KUCHING — The Malaysian Catechetical Series (MCS) which was commissioned by the Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia/Singapore and Brunei was officially launched on the 11 February 2009 at St Peter’s College, Kuching.
The Malaysian Archbishops/Bishops felt that it was timely for a new series to be written in line with Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) and that the materials are to be localised to suit the local situations. Thus the birth of the Series for Levels 1 to 10 for all Catholic Malaysian School-going children. Level 1 and Level 7 was first introduced in 2002 when the religion teachers did not use the series as they ought to. Most Rev Archbishop John Ha and Most Rev Archbishop Emeritus Peter Chung saw the importance of the usage and revived it.
Courses in English and Mandarin were organised in November and December respectively. A total of 97 new and old Sunday School Teachers attended the English sessions and 32 attended the Mandarin sessions.
The sessions highlighted the contents of the lessons to relate the different levels and the Syllabus in general. Methodologies were introduced. Sessions in the General Directory of Catechesis were covered were covered closely on Canon Laws with regard to preparing candidates for Baptism or First Holy Communion and the Sacrament of Confirmation. The sessions also emphasised on the importance of Bible as a main source of reference.
At the closing ceremony, Mgr William Sabang presented certificates of attendance to the participants. He also encouraged them to remain faithful to their calling as Sunday School Religion Teachers. He thanked them for sacrificing their precious time on Sunday for the Religious Education of the children of God.
Paul Voon
