Testimonies of some of our students who have found their faith in the Catholic Church.
I am now part of the Church
Before I enrolled in SJPS, I hadn’t been a very religious individual, but all that changed when I was in Form 1. As a student of SJPS, I had the opportunity to study the subjects, Religious Education and Bible Knowledge. It felt new to me as this was the first time I was able to learn about religion in school.
Over the past three years at SJPS, I learnt about Jesus, the Son of God and how he suffered and died to save us from our sins. I’ve also heard many stories about how Jesus and God helped and changed the lives of countless people and that made me more and more intrigued by the Catholic faith. Moreover, these stories have inspired me to be a more faithful person. After acquiring more knowledge about the faith, I gradually found myself turning to God and pray when I was struggling and needed guidance.
I came to the realisation that turning to God helped me in numerous ways. As a result, I thought of getting baptised. I spoke to my teacher and after much consideration from my parents, they agreed.
Without realising it, it was soon the day of my baptism. It was quickly my turn to be baptised. The priest poured holy water on my head while he said a prayer. The cold water caught me off guard. Despite that, I felt my soul being cleansed and my sins being washed away. A while later, I had my first Holy Communion. When I ate the host, I felt that God was present within me as the host is the Body of Christ. From then onwards, I was officially a member of the Catholic Church. Since I am now officially a part of the Church, I will make an effort to strengthen my faith. For instance, I will attend Mass more frequently. Besides, I will do my best to follow God’s commandments in my daily life and strive to be an obedient child of God.
I have grown closer to God
I am happy that now I have officially become a Catholic. Thank you to Mr Jerome Lim for the guidance and support. He has helped me understand more about God and the relationship between God and us. He taught me that being a Catholic is not to show other people that we are “good” but to show that we are sinners and it is okay to be one.
I have grown closer to God as I understand Him better than before. I now have a closer relationship with God. I have faith in God, believe and obey Him. Thank you to my parents for allowing me to become a Catholic. I am grateful that they have supported me throughout my journey. Without their support and love, I won’t be a Catholic. Thank you to my godmother, Ms Anne for becoming my godmother. My baptism experience was a blessing. I have been waiting for so long. And finally, the day has come. I am grateful that my baptism has happened. It happened at St Joseph’s Cathedral and Fr Galvin Richard Ngumbang was the presiding priest of the Mass. My mom and I attended the Mass. My godmother Ms Anne was there too. I was anointed with the oil. Then, the priest dripped some holy water on my head. Then, I had my first Holy Communion. I am happy and grateful that it has happened and now I’m a Catholic. I hope that I can receive my Confirmation soon.
To be or not to be
When I was 12 years old, I witnessed my two elder brothers getting baptised at St Joseph’s Cathedral. At that time, I wondered when I was going to get baptised myself. However, when I went to make my Identification Card (I.C.) at Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (JPN) with my parents, my parents couldn’t decide what religion I should follow, so I was registered as a Hindu. I thought that I would follow my father and remain a Hindu for the rest of my life, thus I didn’t think much about it.
A year later, I participated in the school’s musical “The White Rajah of Sarawak”. While I was practicing by myself at a lower floor in Archdiocesan Curia and Cathedral Pastoral Centre (ACCPC), Fr Alvin asked me if I was going to follow my brothers in becoming a Catholic and I said no. After that, my mother talked to me about what being a Christian is about and I decided I wanted to get baptised. Initially, I made that decision because I wanted to follow my brothers. However, the delay of my baptism due to the Movement Control Order gave me a lot of time to think my decision through and I eventually decided that I was doing this for myself. Then I waited until the day I was going to be baptised.
On the day of my baptism, I remember feeling very nervous before my baptism because I didn’t know how it was going to impact my life. Even when I entered the cathedral, I felt very nervous but Madam Sarah told all those who were getting baptised to relax and when she briefed us on what needs to be done, her words were very reassuring so I managed to go through the whole process feeling easy. I’m really thankful to Mr Ben, my godfather because he was willing to help me go through with my baptism. Before the baptism started, he handed me a gift, which was a Bible but I forgot to thank him for it as I was very nervous. He also gave me my baptism candle which he tied a ribbon so I appreciated that he did all of those for me. I’m also very thankful to Mr Jerome for guiding and building up my spirit to prepare me for the baptism. After the baptism, I felt very blessed for being able to officially accept Christ as my Lord and Saviour. I finally managed to thank Mr Ben for the Bible he gave me through text after I was feeling way, way less nervous.
I am a child of God
As both my parents were non-Christians, I was also a non-Christian since birth. However, I was always curious and believed in the Catholic faith and towards God ever since I was young. I had gone to church a few times throughout the years. A feeling of peacefulness bloomed in my heart when I joined in to sing hymns about love and faith for God.
The church held a special place in my heart since then. In my Form 4, I had decided to start my journey of faith by completing the first step, which is baptism. I’m glad my parents did not object to me in doing so and respected my decision to convert to Christianity. I was supposed to be baptised somewhere in the beginning of Form 4 but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the baptism had been delayed a few times. At last, on 14 December 2020, I was officially baptised. Getting my baptism was the first step I had completed in my journey of faith in Christ. After being baptised, I feel closer to God. I feel glad to be one of God’s children. From that moment onwards, God has entered my life and I am happy and glad that he did.
