Deacon David to be ordained priest on August 11

PENAMPANG – Deacon David Gasikol will be ordained to the priesthood on 11 Aug 2018 at the Holy Spirit Church Sook by Bishop Cornelius Piong at 10 am.  The news was confirmed by the deacon himself on 22 May 2018.  The 32-year-old deacon will be the first priest from Sook.

Sook is a small town and district located in the Interior Division of Sabah. It serves as a timber and agricultural town as well as a transit town for motorists travelling from Keningau to Tawau via the Keningau-Sook-Sapulut-Kalabakan-Tawau road.

Sook Mission, formerly known as Murut Mission (Tulid), had a Catholic population of 13,846 (2011) with 46 outstations and 68 catechists (paid and voluntary).

The Good News spread there in the 1950s through Mill Hill Father Roetenberg.  The first church was built in Kg Tulid in 1969.  From there the faith spread to Pensiangan under Mill Hill Father Peter de Wit.  In 1990 the name was changed from Murut Mission to Mission Sook under Father Erik Jerome.

On the present site, the Church of St Peter was built in 1986 but in 2003 the name was changed to Holy Spirit Sook as there is another church dedicated to St Peter in Kuala Penyu.

On 5 May 2003 during the 10th diocesan triple  celebration in Sook, Bishop Cornelius Piong announced that Sook has been raised from mission status to that of a full parish with Father Benedict Daulis as rector and Father Phillip Muji as his assistant.

The parish and its 47 outstations are currently served by Father Claudius Andrew and Father Harry Dorisoh.