2009

 

 

The 22nd February 2009 saw an overwhelming response of 110 parishioners attending
a session on Deepening our Discipleship and social issues by Bro. John D ‘ Cruz.

The involvement of the BECs was inspiring as each sent 2 or more and some even had
10 representatives.  Bro. John said that this session is not the one where,
“I talk and you listen” but one where we talk.  So he divided us into groups of five, 
for he said to be with communion with one another we should not choose our friends
and there should be sharing and discussion  without putting fear in one another and
this is the concept of the BEC – speak, listen, silence, he said.

There are 7 stages in life Bro. John said, the first is our Given Faith,
by our parents who instill in us their faith and values.  The second stage
is the Imitative Faith, where the child grows up imitating their parents. 
The third stage is the Organized Faith which the Church gives us in the
way of Mass, Novena, Confession, Catechism, etc.. but it is still not your
faith and even the giving of aid through SVDP is still organized.  The fourth
stage come in, when we go out into the world and questions and doubts
come in.  Often we do not want to face the questions, even Jesus faced
this, when the devil tempted him in the desert. The fifth stage now leads
us to Personal Faith i.e. my understanding of faith, of what I believe. 
This has three levels Bro. John said, a personal, an interpersonal and social.
The sixth stage is our Community Faith and from here we go to the seven
stage of Universal Faith, where there are many religions but only one God.

Social issues, brother says, rises from the way we live our life. The economic
level is for security, like a house, car and other material things. Politics
comes also with decision making, like, by who, how, why, who benefits
and in this aspect the Church is not spared too. If we see something that is
not right are we able to raise our voices?

Dealing with social issues should start in the family, like divorce, abuse,
neglect, etc. In the BECs, helping one another and deepening our personal
and interpersonal relationship strengthens us to face the cross daily. We must
be aware of what is happening around us for the evil is serpent like and
creeps in various forms of commercialism, through the internet, TV, etc but
with God’s spirit in us, nothing can enter.

By Dr L. Mary Fernandez

 

Mobile Clinic for 49 refugees

 

 


2008

 

Sept 23rd    Awareness Talk on Christianity & The Elections

Venue: Church of St Anne, BM
Speakers:   1. Dr. Francis Loh will be presenting in English
                2. Ms Benedette Teh - Mandarin Session
                3. Mr Sinnappan - Tamil Session 

 

 

Approximately 30 parishioners attended the English session 
while about 10 attended the Tamil and Mandarin sessions
respectively.

Dr Francis Loh who presented in English is a professor in Political Science
in Universiti Sains Malaysia, while Mr Paul Sinnappan who presented in Tamil
is from the National Office for Human Development, and Benedette Teh who
presented in Mandarin is from Jullian AGAPE Centre.

All three speakers spoke on the current political situation of Malaysia and
the importance for Catholic Christians to be informed on and participate in
the Elections. Dr Francis Loh specifically quoted a few lines from the book
entitled 'Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church' to note the teachings
of the church on the political arena and the call for the church to participate.

The objective of the talk was to bring about awareness to parishioners on the
importance of knowing the current political situation, our leaders and also
to vote at the next elections.

 

 

Sept 26th & 27th    

1st Formation: An Introduction to Integral Human Development

Venue: Church of St Anne, BM

Approximately 20 parishioners attended this formation which was held
for 2 nights.

The formation introduced the historical background of the concept
Integral Human Development, as far back to the teachings of Christ to
the documents of the social teachings of the church, pre-vatican II and
post Vatican II. Participants were also introduced to the core values of
Integral Human Development based on the Catholic Social Teachings.