Author Archives: Ken Wong

KOTA KINABALU – Sacred Heart Cathedral (SHC) Parish here organised a three-in-one celebration for its pastors on 10 Sept 2017 at its parish centre.

The gathering consisted of bidding farewell to Father Mitchelly Kiun (transferred to St Catherine Inanam on Sept 1), welcoming his replacement Father Paul Lo (transferred from St Catherine Inanam on Sept 1), and celebrating in advance the 7th episcopal ordination anniversary of Archbishop John Wong (the actual date falls on Oct 1).

Around 600 people from both SHC and sub-parish of Church of Mary Immaculate (CMI) turned up for the event.

Among those present were Archbishop Emeritus John Lee, Father Mattheus Luta, Father Joshua Liew, Father Max Hontor,  the religious, Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) members and Parish Finance Council (PCF) members.

In his welcoming remarks, Jason Joenoi, SHC PPC chairman, welcomed those present and expressed his hope that the parish will organise more such gatherings in the future.

On the other hand, Clarice Moiji, CMI PPC chairperson, thanked Fr Kiun for services rendered to CMI whenever there was a need and expressed her hope of closer collaboration with Fr Lo.

In turn, Abp Wong also thanked the organisers for organising the event and the people for turning up in support of their pastors.

After his speech, the honouree cut his anniversary cake, flanked by the priests, the religious, and PPC chairpersons.

After dinner, both Fr Lo and Fr Kiun were given time to express their sentiments.

For entertainment, CMI English choir rendered two songs – (1) I will glory, (2) Upon this rock – while to the delight of those present, the following sang a song each:  Franciscan Sister Anita Lintanga (Lea Salonga’s The Journey), Fr Hontor (Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World), Fr Liew (Josh Groban’s You’re Still You) and Fr Kiun (Emil Chau’s Peng You) – the last with a backup from the youth.

The event closed with a prayer and blessing by Abp Wong.

Article reproduced from Catholic Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu

KINARUT – Montfort Youth Training Centre (MYTC) held its 12th Open House Carnival at its campus grounds in Kinarut on 10 Sept 2017.

As in previous years, it saw participation from all walks of life, young and old, coming from the nearby vicinities, Sandakan, and from as far as New Zealand.  It has become an annual event in the life of the training centre.

Sixty-five stalls were set up, selling rice, roasted pork/duck, porridge, fried chicken wings,  soft drinks, religious books and items, secondhand items for jumble sale, fruits, vegetables, canned goods, plants, metalworks, wooden works, and other edible and non-edible stuff.

Parishes in and around Kota Kinabalu, Penampang, Papar and other areas had also contributed in helping Montfort with the sale of coupons in their respective communities.

The crowds were entertained by local entertainers such as Chris Gomez, dubbed as Elvis Presley of Sabah and others.

Article reproduced from Catholic Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu

KOTA KINABALU – Sacred Heart Cathedral here has the distinction to host the first solemn profession of two members of the Order of Friars Minor (OFM) on 9 Sept 2017.

Some 400 people including visitors from Singapore and West Malaysia turned up to witness the solemn profession of religious vows by Friar Aiden Peter Jr and Friar Cruzender Alex.

Archbishop John Wong Soo Kau presided at the Eucharistic Celebration but Friar Philip Miscamble, Provincial Minister of Australia-New Zealand-Malaysia-Singapore-Brunei, officiated the rite of solemn profession.

Joining them at the altar were Archbishop Emeritus John Lee, Bishop Julius Gitom of Sandakan, Friar John Wong Wai Long, Custos of Malaysia-Singapre-Brunei, Father Joshua Liew, Father Thomas Madanan, Fr Leslie Bingkasan sj and some of the friars.

The rite of profession started after the gospel proclamation.  Friar Wong called the names of the two candidates who declared their intentions to the provincial.

In his homily, the provincial linked the Franciscan Charism to the scriptural readings, encouraging the candidates to stay strong and faithful to their calling.

After the homily, the provincial examined the candidates on their readiness to consecrate themselves to God and to seek perfect charity according to the rule and constitutions of the Franciscan religious family.

At the end of the examination, the provincial confirmed the intentions of the candidates.

All knelt while the candidates prostrated themselves at the chanting of the Litany of the Saints.

After the litany, two professed members of the community went to the chair of the provincial and standing, acted as witnesses to the candidates who, one after the other, knelt before the provincial and read aloud the formula of profession prepared by themselves beforehand.

At the completion of the formula of profession, the provincial accepted the vows of the two.  When they have made their professions, the newly professed went to the altar to sign the document of profession, which was also signed by the provincial and the two witnesses.

The neo-professed knelt once more for the solemn prayer of blessing by the provincial.

The rite of profession concluded with the exchange of peace between the neo-professed and the Franciscan Friars.  The neo-professed now sat with the Friars at the left side of the sanctuary.

The Mass continued with the Prayer of the Faithful.

After the Mass and speeches by the neo-professed, Friar Wong and Abp Wong, all were invited to the parish centre for lunch and stage performances by various groups.

Born on 22 Sept 1984 in Tawau, Friar Aiden is third in a brood of three boys and two girls born to Peter Julian and the late Betty Okala.  He entered the congregation in Singapore in 2010 and made his first profession on 7 Jam 2012 there.  He will have a few months of ministry in Ranau after his solemn profession.

Friar Cruzender was born on 25 Oct 1978 in Kota Kinabalu, the second child in a brood of two boys and one girl born to Alex Muating and Nora Sinor.  Like Aiden, he entered the congregation in Singapore in 2009 and took his first vows in 2012 together with him.  He will have his pastoral ministry in Tuaran.

Currently, there are 10 Sabahans in the various stages of formation and one priest (Friar Francisco Basnayake – ordained last year at Stella Maris Tg Aru – now in Japan) among the OFM Malaysia-Singapre-Brunei.

Article reproduced from Catholic Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu

Article reproduced from Archdiocese of Kuching

Article reproduced from St. Joseph’s Cathedral Kuching

About 750 parishioners participated in the Walkathon event this morning. The event has raised close to RM700,000 for the building of a new Cathedral! Bishop Richard Ng thanked the organisers and everyone for their support and contributions towards this event.

Article reproduced from Diocese of Miri

Christians in Sarawak must show the way in nurturing racial and religious harmony, unity, justice and integrity even as we pursue better governance in our country Malaysia.
We must not just pray for a better country but show the way through how we Christians live in our society daily.
Speaking at the Malaysia Day prayer service organised by the Association of Churches in Sarawak in Miri today, Bishop Richard Ng said it is important that we Christians be beacons of the virtues that we want Malaysia to have.
“While we pray for better governance, justice, social fairness and racial harmony in our country, end to injustice and corruption and pray for good leaders, we Christians must.lead the way through our actions and daily life.
“We must show our solidarity and harmony, our concern for the marginalised and needy, our concern for the environment and social justice.
“We must start with ourselves. We should change ourselves first and then we can make our society a better place,” he said.
Prayers and songs were offered by the parishioners from the various Christian churches who gathered for tje prayer service at the Miri Mei Ann Methodist Church.
The state and national flags stood proud as church leaders and parishioners sang the national and state anthems.

Pray For Malaysia

Association of Churches in Sarawak “Pray for Malaysia” car stickers to show our hope to see a better country.

Article reproduced from Diocese of Miri

Sandakan August 31, 2017 (Thursday) A great day of great significance. In the past 10 years, the Happy Family of the Church of the Chinese Language Coordinating Committee of the St Mary’s Cathedral has celebrated the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Association, and once again held the “I wish 2” wedding anniversary and dinner. The purpose of the event: (a) for the couple to celebrate the anniversary of marriage, to return the marriage vow, to re-consolidate the promise of marriage, so that we look back on the original solemn and romantic; (b) to take this opportunity to thank God in the past Of the years given to the grace.

(山打根讯) 2017年8月31日(星期四) 一个深具意义的大日子。阔别十年，山打根圣玛莉主教座堂华文协调委员会属下快乐家庭为庆祝华协成立30周年，再次举办“我愿意2”结婚周年纪念弥撒暨晚宴。举办此次活动的目的：（一）为夫妇们庆祝结婚周年，藉此重发婚姻誓愿，重新巩固婚姻的承诺，让大家重温当初的庄严与浪漫；（二）藉此机会感恩天主在过去的岁月里赐予的种种恩典。

结婚周年纪念弥撒于当天下午4时正举行。感恩亚庇黄士交总主教专程莅临主祭这台意义重大的弥撒。此结婚周年纪念弥撒共有52对夫妇报名参与重发婚姻誓愿，遗憾的是由于不可避免的原因，当天只有49对夫妇出席参与。

当天下午三时许，夫妇们偕同家人陆续抵达圣堂，盛装的夫妇们使场面倍添色彩。弥撒开始时，夫妇们列队进入圣堂，场面盛大而庄严。讲道后，一对对的夫妇依次序来到祭台前，在黄总主教的面前重发婚姻誓愿并接受祝福，一句句的誓言让夫妇们重温结婚当初的温情，婚后一路走来，有许多的感触，有许多的温馨，还有更多的感动。感谢黄总主教的用心，当天参与重宣婚誓的夫妇们都有幸领受圣体圣血，更得到上主满满的祝福。

弥撒于傍晚六时许结束，夫妇们列队步出圣堂，在圣堂门口拍摄大合照留念。

弥撒后，大家移步到兴隆酒家参加晚宴。晚宴于晚上七时开始，当晚席开33桌，场面热闹非常。黄总主教因有要事赶回亚庇而未能出席晚宴，使大家倍感遗憾。晚宴在华协秘书廖琳琳姐妹致词及作餐前祈祷后正式开始。席间也播放参与结婚周年纪念之夫妇的结婚照和生活照的视频、情歌献唱及陈业雄夫妇和胡国文夫妇的见证分享。

经出席的神职人员及筹备会成员主持切蛋糕及敬酒仪式后，即颁发最长久婚龄夫妻奖予林伟强夫妇(50年)、林明华夫妇(51年)及陈耀庆夫妇(56年)、参与重宣婚誓最有福气夫妻奖予锺学良夫妇（11个儿女）、最浅婚龄夫妻奖予李文健夫妇(2年)、夫妻服装最匹配奖予陈川宇夫妇及来宾中最有福气奖予锺添英女士（11个儿女）。

主办当局也贴心地为参与结婚周年纪念弥撒的夫妇们准备了由黄总主教亲笔签名的纪念证书，和内含结婚周年纪念之夫妇的结婚照和生活照的视频光碟作为纪念。当然，节目中也少不了幸运抽奖的环节。最后，晚宴以一曲“爱的真谛”和结束祈祷后画下完美的句号。

Article reproduced from Diocese of Sandakan

Every parish in Peninsular Malaysia is struggling to build and revive the Basic Ecclesial Communities (BEC) in both urban and rural areas. In our parish our BECs are doing quite well relatively speaking, but we can still do a little more

By Fr. George Packiasamy
Every parish in Peninsular Malaysia is struggling to build and revive the Basic Ecclesial Communities (BEC) in both urban and rural areas. In our parish our BECs are doing quite well relatively speaking, but we can still do a little more.

I make every effort to be present at the BECCOT meetings (BEC Coordinating Team) every first Wednesday of the month. The BECCOT team is working hand in hand with the BEC leaders by animating the monthly meetings and solving issues that arise at the BEC level. The team also assists and trains the BEC leaders and revives the leaders’ roles by giving them formations especially on leadership quality.

Some leaders are happy and joyfully serve their BECs without qualms even though they have been serving in their BECs for a number of years. At large many leaders are not too happy about serving in their BECs and are just waiting to hand over their baton or tasks to someone else. Some members are not willing to give it a try to take up the leadership role by giving excuses such as: fear of failure, fear of embarrassment, fear of uncertainty, fear of responsibility, fear of making mistakes, fear of being criticized, lack of confidence, lack of time and so forth.

When we don’t eliminate a life of excuses, we hold ourselves back from recognising opportunities and discovering our talents, skills and potential. We paralyze ourselves from growing in our spiritual life and this prevents us from moving forward in all areas of our lives! If we don’t challenge ourselves to reach new heights, we will never really know what we are capable of. Opportunities lie hidden in front of us and in every corner of our lives – so it’s best that we don’t crack our heads by constantly finding reasons to make excuses.

What I request from the BEC leaders and the BEC core teams is that they bear the burden of leadership and responsibility and to genuinely care for one another in their respective BECs. You are not alone working in the vineyard of the Lord, “For you are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s farm, God’s building,” (1 Cor 3:9).You need to first and foremost focus on your spirituality and make an effort to increase your faith life. In the long run, these will help to enhance your personal strength and expand the scope of your ministry in the BECs. In fact, you will gain the trust of your BEC members and they will then perceive you as guiding them well.

I suggest that you develop your leadership quality by sharing your responsibilities with your core team as well as members of your BECs. If you are willing to let others share in your responsibilities, encourage the caring for one another and to make decisions, (even if you think they do things a bit differently from you), perhaps this kind of shared leadership will attract your BEC members and you will find new leaders in the making!

On my part, I too look around for leaders and volunteers from the BECs and also among the weekend congregation who can really do the work of serving and caring for one another in the life of the Church, without having been given a title. Every now and then I do try to identify potential leaders and pray to the Lord that He will provide individuals to come forward to render service to the Church.

Basic Ecclesial Community (BEC) is not another ministry or organisation but it is the Church at the grassroots. The members are considered as a new way of “being Church”. Every ordinary Catholic is called to be disciples of hope and to actively participate in the life and mission of the Church and to live in the spirit of the Gospel.

Article reproduced from Herald Malaysia online

By Fr. George Packiasamy
Our Parish Retreat will be held on 22-24 September 2017 at two locations: our Church hall and at the adjacent Chi Man School Hall. It is an opportunity for every parishioner to take time away from our normal activities and to spend more time getting to know God and to love Him; to examine our priorities in life, make concrete and practical resolutions and to commit ourselves to a life of purpose and service. Making a good retreat can be a powerful step towards individual conversion.

The Church in Peninsular Malaysia conducts periodic retreats every year during the month of September requesting all bishops and priests to make their yearly retreat for at least 5 days. We take time off from our parish activities and pastoral duties to be in solitude with the Lord. These past three years our parish has been organising retreats but these were only one-day sessions. This year however, the committee is organising a 3-day Parish Retreat for all parishioners. This time round, we will be bringing to you distinguished speakers from a well-known retreat centre in India, – the Divine Retreat Centre, Potta, Kerala. Every parishioner is encouraged to register and so discover how they may rekindle their relationship with Christ Jesus and learn the secret of successful and joyful families!

In every part of the world, the Catholic Church organisation offers many types of retreats for their members. Retreats can be for a single day or a whole week or even a month. They can be silent retreats, preached retreats, directed or guided retreats with various spiritual topics and daily meditations or conferences. Initially, we planned to have our retreat for two days over the weekend but the Lord blessed us with another day when the Muslims shifted the “Awal Muharram” holiday from Thursday 21st to Friday 22nd September this year. That is why we have added an additional day to make it a 3-day retreat over that weekend. It will be more dynamic and charismatic in tone with many spiritual insights, Praise and Worship and healing sessions, Confessions and the Holy Eucharist. A special room will be prepared for you to spend time in silent conversation in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament during the course of the retreat. It is a time for you to listen to the Holy Spirit and to get to know Jesus better as you get into your truer self.

When you come for this weekend retreat with our POTTA priests retreat masters, it will be a special time of the year for you to get away from all your daily activities, to encounter God and to deepen your relationship with Him. Too often, in our daily lives, we are overwhelmed with many distractions and we may fail to hear the voice of God. So we encourage you, when you come for the retreat, to turn off your hand phones and unplug yourself from all social-communications. The Lord wants your full attention in this upcoming retreat.

As your parish priest, I strongly recommend you to attend this retreat and do not give excuses but take the trouble to register soonest. It is a retreat about seeking, finding and loving Christ and in turn you too will gain spiritual enlightenment and insight. The Holy Spirit will prompt you as you participate in this retreat. He will provide special graces to lead you to true and lasting spiritual progress. As the retreat days draw closer, we invite you to pray that the Lord, “Give success to the work of our hands, and may His kingdom come and may His will be done!”

For more information about the Parish Retreat 2017, do visit the Parish Retreat counter in front of our Church before and after every weekend Mass.

Article reproduced from Herald Malaysia online