Stella Maris hosts Mass for 27 Penang visiting clergy

TANJUNG ARU –  Twenty-five priests and two bishops from Penang Diocese visited Kota Kinabalu for three days for their bi-annual outing programme on 17-19 Jul7 2017. They were led by Bishop Sebastian Francis, The last two years they were in Kuching, Sarawak.

On their first day of arrival, Stella Maris Parish was chosen to be their venue for concelebrating the evening Mass. The ministries and groups of the parish were represented at the Mass and fellowship.

In his homily, presider Bishop Sebastian expressed his opinion on being one united Church in Malaysia.

“Working together towards the success of building God’s kingdom is important,”  the bishop said.

He also said that at the recent Malaysian Catholic Campus Students Day in Penang, there were 900 undergraduates who participated, of whom half were from Sabah.

He added that the nine bishops in Malaysia (Sabah, Sarawak and Semenanjung) would meet for the Malaysian Bishops Conference in Sabah this November.

Bishop Sebastian also said that in July 2018, Johor Baru would host a first-ever conference for clergy in Malaysia.

A fellowship followed after Mass, in which parish priest Msgr Primus Jouil was able to join them on his return from his parish visit to Labuan. – Teresa Alberto