 
Archive : October 2004
Developing a vision of a truly effective parish
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Kuala Lumpur : The buzz words at the recent day of recollection for core team members from parish organizations, ministries and BECs of the Church of Our Lady of Fatima in Brickfields were 'participation', 'caring', 'sharing', and 'loving'. Presented by Redemptorist Father Joe Stephen (pic), the one-day event held on October 16 was attended by people involved in the lay ministries of the parish including the Family Life, Music and Youth ministries. Fr Stephen's well-modulated presentation gave participants a deeper under-standing of the concept of service in the Church. He began by asking parishioners individually to write out their vision of Fatima Parish. The audience was then broken into groups and asked to share their individual
visions in order to come out with a collective vision statement. The exercise paved the way for the priest's other sessions on team building, interdependence, dialogue, collaboration and dealing with conflict. The facilitator's easy presentation style peppered with well-timed humour was underwritten with the message that lay ministry is rooted in our baptisms. Beginning the session on Dialogue - A Key To Growth, Fr Stephen said, "Something in the sacrament of baptism calls us to be instruments in the growth of the kingdom of God. "The complexity of human character makes for a challenge when people work together. Life-giving relationships do not come automatically but relationships are essential in ministry." He also stressed the need for spirituality
in lay ministry, saying, "Ministerial people must be prepared to live life in union with God .Spirituality is a pre-requisite of a ministerial people. A church ministry cannot be run like a multinational company. There needs to be the belief that the spirit of God is working even in troubled times." Parish priest Fr Clarence Dass in his closing remarks said he felt 'a great satisfaction and encouragement' at he turnout. He summed up the session succinctly by saying, "In ministry we have a habit of staying in the comfort zone, being happy with the present members. Our challenge now is to take stock and see where we want to go next." The day of recollection ended with the commissioning of the participants at the sunset Mass. - By Karen Michaela J Tan
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Creating active witnesses to the Gospel
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Cheras : Thirty-four parishioners from the Church of St Francis of Assisi encountered renewal and personal experiences with Jesus Christ and His Body, the Church, during a Parish Renewal Experience (PRE). The PRE which was held from Oct 15 to17 was the second held in the parish. The PRE was held in February this year. Assistant parish priest Fr Valentine Gompok, OFM, Cap was one of the 34 participants. Parish Priest, Fr Joe Matthews OFM Cap assisted by Sr Clara of the Infant Jesus Convent, Cheras were the facilitators for PRE 2. During the sessions, participants experienced inner healing and were touched ,renewed and strengthened. Some of the testimonies from the participants were as follows:
"Through this PRE, our eyes and hearts have been opened towards the reality of being Catholics. Not long ago, I thought I had been an outstanding Catholic by attending Mass every Sunday. Only now do I realise that I was 'out-standing' in the sense that I was always standing outside of this circle." "The participants' open sharing and the guidance of all those who rendered their services in this PRE have helped me a lot in many ways, mostly by strengthening my faidi and belief in Christ Jesus." A certificate and a PRE badge were presented to each of the participants at the end of the three-day programme. The PRE badge with a heart shape in the middle of across reminds us that we are God's chosen people, commissioned to "Go forth" for the love of Christ and His Body, the CHURCH.
In the closing session, the "commissioned participants" were reinforced by the words of Jesus: "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Go there-fore, and make disciples from all nations. Baptise them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to fulfill all that I have commanded you. I am with you always until the end of this world" (Mi. 28:18-20). The participants were constantly remind-d that when they are called, chosen and they respond with sincere hearts to serve Christ and His Body, the Church, they are bound to face persecutions and must remain strong in their faith at all times. For, as gold is tested in the fire, so those accept-able to God are tested in the crucible of humiliation. The Parish Renewal Experience programme
is designed to receive, nurture and send forth disciples, conscious of responding to their baptismal vows, to be heralds of the Gospel in building up the Church, the Body of Christ. The parish is not made of bricks or stone, but made up of people who live and dream of being a community, sharing the gifts of God, and making the world a much better place to live in. With the grace of God, the PRE Organising Committee hopes that this Parish Renewal Experience programme will be an on going programme to trans-form this parish into committed witnesses of Christ to building up Christ Church in holiness and joy. - By Brian and Cristina
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Klang parishioners work hard to make hall a reality
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Klang : The building fund for the multipurpose hall has become a major priority for parishioners of the church of Our Lady of Lourdes. Every week, parish priest Fr Gerard Theraviam never fails to remind his flock that "the money is in your pockets" ..,and "the multi-purpose building planned will only become a reality when there are sufficient funds". Various activities have been organised to raise money for the building fund, Parishioners are encouraged to pledge a certain amount every month and the second collection at every ass goes towards the building fund. In addition, profits from weekly breakfast sales by the BECs are also directed towards the fund. Every ministry in the church is in one way or
another helping to contribute towards it. The youth movement of the parish organised a 'paper lama’ collection, where all the profits from its sales went towards the building fund. They have collected RM 1 965.60 so far. As a desperate measure, Fr Gerard has started 'begging' in public in order to raise funds. During the Catechetical Sunday celebration held at the La Salle field recently, Fr Gerard removed his cap, sat on the ground and started yelling, "Building fund, building fund!" In less than an hour his stint earned the fundRM200. I 0. The current building will not be demolished until sufficient funds are at hand, although some moving is already in process. The parish office has moved to the community hall and the clergy will soon have to vacate the parish house and move to the La Salle formation centre. By Jacelvn Johnson
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High praise for Cahayasuara after media conference
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Kuala Lumpur : Archbishop Murphy Pakiam and the archdiocesan Cahayasuara team have been congratulated for the successful organising of the recent Signis Asia assembly held in Kuala Lumpur Oct 4-10.The conference theme was Promotion of a culture of peace. Fr John T. Brinkman, MM, a Maryknoll Missioner based in Tokyo, sent his congratu-lations in a letter addressed to Archbishop Pakiam. He also thanked the Archbishop for his "thoughtful homily" to the assembly and his "most gracious hospitality". In his letter Fr Brinkman said, "I have rarely been at a conference that exhibited at each instance of participation such congenial competency and professional comprehension. "The selection and contribution of the presenters have given me much to reflect on .This alone speaks volumes of your Cahayasuara Communications staff,
their grasp of the compelling actualities of the region and their insightful sense of the presence and contribution of the Church in and for Southeast Asia". He said that in his work he rarely gets an opportunity to speak to a group which is com-posed of members of the Church and imbued with a Catholic perspective. The Maryknoller concluded by saying, "It was a joy for me to have been a participant." Summing up the results of the meeting, E. Samson, chairperson of the Regional Commission for Social Communications of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, said that mass media should unite people and not divide them. "We have to use this gift with real care," he said. He urged participants to use the media responsibly and critically, and to appreciate the good it promotes. Lawrence John, the director of the
Cahayasuara Communications Centre, was elected president of Signis Asia. In a short address to the delegates before his election, John said that members of Signis Asia had a responsibility to ensure that the aims of social communication, as stipulated in Church documents, were met. "There is a need for visionary leadership in Signis Asia so that the association continues to be relevant to the changing times in Asia," said John. SIGNIS is the World Catholic Organisation for Communication, a non-governmental Organisation with members from 140 countries. It brings together professionals involved in radio, TV, cinema, media education, Internet and new communication technologies. It is a member of the Pontifical Council for Communications (based in the Vatican)and operates on three levels: international, regional/continental and national. The Asian level, known as SIGNIS Asia, includes 16 member countries.
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Getting a better understanding of the RCIA process
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Genting Highlands : AA total of 66 participants represent-ing the English, Tamil and Bahasa language groups of 18 parishes in the KL Archdiocese gathered at Villa Dominic, Genting View Resort from Oct 8 to 10 to experience the Rites of the RCIA. The approach was to enable all parish teams to have a common experience. Parishes were encouraged to send at least two representatives. The purpose of the RCIA Experience was to fulfil a request from various parish teams to understand the RCIA process and to be familiar with and experience the rites celebrated in the RCIA journey. This RCIA Experience was facilitated by Fr Eugene Benedict, the priest delegate of the KL Archdiocesan RCIA Team. It was organised by Roy Chua and the RCIA team of Chapel Kurnia Kristus. The weekend was an encouragement for all to celebrate fully the rites of the RCIA because there is 'power in the rites' as shared by
Katherine Francis of the Church of St Joseph. She rep-resented the Parish Tamil RCIA team. She felt strengthened by the power and said she looked for-ward to a similar experience being organised for the Tamil RCIA teams in the near future. The weekend also strengthened the faith experience of the team members and made the journey of the process of initiation into the Church more meaningful. Cecilia Khoo, Chairperson of the Archdiocese RCIA, felt it was a long-awaited formation process which gave insights and meaning to all the rites that should be celebrated by all parishes. Much time was spent studying the principle of the RCIA as found in the official guide. This was followed by the celebration of the rites. There was time for discussion among facilitators from the different parishes which thus provided opportunities for fresh ideas towards making the preparations and celebrations of
the rites meaningful. Fr Eugene expressed the hope that all parish priests will support and celebrate the rites as recommended by the Church.
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Assunta Hospital organises Pastoral Care Week
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Petaling Jaya : A Pastoral Care Week will be launched at the Assumption Family House on Thursday, Oct 28 at 4pm. The event is being organized by the Pastoral Care Department of the Assunta Hospital. According to Sr Maryanne Fletcher, FMM, who heads the department, Pastoral Care is basically compassionate service in situations of suffering. "Pastoral care aims to offer emotional, spiritual and psychological support through several aspects, the most important of which his 'time for relationship'. "Another aspect is listening – listening with great care, recognising signals and gauging emotions, feeling with persons and empathising with their anxieties....click here
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Walking the Erikson road together
PETALING JAYA: Over a period of more than a year a small group of women gathered at Villa Hermine, FMM Retreat Home to learn about the observations and findings of psychologist, Erik Erikson, on the 8 stages of life, span-ning conception to old age.
Personal sharing made the awareness more meaningful as the group listened, supported, and challenged each other, under the guidance of Sr Maryanne Fletcher, FNM
Taking their cue from Sr Maryanne for a more interactive and applicable session, Sr Enid Lopez helped participants review past memories and from closure, eased participants into the next stage of life....
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Helping youths stay away from drugs and crime
KLANG: A seminar-cum-exhibition on Drug Abuse & Crime Prevention was organised by the Kiang district Prison Ministry.
About 80 youths gathered at the Church of the Holy Redeemer on Oct 10 to participate in this aware-ness programme.
The invited speaker, ASP Thavamany Gopal PPN from Jabatan Penjara Kajang, gave an interesting presentation that partly amazed and partly terrified the youths. The programme included a VCD viewing on anti-smoking fol-lowed by a talk on the consequences of smoking, a VCD viewing on HIV and AIDS followed by a talk on drug abuse and finally a VCD viewing on Sepak Rotan.
This is the second awareness programme organised by the Klang district prison ministry....
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Klang community celebrates International Day of the Deaf
KLANG: The International Day of the Deaf is celebrated world wide during the month of September. The hearing impaired community of Klang had a special celebration on Sept 19 at the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes.
According to Jennifer Ng, the catechism teacher who is also hearing impaired, "the Inter-national Day of the Deaf is celebrated because we, the deaf community, want to be recognised as people in the Church. We do have a place here and we can't be ignored just because of our disability. We also form part of the body of Christ."
There was a special Mass at 7.30am followed by some games organised by the hearing impaired themselves....
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Learning to be good parents
SETAPAK, Kuala Lumpur: In line with the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur’s five-year plan for the family and also as a build-up towards the Golden Jubilee of the arch-diocese, the Family Life Ministry of the Church of the Good Shepherd has organised a series of holistic family related formations.
During the recent formation held on Sept 25, a team of three clinical psychologists headed by Dr Teoh Hsien-Jin, conducted a work-shop for more than 100 parents. Dr Teoh was assisted by Miss Woo Pei Jun (a development psychologist) and Miss Cheong Sau Kuan(a clinical psychologist).
The parents were present-ed with down-to-earth facts about the mental health (not mental illness) of children, about which there is growing concern in Malaysia...
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Raising teens today
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Petaling Jaya : A talk on Raising your teen today was held at the Assumption Family House on Sept 12. Organised by the Assumption Church Parents Team, the talk was presented by Paul Selva Raj, an expert on adolescent psychology. In his talk, Paul spoke on the challenges faced by parents today particularly with teenagers. An interesting point of revelation was that problems today are no different from problems then. The `Generation Gap' was present then, it is present now, as with rebellion, retaliation, outrageous dress sense etc - only packaged differently. The talk stimulated an animated question and answer session which ended with Parish Priest Fr Phillips Muthu candidly observing that it was heartening to know that trials with raising children have been there since time immemorial as with Jesus' reply to his parents, "Don't you know I have my Father's business to do?" "Nothing has changed, nothing will change except patience and prayer to let the child unfold," said Fr Phillips. "Like the tango, take one step forward and two steps back, forget the pain and forgive, reconcile. Let go and get ready to get hurt again. Just keep the faith and everything will fall in place at some point, but bear in mind that everything in life is for a purpose; a learning experience," he added.
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SIC parishioners attend leadership programme
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Petaling Jaya : A leadership programme was held at the Church of St Ignatius on Sept 11. Organised by the St Ignatius Adult Ministry (SIAM), the programme was facilitated by Aloysius Pinto from the Parish Formation Team. The aim of the programme was not only to train those who want to be Catholic leaders, but also people who aspire to `be in the world but not of the world'. It was one of the themes of that evening and the group discussed how one can do that. Pinto observed that we come from a world measured by success. This conditioning started ever since we were in school, by rewarding achievement and results. He said that while this in itself is not bad, it becomes so when we seek success at all costs. The programme was well attended by SIAM members and parishioners alike. Participants were delighted when Pinto repudiated the notion of the
"kangkang disciple" i.e. those who serve two masters at the same time, having one foot in the material world and one foot in religion. Pinto also touched on dying to self centredness or egotism, carnality, hedonism, materialism and rebelliousness. He also focused on careers and our devotion to our respective Ministries, making the participants appreciate how SIAM can be a discipleship vehicle. During the talk, participants were divided into groups and asked to imagine what they would do if they were given money, resources, manpower and mandate. Lively discussions ensued as many shared freely and frankly as they envisaged the world as it would be if they were given the opportunity. Some were even moved to tears as they shared how they could touch and heal the world of its scars and its sufferings. Later, each was called to share what came to their minds.
Many went away deeply satisfied, secure in the knowledge that each had the potential to use their talents to effect change, a change for the better. The programme was enlightening as many found out. Gregory Chan, a member from SIAM, welcomed the opportunity for such a session. "Many adults are exposed to a corporate culture often at variance with our Catholic faith, our way of life. Many know little about resisting the logic of this world. This course teaches you how." - By St Ignatius Adult Ministry's Editorial Committee
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Thailand Church visits BECs to gain experience
Kuala Lumpur : The Malaysian Church is being seen as one of the forerunners in the successful implementation and growth of Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs) in its dioceses and parishes. Despite the many challenges and difficulties faced for the past 28 years, the commitment towards BECs in the Peninsular Malaysia Church has been acknowledged by the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conference, as an example for other Asian churches. It was in this context that 51 clergy, religious and laity from Thailand attended a seminar and exposure programme on Basic Ecclesial Communities, at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Centre, from Sept 21 to 25. The aim of the programme was to enable the participants Participants to exchange experiences and have a deeper
understanding of Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs) in the con-text of Asia. According to Bro Rogers, FSC who was one of the facilitators of the programme, the Church in Thailand is in the process of trying to encourage the development of Small Christian Communities (SCC)/BECs in the dioceses. Previous attempts have proven unsuccessful and now the visitors want to learn from us the experience of the New Way of Being Church. "The Thais have come here not only to learn about our successes but also about the struggles and difficulties we face. A few months back, another group from Thailand visited the Melaka-Johor diocese to learn about the...
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New talents discovered at Christian music festival
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Petaling Jaya : The 4th Christian Song & Music Festival was held on September IS and 19 in Loyola flail. St Francis Xavier's (SF?<) Church. The Christian Music Festival, the first of its kind in Malaysia, was organised by Qi - :Notes for C'hrist, a group of Christian musicians with the common goals of ecumenism, promoting local Christian talent, discovering new talent and giving them exposure. 'This year's theme is All RISE UP, to add on to their motto, Sing Unto The Lord A New Song. The festival was officiated by Bro Pius. 0P I Cap. Chairman of the organising, committee which commenced with a power packed praise and worship session by the Qi- Notes For Christ comprising members of the Aseana Percussion Unit (APU),
Keyboardist Edward Dass, renowned drummer Jerry Felix, and the brotherly duo of Mark and Vijay David. They opened the praise and worship session with the theme song, All Rise, written specially for the event. This was followed by a message from Pastor Kenneth Chin, a youth pastor with the Asian Young Ambassadors (AYA). The workshops which began immediately after the message, were handled by numerous gifted and talented Christian musicians, like Juwita Suwito (vocals), Mark David (vocals), Maria Angela (vocals), Josie Thomas (guitars), Jerry Felix (drums). Willie Rebano and Edward Dass (keyboards) and the Aseana Percussion Unit (percussions). Other unique workshops held for the event included songwriting by Pastor Ng Wah Lok and sound reinforcement by Ivan Zuzartee... Click here
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