Reviewing 2008 & Planning 2009 

Island District - 21st September 2008

 

 

The Parish Human Development Committees (PHDC) of Cathedral of the Holy Spirit,
Church of Immaculate Conception and City Parish get together on 21 Sept. at
the Pusat Keuskupan Katolik to do the annual Review & Planning.
 
Susan Lim, Penang Office for Human Development (POHD) Coordinator for PHDC
was on hand to facilitate the Review & Planning.
 
There were 8 members from City Parish, 5 from Immaculate Conception and
3 from the Cathedral. The 3 parishes were divided into their own groups to do
the evaluation (based on SWOT – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)
and planning. They later on present their SWOT and planning on mahjong paper
to the whole group.
 
 
On the evaluation, the strengths the 3 parishes encountered were mainly
support from parish priest and POHD, and commitment from the active members.
 
Some parishes list lack of members as their weaknesses, while some said there
were insufficient commitment from members because they were involved in
many other groups/ministries too.
 
The opportunities that they see are new migrants attending Mass, thus able to
work with and for them, and also support from other ministries. There is also the
opportunity to educate the parishioners on social justice.
 
As for the threats, the 3 parishes agreed on the ‘fear factor’ that parishioners
might be wary of being involved in talks or activities that touch on social justice,
especially if it involved politics. The indifferent attitudes from parishioners
towards PHDC organized activities also posed a threat.
 
For the planning, Susan asked the members to focus on the Lenten Campaign, r
ecruitment and social justice/human rights.
 
Enthusiasm and ambition are not lacking in the PHDC members seeing the plans
they came up with e.g. adopt-a-child campaign, tuition centre, mini library for
children, gathering with under-privileged, visit to orang asli settlement.
 
 
-by Lucia Lai 

PHDC Leaders' 2nd Formation
November 10th & 11th 2008 

This event was participated by 16 PHDC leaders from 9 parishes, namely the parishes of
Our Lady of Good Health, Parit Buntar
St. Anthony, Nibong Tebal
Our Lady of Lourdes, Silibin
St Joseph, Batu Gajah
St. Francis De Sales, Sitiawan
St. Anne, BM
City Parish, Penang
Immaculate Conception, Penang &
Holy Spirit, Penang.

 

The main facilitator was Dr Prema Devaraj from Women's Centre for Change, Penang.
The leaders analysed their Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats through
the SWOT session and learnt some strategizing of projects through Case Studies.
The cases studied were on Elderly, Single Mothers, Children, Violence in the Home
and Development. Dr Prema also imparted some leadership skills to the leaders
of the parishes.

On the second day of the meeting, Joachim from POHD & Dr Angeline Loh presented
some inputs on the issues of migrant workers & refugees in Malaysia, and how to respond
to their needs as PHDC on a parish level. A group Myanmar workers & refugees
joint the leaders at the Domus St Anne for a dialogue session where the leaders
were exposed to listening to the plight of migrant workers.
The leaders also played some games and shared a meal together with the Myanmar community.   

 

PHDC Review 2007 & Planning for 2008

The objective is for PHDC members to review and evaluate the programmes/activities
carried out in 2007 and to plan for 2008.
Members were introduced to the SWOT methodology to review & evaluate their programmes
for 2007, and also in the planning for 2008.
 

 

 

Sept 29th 2007 @ Church of the Immaculate Conception, Penang
R & P for Church of the Immaculate Conception & City Parish (Island)

7 PHDC members from City Parish & 6 from IC attended the review & planning.

 

PHDC 2nd Formation: Introduction to
POHD Ministries

The PHDC members were introduced to the POHD Ministries namely the
Rural Urban Poor presented by Belevendiran Joseph and Vincent Lim,
Migrant Workers & Disabled presented by Joachim Xavier and Children presented by Lisa.

The objective of this formation is to introduce the diocesan ministries to the PHDC members
while assisting them in identifying the needs of the poor in the parish.

 

 

August 12th 2007 @ St. Anthony's, T.Intan
2nd Formation (South Perak)

10 PHDC members from Church of the Sacred Heart, Kampar & 14
from St. Anthony's attended this formation, while no one from St Francis De Sales,
Sitiawan were present.

The members were also given a brief formation on communication skills,
negotiation skills & conflict resolution.

August 11th 2007 @ Church of St Michael, Ipoh
2nd Formation (Central Perak)

3 PHDC members from Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, 1 from St. Joseph, Batu Gajah
& 1 from Our Mother of Perpetual Help attended this formation.

The members were also given a brief formation on communication skills,
negotiation skills & conflict resolution.

August 4th 2007 @ Church of Our Lady of Good Health, Parit Buntar
2nd Formation (North Perak)

8 PHDC members from OL of Good Health, Parit Buntar, 4 from St. Joseph,
Bagan Serai and 3 from St. Anthony, Nibong Tebal were present.

Ruth Mary, from the Migrant Workers Support Centre introduced the Migrant Ministry
while Vincent Lim presented the Ministry to the Urban Poor.

The parish of Parit Buntar and Nibong Tebal identified the Migrant Ministry as their
focus while Bagan Serai chose the Children's Ministry as there are many slow and
underprivileged children in their vicinity.

 

 

 

June 23rd 2007 @ Pusat Keuskupan Katolik (PKK) Penang Diocesan Centre, Penang
2nd Formation (Island)

7 PHDC members from the Cathedral and 6 from City Parish attended this formation.

The Cathedral has decided to form the Migrant Ministry as they have identified
many migrants in the area under the parish.

The members were also given a brief formation on communication skills,
negotiation skills & conflict resolution.

May 25th 2007
2nd Formation for Church of the Sacred Heart, Kulim & Christ the King, SP (North) 

4 PHDC members including 1 from Christ the King (CTK) attended this formation.

The parish of CTk have identified to focus in the Migrant Ministry as there are
many migrant workers attending mass at the parish as well as in the area of Sg Petani.

1st Leaders' Formation
July 7th & 8th @ La Salle Center, Ipoh


20 PHDC Leaders from 13 parishes in the Diocese of Penang
came together for the first time ever. This event was graced by
His Lordship Bishop of Penang Diocese and members of the Board of
Management of POHD, Mr Eustace Nonis and Ms Mary Phipps.


All leaders of the PHDC underwent some skills building sessions facilitated by
Eric Bryan from the La Salle Center and
an exposure trip to the Kamiri estate in Sg Siput lead by Dr Jeyakumar 
while at the same time given the opportunity to meet other leaders to share
their experiences.

 


The participants were divided into 6 groups to meet with 6 different social groups namely the Urban Pioneer,
Migrant Worker, Unemployed, Orang Asli, Single Mother and Vegetable Farmer.

This 2-day stay-in meeting was held on 7th & 8th July at the La Salle
Center, Ipoh and ended with a Eucharistic Celebration by
Rev Neville Sinnappah CSsr.


PHDC 1st Formation: Introduction to
Integral Human Development & Spirituality

The PHDC members were introduced to the Historical Background of Integral Human
Development (IHD) & the Catholic Social Teachings, looking at pre-Vatican II, post Vatican II,
the Aggiornamento until PMPC 3, as well as the Core Values of IHD
which will be applicable in human development work. 

 

 

July 26th & August 2nd 2007
1st Formation for Church of Christ the King, SP (Kedah)


4 of the PHDC members attended this formation divided into 2 sessions.


April 21st 2007 @ PKK, Penang
1st Formation for Cathedral of the Holy Spirit & City Parish (Island)


7 members of the PHDC from the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit & 7 from City Parish
attended this formation which was held at the Pusat Keuskupan Katolik.

 

April 15th 2007 @ Batu Gajah
1st Formation for Church of St Joseph, Batu Gajah
& Our Mother of Perpetual Help, Ipoh (Central Perak)

Hosted by the PHDC members of Church of St. Joseph, Batu Gajah, 5 members
from OMPH and 5 from St Joseph's attended this formation.

March 2nd 2007
PHDC Formation for the Church of Our Lady of Fatima, Kota Bahru (North)

Read more...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sept 26th & 27th 2007
1st Formation for Church of St. Anne, Bukit Mertajam (North)

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.

 

Oct 25th 2007 @ Church of Christ the King, Sungai Petani
R & P for Christ the King

All 5 of the PHDC members were present for this programme.

Oct 20th 2007 @ Church of St Louis, Taiping
R & P for Taiping Catholic Church

Together with their Spiritual Director, Fr Stanley Antoni, 11 members of the PHDC
were present for this programme.