By UCA News reporter
SINGAPORE — The Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore has started building a Catholic Hub, which the city-state’s Cardinal William Goh says will serve as a “spiritual oasis” for Catholics and help the Church for a wider outreach.
Goh, together with priests and directors of archdiocesan organizations, led a groundbreaking ceremony for the building on Nov. 28, Radio Veritas Asia (RVA) reported.
The archdiocese has been working to build a more vibrant, evangelizing, and missionary church, Goh said.
The archdiocese currently has no premises large enough to hold catholic programs on a large scale, and such a building has been long overdue, Church sources say.
The building is planned to hold major Archdiocesan organizations, a convention center with overnight retreat facilities, a home for senior clergy, and more for the long-term needs of the Church.
“Beyond physical infrastructure, such a Catholic Hub can bring about a greater depth of communion. The facilities and organizations located there will enable collaboration” between them,” Goh said.
The archdiocese has decided to preserve the heritage and history of the current site, which has buildings identified for conservation.
One such building is planned to become a heritage center to showcase the 200 years of Catholic life in the city to the broader community, and also posterity, RVA reported.
Singapore is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation of about 5.7 million people. Ethnic Chinese are mostly Buddhists, while most Malays are Muslims.
Christians make up about 15 percent of the Singaporean population. The Singapore archdiocese covers the entire city-state and has about 360,000 Catholics in 32 parishes.
St. Laurent Marie Joseph Imbert (1796-1839), a French Catholic priest of the Paris Foreign Missions Society (MEP) is credited for bringing the Catholic faith to Singapore. He arrived in Singapore on Dec. 11, 1821.
He died as a martyr in Korea on Sept. 21, 1839, and was canonized by Pope John Paul II in Seoul on May 6, 1984.
Singapore Archdiocese celebrated the 200 years of Catholicism in 2021.
