2014-5 – Catholic Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu

K.I.T.A session preparing students for further study

TANJUNG ARU – About 30 participants, comprising of students who have completed SPM & STPM, together with their parents, attended the Keep-In-Touch-Always (K.I.T.A) session Apr 27, 2014 held at Stella Maris Church parish hall.

Organized by the Parish Pastoral Council (PPC), the objective of the talk was to prepare students intending to go for further studies within Malaysia on the challenges they may face, and the importance of keeping in contact with the Catholic Church, by being involved with Catholic Students’ Groups on campuses and colleges so as to keep their faith alive.

True Encounter

KOTA KINABALU – Pope Francis chooses ‘encounter’ as theme for World Communications Day 2014. He said it is through communication that people are able to meet and encounter others on a meaningful level and to “express who we are, what we think and believe, how we wish to live and, perhaps more importantly, to come to know those with whom we are called to live. Here are what our young communicators encountered in the 3-day workshop and special open session of the recently held Media Workshop at Sacred Heart Cathedral Parish May 1-3.

Jeremy Lau: The experience I had was an amazing one! The topic Creative Evangelisation & Mass Media presented by Fr Francis Lucas was very informative and thought provoking. The talk covered on items including the new language, culture & ways of doing things of the world, the challenges for Catholics, ways to engage people through media and others.

Over a thousand witness the blessing of St Paul multipurpose hall

SANDAKAN – On 20 Apr 2014, about 1,200 Catholic lay faithful residing within the vicinity of St Paul’s Church Ulu Dusun have every reason to celebrate Easter with joy and happiness. For, on that day they also witnessed the solemn blessing and official opening of St Paul’s Multi-Purpose Hall. The newly constructed hall is another land mark for St Paul’s Church which is a sub-parish of St Mary’s Cathedral, located some 50km away from town. It is situated beside the Church itself, up on a hill with magnificent view of the surrounding palm oil plantations.

The hall measures 30 ft by 80 ft, and accommodates two badminton courts, and another extension of 10 ft by 30 ft for an elevated stage and a basement room for meeting cum changing. It has a seating capacity of some 500 people.

Two to be ordained priests

Deacon Maxmilliano B. Hontor Date: 15 June 2014 Time: 4.00 pm Venue: St Catherine, Inanam Deacon Jack J. Sigam Date: 28 June 2014 Time: 9.30 am Venue: St Peter Claver, Ranau

Papal nuncio meets KK clergy and religious

KOTA KINABALU (CS) – Arriving on the first day of his first pastoral visit to the Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu, the Apostolic Nuncio to Malaysia, Archbishop Joseph Marino, met up with all the priests of the archdiocese together with Archbishop John Wong and Archbishop Emeritus John Lee at the Vianney Home.

Also present at the gathering with the Nuncio and the bishops and the priests were some representatives of the Franciscan Sisters, the Daughters of St Paul, Monfort Brothers and La Salle Brothers. It was truly a blessed occasion and after dinner, time was set aside for a conference with the Nuncio.

Media Workshop opens doors for Church

KOTA KINABALU – “What is communication? Does it derive from a feeling or a thought?” Catholic Media Network (CMN) President Fr Francis Lucas directed the question to 90 participants during a media workshop in Kota Kinabalu recently.

The workshop featured dynamic talks of Fr Lucas, who helms the Catholic Media Network in the Philippines, composing of about 60 radio stations throughout the country. An incardinated priest from the prelature of Infanta, he devoted most of his 40 years in his priesthood evangelizing and advocating for environmental, economic and agricultural development through media. He is an active media practitioner as a news anchor in the nationwide radio program “CMN Veritas Philippines” and co-anchor in “The Forum”, a weekly media forum.

Pope Francis urges understanding, solidarity in media

VATICAN CITY, CNS – Like the Good Samaritan, who stopped on the road to help a person in need, travelers along today’s communication highways should offer support to those they encounter there, Pope Francis said.

“The digital world can be an environment rich in humanity; a network not of wires but of people,” he said in his message for World Communications Day.

Modern means of communication, especially the Internet, offer “immense possibilities for encounter and solidarity,” he said. Because of that, he said, the Internet is “a gift from God”.