INOBONG – Two hundred faithful turned up for the inaugural Mass of Holy Trinity Madsiang-Inobong on 1 Oct 2014 at Sacred Heart Inobong.
The Mass was presided by Msgr Primus Jouil and concelebrated by Fr Alex Sipanul, the parish’s first priest, and concelebrated by Fr Jimsy Julius, assistant priest, Fr Michael Modoit, Fr Rayner Bisius and Fr Florian Dompok.
KOTA KINABALU – In conjunction with the major reshuffling of priests, Archbishop John Wong announced that two new parishes will be established effective October 1st, 2014. They are Holy Trinity, Madsiang-Inobong which is carved out from St Michael Penampang and St Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Kiulu, which used to be part of St John Tuaran. The reason behind such move is for effective and efficient pastoral administration since both Tuaran and Penampang have big territories and faithfuls.
Holy Trinity Madsiang-Inobong will comprise of Catholic communities in Zon Inobong, Zon Pogunon, Zon Kipouvo, Zon Babagon, and Zon Moyog whilst St Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Kiulu will cover Zon Kiulu, Zon Lokub and Zon Pukak. Fr Alex Sipanul is appointed as the first parish priest of Madsiang-Inobong to be assisted by Fr Jimsy Julius, and Fr Bruno Yasun the first parish priest of Kiulu with Fr Daniel Jomilong as his assistant.
LABUAN – Totally convinced by the exhortation of Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium to live out the call of an evangelizing community, the Marvellous Light of Yahweh Covenant Community (MLYCC) took a leap of faith to reach out to 600 Catholic students currently studying at Labuan Matriculation College in providing foster-parenting care.
SANDAKAN – Bishop Julius Gitom signed the contract with Terusan Enterprise, who has successfully bidded for the extension of St Mark’s Multi-Purpose Hall, at St Mary’s Cathedral Parish Conference Room Sep 12, and extended his appreciation to those who had initiated the extension, especially John Pang who was instrumental to spearhead the project. He expressed his full confidence in the Building Committee and the contractor that they would ensure the project to be completed as scheduled.
KOTA BELUD – Twenty-eight students and facilitators braved the storm in the early hours (5.30am) of 7 Sep 2014. Nothing would deter their mission to the Mother of Divine Grace Convent, Kota Belud. Everyone was on time. No one complained. The carrying of all the heavy goods for the convent in the heavy rain was not a bother!
Reaching Kota Belud, we celebrated Mass with the local parishioners at St Edmund’s Church. Fr Federick Raymond was the celebrant and though he had such a tight Sunday schedule, he made time to meet the students from Stella Maris Parish and he blessed them for their coming SPM exams.
KOTA KINABALU – A spirit of love and a great show of communal support pervaded the charity dinner organised by the building committee of St Catherine of Laboure, Putatan at Putera Theatre Ballroom Aug 3, with 1,100 people in attendance.
The event was one of the major fundraising drives for the building of St Catherine of Laboure, Putatan, for which construction work began in December 2012.
LABUAN –One hundred and forty participants attended the recent Holy Spirit Youth Seminar 2014 organised by Followers of Christ (FOC) of Marvellous Light of Yahweh Covenant Community (MLYCC). The seminar with the theme “Faith Forward” was facilitated by Royal Ambassadors Youth (RAY) of Light of Jesus Christ Covenant Community, Kota Kinabalu. About half of the participants were students from the Labuan Matriculation College and the rest were the local youth themselves.
TAWAU – One hundred members of the LOM ( Legion of Mary ) of the three main languages (BM, Chinese and English) gathered to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Legion of Mary – English Praesidium known as “Mother of Divine Grace” on Saturday, Sep 6 at the parish canteen.
The Golden Anniversary dinner fellowship took place in the evening after a half-day recollection conducted in the morning, facilitated by Patrick Benjamin, the Vice-President, Comittium of Kota Kinabalu.
Abel Madisang: Whenever we talk about vocation to the priesthood, one thing that comes to my mind is ‘to offer oneself totally to God to continue his mission to share God’s love and compassion for the salvation of souls,’ as well as ‘to sacrifice the life of marriage.’
Frankly speaking, I have never thought of becoming a priest. I am just like the other youngsters. I have my own ambitions in life. I want a good job, a house for my future family, and also I want to get married. Therefore, becoming a priest is not in my list of ‘wants’.
Fr Rayner Bisius has just completed a 2-year study in Sacramental Theology in Rome and returned to Sabah to take up pastoral assignment in the Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu. He is presently appointed as Chaplain to the Carmelite Monastery and Rector of the Initiation Year Formation House while at the same time he will be assisting the parish priest at St Catherine Inanam. On being approached by CS to share his experience in Rome, he graciously obliged.
In June 2012, I was sent to Rome to take up a 2-year course in Sacramental Theology at the San Anselmo University, which is privately owned by the Benedictine Congregation.
While in Rome, I stayed in the International College of San Paolo together with 200 student-priests from all over the world. As Italian was the main language, it presented a huge barrier for me. With God’s grace, I was able to complete my 2-year course.