KUCHING — On 9 July, the Holy Father Pope Francis appointed Fr Simon Poh Hoon Seng, as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Kuching, assigning him the titular see of Sfasferia.
Fr Simon Poh was born on 15 April 1963 in Sri Aman and subsequently baptised on 13 November 1979 in St Joseph’s Cathedral, Kuching. He received his seminary training at St Peter’s College Major Seminary, Kuching and was ordained a priest on 31 July 1988, and incardinated in the Archdiocese of Kuching.
Since his ordination, he has served the following academic and pastoral roles:
1988 – 1991: Assistant parish priest of Our Lady, Queen of Peace, Sri Aman
1991 – 1993: Assistant parish priest of St Stephen’s Church, Bau
1993 – 1994: Assistant parish priest of St Joseph’s Cathedral, Kuching.
1994 – 1996: Obtained his Licentiate in Missiology and Diploma in Social Communications at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome, Italy
1997 – 2000: Parish priest of St Ann’s Mission, Kota Padawan.
1997 – present: External Lecturer for Missiology, Evangelisation in Asia, Pastoral Ministry and Social Communications in St Peter’s College, Kuching
2001: Studied Chinese in Fu Ren University, Taiwan (6 months)
2001 – 2006: Vocations Director and full-time in youth and campus ministries
2002 – 2013: Spiritual Director for seminarians in St Peter’s College, Kuching.
2003 – present: Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Kuching, Member of the Council of Consultors and Archdiocesan Finance Council
2006 – present: Chairman of Commission for Mission & Human Development.
2007 – present: Director of Pontifical Mission Societies in Kuching Archdiocese
2010 – present: Parish Priest of St Joseph’s Cathedral, Kuching
May 2015: Obtained his Doctorate degree in Ministry at the Graduate Theological Foundation, Indiana, USA.
When contacted by the local newspaper, Bishop Elect Simon Poh said that he accepted this appointment in a spirit of obedience and in humble service for the local church. He offered his thanks to God, quoting the verses of St Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians 3:20-21 “Glory to God, who is able to do far beyond all that we could ask or imagine by His power at work within us; Glory to Him in the church and in Christ Jesus for all generations, forever and always.”
Holy Mass for the Episcopal Ordination will be celebrated on 24 September, 10.00 am at the Perpaduan Indoor Stadium, Petra Jaya. More than five thousand Catholics from both the rural and city parishes in the Archdiocese, about 100 Arch/bishops and priests are expected to be present to welcome the new bishop for the Archdiocese.
The Ordination Mass will also be broadcasted live in YouTube by the Archdiocesan Social Communications Committee. Information on the live broadcast will be made available in the Archdiocesan website <http://www.kuchingcatholic.org> and Facebook <www.facebook.com/arch.kuching> at a later time.
A dinner in thanksgiving for the gift of the new Bishop will be held on the same evening at the Dewan Masyarakat, Jalan Padungan.
