KUCHING — Rev Father Vincent Chin, Parish Priest of St Peter’s Church Padungan, called for a Parish Pastoral Assembly to bring a close to the Synod Process on 26 June 2022. It was a fitting day for the Parish Pastoral Assembly as the Church celebrated the Feast Day of St Peter.
The Parish Pastoral Assembly had a strong representation of 42 parishioners. Leaders of all lay organisations in the parish came together to discuss the issues faced by the Church and worked together to find solutions to unify the Church.
The St Peter’s Church Parish synod process started on 18 October 2021. The past several months was a journey of listening to the experience of the grassroots Catholics about being Church, as companions journeying through faith together.
The day kicked off at 7.30am with a Thanksgiving Mass. At 8.30am after the Mass had ended, all the participants gathered at the Parish Center for breakfast together. This provided the opportunity for the parishioners to “break the ice” after long periods of not seeing each other due to the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent MCO and SOPs bringing church activities to a screeching halt.
After taking their last sip of coffee, the participants convened in the AVA Room at 9.15am. St Peter’s Parish Council Chairman, Joseph Wong, welcomed everyone and walked them through the events of the day. Then came Father Vincent’s turn to bless everyone with an opening prayer and he motivated all the participants with his keynote address.
At 9.45am, the participants gathered in their assigned groups to discuss matters pertaining to their Areas of Concern; Faith Formation, Communion, Mission, Human Development and Social Justice. A facilitator for each Area of Concern was appointed to assist in guiding the discussion in a clear direction; Keith Yong (Faith Formation), Elizabeth Kho (Communion), Martin Chan (Mission), Human Development (Joseph Yeo) and Simon Kong (Social Justice).
The assembly was a huge success and a fruitful one due to the efforts of the Parish Council Chairman, Joseph Wong and his team of parish councillors as well as all the participants.
The Parish Council also offered a vote of thanks to Father Vincent for working tirelessly to help achieve the objective of the Synod, “To be the voice of the Church and to help concretize the vision of the local church as a communion of God’s People with active participation in the life and mission of the Church”.
St Peter’s Church Parish Council
