By Richard Chia
KENINGAU — During the week long 75th birthday celebration of Bishop Cornelius Piong with his fellow brother bishops from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, it was noticeable that Bishop Cornelius was happy throughout the week.
The two celebrations held for that week were, the celebration held on Monday 1 July at the Holy Family Pilgrimage centre Nulu Sosopon, north-west of Keningau town, and the other held on Thursday 4 July at Diocese of Keningau’s Retreat Centre Tatal, east of Keningau town. Both celebrations were organised by the local communities in that area, and were attended by the bishops in the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei.
To call these two celebrations great is an understatement. It was spectacular, cultural at its best and full of love and appreciation for their “bapa uskup” (Bishop Father) of 31 years.
In the sharing by Bishop Cornelius at the plenary meeting, he shared that 31 years ago, he began with nothing when he was installed as the first bishop of Keningau. He had no vision-mission statement, no pastoral plan, few priests. He sought assistance from the Church in Philippines, and adopted the vision-mission “People of God Journeying together”.
He shared that he based the concept of Church on the Acts of the Apostles, the early Christians and the Christian communities. His much quoted phrase is “Belonging is Happiness” (Kekitaan adalah Kebahagian), and he also added “Happiness is Belonging”.
Today, as we look at the growth of the people of God in Keningau, we rejoice together with Bishop Cornelius as he has inspired many local priests, local religious communities, 25 priests in his diocese and many hundreds of laity catechists who help to propagate the faith. In his words, they celebrate anniversary every year, and this celebration involves the young and the old. This is evident when we see the Church in Keningau is vibrant with many young people, who chose to stay in their hometown rather than move to big cities or abroad. He summed it by saying “People have been living synodal all along”.
