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August 2006 News
| Letter to the People of God for PMPC III |
PETALING JAYA: In conjunction with the Peninsular Malaysia Pastoral Convention III (PMPC III) to be held from August 30 to September 2, 2006, the Archbishop/Bishops of Peninsular Malaysia have issued a letter to the people of God.
The letter, to be read at all Masses on August 19 and 20, "commends to God and the heartfelt prayer of the laity, this convention which seeks direction for the future of Church in Peninsular Malaysia".
The full text of the message can be read in the below.
August 15, 2006
To the people of God,
As you are aware, PMPC III convenes from August 30 to September 2, 2006. We have together prayed and prepared as Church for the whole of this year for this pastoral gathering. We commend God and your heartfelt prayer, this convention which seeks direction for the future of Church in Peninsular Malaysia.
Yours in Christ,
Most Rev Murphy Pakiam D.D.
Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur
Signed on behalf of and with the consent of Rt Rev Paul Tan Chee Ing, SJ (Bishop of Melaka-Johor) and Rt Rev Antony Selvanayagam (Bishop ofPenang).
Commemoration of first death anniversary of Archbishop Vendargon
| KUALA LUMPUR: A small group of parishioners gathered at St John's Cathedral to commemorate the first year death anniversary of the late Archbishop Emeritus Dominic Aloysius Vendargon on Aug 3. They celebrated the Eucharist at 6am, which was presided over by parish priest, Msgr James Gnanapiragasam. The late Archbishop Emeritus Vendargon passed away last year. His remains were laid to rest in the centre aisle of the cathedral, just below the sanctuary. As the cathedral's doors at the left wing were opened till 7pm, scores of Catholics from around the city paid a visit to his tomb to pay their respects and remember Kuala Lumpur's first Archbishop.-Herald |
New editor for Iraithuthan
| Petaling Jaya : : Fr Stanislaus Soosaimariam has been appointed editor for Iraithuthan, the Tamil section of the HERALD effective August 10, 2006. He takes over from Fr Amalanathan Adakalapalasam, who has been the editor for the Iraithuthan since its first issue, which was in Sept 10, 1995. The Arch/Bishops and Editor thank Fr Amala for his dedicated service in providing news for the Tamil-speaking readers. Fr Stanislaus is also the parish priest of St Joseph's Church, Sentul. |
Media literacy workshop for KT college students
| Kuala Terengganu : Advertisements with negative social consequences could be withdrawn if consumers complain to the relevant authorities. This was stated by Lawrence John, director of Cahayasuara Communications Centre, when facilitating the session on Advertising during the Media Orientation Workshop for university college students here from August 3-4 at the Formation House. Two documents provide the basis for evaluating whether an advertisement is ethical. One is MCAP, and the other is the Church document Ethics in Advertising, which was issued in 1997, clarified John, who has a background in non-profit advertising. Earlier, the participants learnt that the aspect of advertising most in need of change was the way women were portrayed in the media. The workshop also covered the five fundamental aspects of media messages - author, technique, audience, content and purpose - in the Media Literacy session. The students were also presented a basic model of communication. - sender, message, channel, receiver - in which they realised that the most important part of the communication process was the `receiver'.-Herald |
Puchong Church...
 
The knock at the door... The handing over... |
Christians for a New World live-in weekend
| Cheras : Christians for a New World helped participants who are in their twenties, find meaning in their everyday lives. Twenty-one participants, aged 20-30 years, both single and married, attended the live-in weekend, held at IJ Convent, from July 28-30. Fondacio, an international movement of single and married people from various social and professional backgrounds, animated the weekend, which also saw the participation of a few Myanmarese and Indonesian migrants. Throughout the weekend, the participants were broken into groups to discuss, reflect and contemplate the theme of each of the eight sessions. A member of Fondacio facilitated each group sharing. There were also several mimes animated to reflect on life and death. Besides the above, there were many moments of solitude for participants to take time to internalise their personal faith journey. The weekend culminated with the celebration of the Eucharist by Msgr James Gnanapiragasam, parish priest of St John's Cathedral. It was Msgr James' initiative to hold a retreat for his parish's youths that spearheaded this spiritual weekend.-Herald |
Make Christ come alive in us
| Petaling Jaya : Making Christ Come Alive was the theme for St Ignatius Church's (SIC) Feast day celebrations this year. The triduum celebration was held from July 29 to July 31, the actual feastday of St Ignatius of Loyola. The feast day triduum got underway with a series of talks in English and Mandarin conducted with the masses. Fr Ignatius Huan, CDD from the St Francis Xavier Major Seminary of Singapore was invited to lead the talks in English. Fr Joseph Ng, SJ, conducted the Mandarin sessions. The sub-theme Making Christ Come Alive in Me was discussed on the first day of the feastday triduum. At the following day's mass, Fr Ignatius reminded parishioners that Christ lives in them and therefore, they should take on the nature of Christ. The culmination of the final day of the triduum offered the sub-theme which is Making Christ Come alive in my Workplace. Apart from the talks organised for the celebration, a one-day seminar on the renowned Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius was held on July 15, from 9.OOam-5.30pm at the parish's community centre. Presented by Fr Aloysius Mowe, SJ, the seminar was aimed at acquainting parishioners with the spiritual discernment, or discernment of spirits, of St Ignatius, for whom this was the beginning of his conversion. - Herald |
New-look St Anne's Church, Port Klang attracts many
| Port Klang : Thousands gathered at the Church of St Anne on July 29 to join in the annual feast day celebrations. The church was packed to its full capacity with the crowd spilling out onto the streets outside the church compound. The church's `new' look was indeed an eyecatcher at the feast this year. The tiling work and good ventilation made it comfortable for the thousands who were sitting outside the church, to participate in the celebrations with the numerous TV screens around the compound. Pilgrims and devotees from neighbouring districts and dioceses grabbed the opportunity to pay homage to Sts Anne and Joachim during this feast day celebrations. The main celebration was presided over by Fr Antoni Ponnudurai SJ together with Fr John Gnanapiragasam and Fr Lawrence Andrew SJ. After Mass, the congregation was led on a 2 kilometre long procession.-Herald |
Youth group for ages 18-24 launched at SIC
| Petaling Jaya : An eagerly awaited birth, much anticipated by the youths between the ages of 18 to 24 at St Ignatius Church (SIC), was finally welcomed with many open arms and joyful hearts. On July 23 these youths of SIC witnessed the official launch of the Revolution Youth Ministry during the `Youth Experience' event, which was organised by the committed team members and advisors of the ministry, with the kind help of a few well-wishers. The current advisor of the ministry, Joe Voon, alongside the 7-member team spent two weeks at the church to recruit young adolescents to participate in the Youth Experience which was themed Let Christ in Youth Come Alive. The establishment of Revolution Youth Ministry has proved to be the first of its kind, being the only youth ministry with this specific age group. Now that history has been made in SIC, the youth have great hopes and aims in maintaining this ministry as an on-going, active body which will continue to serve the Lord.-Herald |
Youth formation at Christ the Light
| Kuala Lumpur : A youth formation for both the English and Tamil speaking groups was held at the Chapel of Christ the Light (Desa Jaya) in July. This formation was organised by the youth group of the chapel of Christ The Light (CTL) and Chapel of Christ The King (CTK) with the help of their parish administrator Fr Frederick Joseph. The speakers were Bro Adrian Matthews (Seminarian) and team building trainer Mr Timmy Fernandez. In attendance were not only youths from CTL and CTK but also participants from St Joseph (Sentul) and Risen Christ (Ipoh Road) churches. The activities started with session one themed Me a Leader by Bro Adrian. Three sessions were held on day two. The first session was on Commitment. Session two was on Servant and Leader where Jesus Christ was taken as an example. Session three Being a Fool for Christ. Archbishop Murphy Pakiam later joined the youths for dinner after Mass. He expressed his happiness to see the good number of youths attending the formation and was glad to be invited to join them. He also agreed that the youths of today are the leaders of today and also the leaders of tomorrow. He urged youths to get involved in the BEC because the youths have talents which can be brought out and the youths are better in sharing in the BEC. During dinner the youths put up a Talent time. Herald |
THE PALESTINIAN CONFLICT
The Catholic Church in Malaysia echoes the passionate cry of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI for an immediate cease-fire, the opening of access to humanitarian relief services and international leadership in new efforts to open negotiations that could lead to a lasting settlement.
We endorse the Pope's affirmation of the right of the Lebanese to sovereign integrity of their nation, the right of the Israelis to live in peace in their State, and the right of the Palestinians to have a free and sovereign country.
We are pleased to read that the Catholic Bishops Conference of the United States of America issued a statement on July 18, 2006 that the leadership of the United States must act to restrain Israel as the U.S. seeks a comprehensive solution to the crisis.
We strongly appeal to the Catholic Bishops Conference of the United States to give substance to their statement.
Hence we support the move of more than a dozen Roman Catholic and Protestant groups who presented a letter dated July 21, 2006 to President George Bush in which letter they stated that his leadership and the full weight of the United States acting in concert with the international community, must be applied now to achieve an immediate cease-fire and to launch an intensive diplomatic initiative for the cessation of hostilities.
Heeding the call of the Holy Father for Catholics the world over to fast and pray for peace in the Middle East, we urge our Catholics to fast and pray for the conversion of minds and hearts of the political leaders involved towards a humanitarian effort for justice and peace.
As a specific effort, we have fixed Monday, August 14, 2006 as a day of fast and prayer for peace in the Middle-East, the feast day of St. Maximilian Kolbe, the Catholic priest who volunteered to take the place of a condemned Jew and died of starvation in a prison cell in Auschwitz, Poland in Nazi Germany. Then on Tuesday, 15 August 2006, feast of the Assumption, collections will be taken at all Masses for the innocent victims of this conflict in Palestine and Lebanon. The offering will be sent to the Pope's office, the Pontifical Council for Cor Unum for distribution.
Most Reverend Murphy Pakiam
Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur
27 July 2006
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August 14, day of fast and prayer
| Kuala Lumpur : Answering Pope Benedict XVI's earlier call (on July 19) to pray for peace in the Middle East, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, Most Reverend Datuk Murphy Pakiam has set Monday, August 14 as a day of fast and prayer. On the following day, August 15, which is the Feast of the Assumption, collections will be taken at all Masses for the innocent victims of this conflict in Palestine and Lebanon. The offering will be sent to the Pope's Pontifical Council Cor Unum for Human Development. Earlier on July 27, the Lebanese Embassy's Charge d'Affaires in Kuala Lumpur, Giscard El Khoury paid a visit to Archbishop Pakiam and briefed him on the Middle East crisis. At least 542 people, as of July 30, mostly civilians, have been killed in Lebanon in the war, although the health minister estimated the toll at 750 including unrecovered bodies. Fifty-one Israelis have also been killed. More than 1,500 have been injured, almost one million people have become refugees in their own country and tens of thousands of foreigners were evacuated or have fled the country.-Herald |
Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Puchong Grand Opening and Blessing:
12 August 2006
| The parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe (OLG) will be officially opened on August 12, 2006 at 10.00am. Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, Most Rev Murphy Pakiam will dedicate and bless the church. The church was given the name `Our Lady of Guadalupe' by Archbishop Emeritus Soter Fernandez when he performed the groundbreaking ceremony on April 28, 2002. Although the church seats 850 persons comfortably, ways and means are being thought by the organising committee to receive crowd of at least 2,500. The last fittings are being put in place for the occasion. Following the tradition of other churches bearing the Guadalupe name, the church in Puchong has set its sights on becoming the first pilgrimage centre in Malaysia dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe.-Herald |
Workshop for better print communication skills
| KUALA LUMPUR : A Newsletter Design and News Writing workshop was recently conducted by Cahayasuara Communication Centre (CCC) to equip participants with basic print communication skills. Director Lawrence John was presenter at the workshop, which was held on July 15 at CCC's premises on Jalan Robertson. Three essential characteristics were explored at the workshop. "A good newsletter creates reader interest and maintains readability through consistency, conservation and contrast," said John. In the News Writing workshop, presented by Schave Jerome on July 8, participants learnt the essentials of writing for a publication. "A news story should be either significant, interesting or new. You could write a story if you are able to identify one of these characteristics in an event that took place," said Jerome, a sub-editor with the Star newspaper. Twenty participants from various parishes, including the Church of St Thomas in Kuantan, and from Montfort Boys Town took part in the two modules of the WriteDesign Media Skills Workshop, which was partly aimed at assisting parishioners to write stories on parish events for publication in the HERALD.-Herald |
Rumah Kasih home for the underprivilege
PETALING JAYA : Rumah Kasih, an underprivileged home for girls, celebrated its recent opening with a blessing by Fr Martin Then, CDD on July 16. Fr Then, the assistant parish priest of St Ignatius' Church, along with members of St Jude BEC, blessed the new home and its young residents in a simple but joyful ceremony. The home, located in Kelana Jaya, is run by Persatuan Kebajikan Kasih (PKK). PKK's President Peter Raj said that PKK has been helping underprivileged people (families and other homes) for the past 12 years. Fr Then expressed his gladness and congratulated members of the home and volunteers for helping out the children's welfare and planning the future of the home. About 45 people, including members of the PKK, volunteers of the home and the children's families, attended the event, which ended with joyful fellowship.-Herald
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