Publications and Bookshop

Catholic Sabah
(Fortnightly serving the Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu and the Dioceses of Keningau and Sandakan).
The paper started life as a church bulletin for Penampang and its outstations in 1957 under Fr Florian Jud and Fr Michael Henselmans. In 1971 it was enlarged to become a vicariate-wide paper with Patricia Maluda as editor under the supervision of Fr Jud. Its office was at the Catholic Seminary Jalan Ramin from 1977 to 1988 when it transferred to its present premises at the Catholic Diocesan Centre Taman Hiburan.

 

Church Calendar and Directory
Published for the Ecclesiastical Province of Kota Kinabalu by Catholic Service Centre. The publication has been printed since 1973 under Bishop Peter Chung by Chin Chi Printing Works Kota Kinabalu.

 

Lu [The Way]
(Chinese bi-monthly publication)
Published by the Catholic Service Centre since 1999.

Lorong Hiburan 3, Taman Hiburan, Jalan Penampang,
P.O.Box 10225, 88802 Kota Kinabalu Sabah
Tel: +6088-712416,
Fax: +6088-713435
Email: catholicsc@yahoo.com
Editor: Ms Martina Voo
Associate Editor: Ms Catherine Wan

Crowned with the Stars: Life and Times of Don Carlos Cuarteron, First Prefect of Borneo 1816-1880
Mike Gibby         240 pp        ISBN 983-42557-005              Diocese of Kota Kinabalu, 2005
In 19th-century Borneo, Don Carlos Cuarteron was a contemporary of Rajah Brooke, an acquaintance of Spenser St John and an enemy of Hugh Low.  Seemingly, he drew strong reactions from everyone he met.  An outstanding sailor and navigator in his youth, Cuarteron amassed a personal fortune in silver by salvaging the wreck of an opium clipper in the South China Sea, then he went on a personal crusade to redeem Christian slaves in north Borneo.  Don Carlos lived through and fought hard to influence the course of north Borneo’s early colonial history.  Something of a storm petrel, he was a man tossed by storms, and frequently isolated between rival British and Spanish colonists, between traders and sultans, and between Christians and Muslims.

Crowned with the Stars is the biography of an extraordinary man, an idealist who spurned a life of ease in Europe to devote his life and fortune to pursue a personal dream.  Prompted always by the ideals of liberty and human rights, and a tireless campaigner against both slavery and piracy, Don Carlos was one of the most extraordinary characters in 19th century Borneo.  His life story raises important questions on the cost of a wholehearted persuit of a dream, and on the nature of faith and of success.

The Author: Mike Gibby is British by birth, a biologist by training and a long-term resident of Singapore.  He is the author of Islands of Malaysia, a travel guide to the islands of peninsular Malaysia, and has had numerous articles published on travel in Southeast Asia.  Apart from his interest in Southeast Asian history, he is a keen walker, kayaker and cyclist, and enjoys photography and writing.  He has travelled extensively in Malaysia and more generally throughout the region, and is married with two children.  He teaches in a large international school in Singapore.

 

Khabar Gembira: A history of the Catholic Church in East Malaysia and Brunei 1880-1976
John Rooney mhm     292 pp    ISBN 0-86012-122-4     Burns & Oates Ltd/Mill Hill Missionaries, London-Kota Kinabalu 1981

In 1881, when the Mill Hill Missionaries arrived in Sarawak and Sabah, there were only 20 Catholics in both territories.  In 1976 the Ecclesiastical Province of East Malaysia was erected, comprising the Archdiocese of Kuching and the Diocese of Miri in Sarawak and the Diocese of Kota Kinabalu in Sabah.  There are now more than 200,000 Catholics in the new ecclesiastical province.  This study describes how this missionary success was achieved.  The Mill Hill Missionaries have the distinction of being a British national missionary institute, but with international connections in the German-and Dutch-speaking world.  Scholarly interest in its work has centred hitherto on its contribution to missions in Africa, and this is the first serious study of its work in the Far East.

Of special interest to the serious student of missiology are the relative isolation of East Malaysia and the circumstances which made it the exclusive responsibility of a single missionary institute.  This has made it an ideal background on which to project the changing emphasis of the Church’s missionary efforts during the past one hundred years.

The Author: John Rooney, born in Scotland in 1935, was ordained priest at Mill Hill in 1959 and served in Borneo 1961-1970.  After that he served in Kenya for a short time and at present is librarian to St Joseph’s College Mill Hill.  Fr Rooney holds degrees in theology and mathematics and has just completed doctoral studies in Southeast Asia history at London University.  He expects shortly to take up a new assignment at the Institute of Christian Studies Rawalpindi Pakistan.  In addition to numerous articles in various journals, Fr Rooney has written a modern English translation of the Imitation of Christ and two short studies, Thinking about Faith and Thinking about Hope, published by the Catholic Truth Society, London.

 

 Popular History of the  Catholic Church in Sabah
William Poilis     66 pp       Diocese of Kota Kinabalu Sabah, 1981

A cursory study of the history of the Catholic Church in Sabah, it is concerned mainly with the period from 1881 t0 1981.  Its production is the result of the encouragement and help of many friends, especially Fr John Rooney, who put at the author’s disposal his whole draft on the history of the Church in East Malaysia and Brunei as the main source of reference.  The purpose of the book is to give a simple and general idea of the history of the Church in Sabah and to give a brief account of those events that are of general interest.

The Author: William Poilis, born in Nosoob Penampang in 1949, was ordained priest at St Michael Penampang in 1978.  He was serving in Tambuan 1979-1981 when he wrote this book.

 

Silver Jubilee of the Diocese of Kota Kinabalu: Put Out into the Deep
Irene Obon, ed.      264 pp         Diocese of Kota Kinabalu Sabah, 2002

A pictorial compilation of the yearlong commemoration of the silver jubilee of the Diocese of Kota Kinabalu (1977-2002) at both parish and diocesan level.  The diocese marked the occasion by mounting a historical pictorial exhibition of the growth and happenings in the parishes in the past 25 years, a thanksgiving banquet, and “moment with the Apostolic Delegate.”  The celebrations culminated with the closing Eucharist on 16 Sept 2002.  About 400 delegates – priests, men and women religious, laity representing the 19 parishes – attended the diocesan celebrations in Kota Kinabalu.

The Editor: Irene Obon, a member of the KK Archdiocesan Social Communications Commission since its inception in 2001, writes for a Sunday human interest column in Sabah Times since 1999.  She holds degrees in journalism and creative writing (Silliman University Philippines).  She has worked in various capacity within the private sector as project coordinator with now defunct Creative and Development Centre, assistant manager for Seaside Travellers Inn Kinarut, and editor of Sabah’s first tourism magazine, Borneo Travel News.

BOOKSHOP

Books Distribution Centre (1978)
Lorong Hiburan 3, Taman Hiburan, Jalan Penampang,
P.O. Box 10225, 88802 Kota Kinabalu Sabah
Tel: 088-723973
Fax: 088-713435
In-charge: Ms Martina Voo