PADAWAN — A joint celebration was held on Sunday, 24 July to mark the 43rd anniversary of the founding of the St Ann’s Parish and St Ann’s Feast Day. About 3,000 strong congregation proved the unfailing faith of parishioners. The event was a great success because not only was it well-organised but also the youths played a huge part in it to make it happen.
The Holy Mass was presided by the Archbishop of Kuching, His Grace Archbishop John Ha and concelebrated by five other priests namely the Rector of St Ann’s Parish, Rev Fr Gerard Victor OFM and his resident friars, a visiting friar Rev Fr Johnny Wong OFM and Rev Fr Simon Poh, a former rector of the Parish before the Franciscans took over.
The Archbishop prefaced the Holy Mass with a greeting and expressed his joy for being able to be present with the parishioners. He said he looked forward to see the building and the completion of the Parish’s mother church. He urged the faithful to keep on praying and to call upon St Ann to intercede for them so that through her intercession the Parish may soon be in the position to begin the church-building project.
In his homily the Archbishop touched on the Christian family and marriage. He said that the main purpose of a Christian marriage is to procreate and hence the formation of the Christian family. Children brought up in such a family are expected to be taught the Christian faith which would be their guide when they grow up. The subject of the Christian family is incapsulated in the ongoing Archdiocesan’s programme of the Pastoral Focus on the Family and this year is its final year. He said the marriage between a “couple” of the same sex, though legalised in certain western countries, is a perversion and the child the “pair” might adopt cannot be brought up in the ordinary way. On another subject he told the congregation that the supreme goal in life, for the Christian and indeed for all mankind, is to be counted as among the souls who enter and dwell in the Kingdom of God or, in other words, to possess God and so to possess all.
After the sermon, 250 prayer leaders of St Ann’s Parish renewed their commitments and term of service before the Archbishop.
During the Holy Mass the congregation also witnessed a touch of liturgical diversity when the Prayers of the Faithful were recited in all three main Bidayuh dialectal groups, Iban and Chinese, reflecting Sarawak’s multilingual Christian community.
During the Offertory, a cultural dance performance was presented by Kpg Semaba Catholic Youth Movement (CYM).
At the end of the Mass, Archbishop Ha called upon the parishioners to be as committed as possible towards the achievement of another historical milestone in the progress of their own parish by donating generously towards financing of their parish landmark project which is the construction of the mother church. He said a new and beautiful church may very well attract others to the Catholic Church. In conclusion, he wished all present a “Happy St Ann’s Feast Day 2011.”
The Rector, Rev Fr Gerard Victor OFM was confident that the project will become a reality when he said that the Holy Mass held in the “Baruk” that Sunday was the last. Then he thanked His Grace Archbishop John Ha for officiating the occasion and went on to thank those who have contributed in one way or the other to make the day a great success. He especially thanked the organising committee, headed by Sebastian Remek for a task well done, not forgetting to express his heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to his brother friars and all the members of the parish administrative staff.
After the Holy Mass, the parishioners patronised the stalls at St Lukas Apostolic Centre where the Parish Sale was held to raise fund for the parish.
One month later a post fund-raising and thanksgiving dinner was held on 27 August at Siburan Community Hall, 17th Mile Kuching-Serian Road to conclude the joint celebration.
Justin Kirim
I remember Fr Gerard for his serving the Mass in Singapore to the U.S. Catholic community. I was very surprised to find this wonderful article on line.