young men, James and Louis, were ordained deacons. Leo Elias is from City Parish, Penang.

The Eucharist was celebrated by Bishop Sebastian Francis, with Cardinal Soter Fernandez, Bishop Emeritus Antony Selvanayagam, Msgr Michael Cheah and Msgr Henry Rajoo concelebrating. Close to 30 priests, deacons, religious, seminarians and parishioners from Kulim, Bukit Mertajam, Butterworth and even from Sitiawan came to celebrate this wonderful occasion.

The rite of ordination began after the Liturgy of the Word. The calling of the candidate was done by Permanent Deacon Lazarus Jonathan. This was followed by the presentation of the candidate by Fr Gerard Theraviam. Bishop Sebastian then presented them, as Deacons, to the people.

In his homily, Bishop Sebastian encouraged the deacons to find their source of strength through the Word of God and the Eucharist. “You are ordained as Deacons today and, soon, you will be ordained as priests. The identity of Christ will remain in you forever, for you are representing Christ, the servant.

“You will make a free choice to celibacy and a free choice to commit yourself to the promise of obedience to me and my successor. It is important that you must continue to purify your motivation, your intentions till the very end of your life,” said Bishop Sebastian.

The rite was followed by the commitment to celibacy, promise of obedience and the litany of supplication. During the Litany of the Saints, the three deacons prostrated before the altar. This was followed by the investiture with the stole and dalmatic, the presentation of the Book of the Gospels and ending with the kiss of peace.

Deacon Leo Elias has been assigned to St Anne’s parish Bukit Mertajam. Deacon Louis Loi will be serving in the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Butterworth and Deacon James Pitchay will be at the Church of Francis De Sales, Sitiawan.

Article reproduced from Herald Malaysia online

“‘I turn to You, O Lord, in times of trouble and You fill me with the joy of salvation.’ The Responsorial Hymn sums up our faith in the Lord and our God to whom we can turn to in any situation and He will heal us.” The Apostolic Nuncio to Malaysia, Archbishop Joseph Marino, said this in his homily on February 10, 2018 at the evening Mass celebrating the annual parish feast of the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes.The theme was Mary: Walking With Us Through Life.

The Nuncio also presided at the trilingual Mass concelebranted with Msgr Mitchel Anthony, Fr Joseph Pereira, Fr Vincent Thomas, Fr David Reegon OFM, Cap, OLL parish priest Fr Frederick Joseph, assisted by Deacon AP Thomas.

Archbishop Marino said, in the day’s Gospel, the leper reveals his terrible suffering. He wanted to be healed of leprosy, a dreadful disease that brought with it the social stigma of rejection, isolation and forced one to live outside the city. A person with leprosy was considered unclean, separated from all human beings.

The leper said to Jesus, “If you wish, Lord, You can make me clean.” Jesus healed the leper. He didn’t heal to show His power as Son of God but to reveal His human heart. Jesus had pity and sympathy for the leper and understood the suffering of another human person.

Archbishop Marino continued, “When we think about the leper, when we sin, are we not alienating ourselves from the Lord? If we wish, we can ask the Lord to forgive us. As human beings and as Christians, we turn to you, Lord, and you will give us your compassion and healing. Even today, the Word and the sacraments are the visible signs of the Lord’s presence.”

After Mass, the Nuncio presented the Papal Blessing for the 90th anniversary of the Parish of Our Lady of Lourdes to parish priest, Fr Frederick Joseph, witnessed by the other priests and the congregation. The apostolic blessing of Pope Francis is for the parish priest and parishioners of this historic parish, established in 1928.

Fr Frederick remarked that this 90 year-old parish has produced 10 priests todate for the archdiocese. He said the first priest ordained from OLL was Fr A. Amalanathan in 1968, and on Dec 8, 2018, we will celebrate his Golden sacerdotal anniversary. He also thanked all those young people who had answered the call of God.

A procession in honour of Our Lady of Lourdes took place along Jalan Tengku Kelana and back to the church grounds.

Article reproduced from Herald Malaysia online

JOHOR BAHRU(Herald Malaysia): Peter Barnabas, Chairman of the Episcopal Commission of Migrants and Itinerants of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei shared that when it comes to rendering services to migrants, the Catholic Church in Malaysia focuses more on pastoral care, besides coordinating formation programmes, case management and networking with NGOs.

Global Shepherds shared that their focus is on advocacy. Members from different ECMI countries also took the opportunity to share on their responses. The issues highlighted varied from pastoral care, advocacy, handling unaccompanied children in refugee camps, and running urban refugee centres, language classes and issues pertaining to foreign spouses.

We ended the day with the presentation of ICMC’s operational activities in Asia. In Malaysia, the focus is on combating sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) among refugees and asylum seekers. Pakistan is focusing on a wider range of health issues, legal protection, education, advocacy on child protection, services to gender based violence, sanitisation and water pumps and livelihood.

Article reproduced from Herald Malaysia online

KENINGAU – The pilgrim statue of Mary and the Holy Family Icon which have visited the whole diocese returned to St Francis Xavier Cathedral here on 26 Feb 2018.

The 30-day pilgrimage was one of the activities to prepare for the silver jubilee of the diocese.  The diocese turns 25 on May 6.

The closing of the pilgrimage began with the rosary recitation at the Solidarity Hall by the Legion of Mary before processing to the cathedral for a concelebrated Mass presided by Bishop Cornelius Piong, four priests and Deacon David Gasikol.

In his homily, the bishop touched on the role of the Blessed Mother in Salvation History.  He urged the faithful to have a strong devotion to her so that they can overcome challenges in their families and to pray for a fruitful diocesan silver jubilee celebration.

Stella Kinsik, Keningau Parish Pastoral Council chairperson, thanked the organising team and the Legion of Mary for their collaboration in organising the closing of the pilgrimage.

Maria Kuntiou, president of the LOM comitium, said they were happy to organise the closing Mass.

After the Mass all adjourned to the thanksgiving fellowship at the parish hall.

Article reproduced from Catholic Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu

KOTA KINABALU – Around 250 representatives from all the groups/ministries/communities attended the Sacred Heart Cathedral Parish Assembly on 13 Mar 2018 at the parish centre here.

The objective was for the 60 plus groups/ministries, communities from both Sacred Heart Cathedral and Church of Mary Immaculate to report on what they have done to tackle the three issues raised at the 2015 PAX Assembly: apathy, Islamisation, and secularisation through the threefold movement of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Thrust of “Go Inward, Go Smaller, and Go Outwards.”

In his introduction, Archbishop John Wong related the words of Pope Francis to the arch/bishops of Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei during their ad limina visit on 4-9 Feb 2018.

He told the assembly that the pope told them to be men of prayer so that they will know and do the will of God and also told them to pray “for” him and not “against” him.  He expressed the hope that this event will bring the groups to move towards unity as a parish family.

The assembly split into groups by language – English, Mandarin, BM – for the reports.

Later, the groups returned to the plenary assembly for the briefing of the second assembly on Apr 9.

The reports would be collated and summarised to be presented to the parish PAX committee as well as the parish pastoral council for further action.

The Apr 9 assembly would be more of an open dialogue geared towards formulating a parish report for the May 1 Archdiocesan Pre-PAX Gathering at the same venue.

The SHC parish assembly is part of the collective movement in all parishes in consolidating their reports for the pre-PAX gathering in May.

Article reproduced from Catholic Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu

The faithful pose for remembrance after the blessing of the grotto by Fr Thomas Yip, St Peter Belatik Papar, 9 Mar 2018.

BELATIK, Papar – The Marian grotto outside St Peter Belatik here was blessed by Father Thomas Yip on 9 Mar 2018.

The blessing took place after the Way of the Cross around the compound outside the chapel with the some of the people carrying the statue of Our Lady.

The statue was then affixed inside the grotto followed by the rite of blessing.

After the rite of blessing, the Eucharist was celebrated.  In his homily, the priest said that commitment towards one’s family and community must be prioritised and based on God’s guidance who has given us life through Christ.

After Mass, all adjourned to the community hall (former chapel) for dinner fellowship.

In his speech, Clarence Ponsoi, the community chairperson, thanked everyone involved in realising the construction of the grotto with the hope that it will be helpful in their faith formation.

The grotto was built on top of a large boulder located at the right side of the chapel through the initiative and help of the local people.  The project under John Jinal Hussin started on 29 Sept 2017 and completed on 9 Mar 2018.

Both the chapel and statue were sponsored by Datuk Victor Paul.

The chapel was blessed by Archbishop John Wong on 30 Dec 2014. – William Charles Mindus (SOCCOM Papar)

Article reproduced from Catholic Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu

APAR – St Joseph Parish Women’s Day celebration on 10 Mar 2018 received an unexpected large turnout at the Mother of Mercy open hall.

Father Rayner Bisius led the opening prayer followed by the cake-cutting with members of the Catholic Women’s League headed by Rosalind Lohindun, Franciscan Sister Juanah Saliun and the novices, and some of the women parishioners.

In his address based on the theme Press for progress, move forward in Christ, Fr Rayner stressed the need for faith in Christ in order to move into the uncertain future, just like Abraham’s faith in God.

During the fellowship dinner, the attendees enjoyed the stage presentations by the various groups both local and outstation.

The event ended with a closing prayer by Sr Juanah.– William Charles Mindus (SOCCOM Papar)

Article reproduced from Catholic Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu

TAWAU – The 6th Youth Leaders Camp (YLC 6) drew 148 participants from across the Sandakan Diocese.

Tawau hosted the 4-night-5-day event on 7-11 Feb 2018 at Holy Trinity Parish here.

The theme was taken from the 33rd World Youth Day: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God” (Lk 1:30).

In his message to the participants, Bishop Julius Gitom said that the Church looks upon the youth with hope as they hold the key to the next generation. To achieve that, they have to begin now.

The prelate urged them to learn from the Blessed Mother what self-sacrificing love means and the readiness to do God’s will.

The event featured several inputs interspersed with praise and worship, testimonies, games and other activities.

The objectives of the YLC 6 were to (1) help the participants to encounter the Lord; (2) deepen the sense of belonging in their respective ministries; and (3) strengthen the bond of friendship and communication among themselves.

Article reproduced from Catholic Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu

KUCHING –  Over 100 youths from the different parishes in the archdiocese gathered at St Joseph’s Cathedral to witness the reception of the Cross for each Parish Youth Ministry and Youth Groups.

The opening ceremony for Kuching Archdiocesan Youth Day 2018, with the theme taken from Luke 1:30 “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God,” was held on 24 Feb 2018.

After the Mass, each Parish Youth Ministry and Youth Group in the archdiocese received a mini cross as a symbol of Christ reaching out to the youth in their respective parishes.

The Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Simon Poh, with Father Larry Tan SJ, Chaplain Kuching Campus Ministry, concelebrating.

Article reproduced from Catholic Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu