TAIPING: The Taiping Catholic Church dedicated the year 2011 to the Family. Special emphasis was given to strengthen family ties as God’s precious gifts and to CARE for one another through formation and spiritual awareness programmes.

A hundred and thirty six out of one hundred and forty three at the Parish Assembly responded positively to a questionnaire regarding the objective of the annual target of 2011: Cherish, Affirm, Respect, Empower being met among family members in one way of the other, said the chairman of the Parish Formation Team, Clement Samuel. He shared that families faced threats through the ‘sponge box’ effect and the lack of formation in the area of Christian parenting to handle the internal and external pressures threatening the family. These challenges needed to be addressed holistically so that CARE will be further experienced in the life of the family.

Msgr Stephen Liew, Chairman of the Diocesan Pastoral Team in his comments at the Assembly stated that “the well presented booklet that you made for the assembly, the accomplishment of both your objectives for 2011 and your commitment to be here in numbers show you CARE for your parish. Your parish has grown since the last assembly. The evaluations show that you have met your targets. Having cared for your family this year, I am sure you will sail smoothly towards your dream of Evangelisation next year.”

His conclusion was drawn from the presentations and discussions. The reports of the presenters, the Chairman of the Parish Animating Team, Cyril Santhanasamy, and the BEC Coordinator, Valerie Angus, showed that both the events organised, the Parish Family Day and the picnics at BEC level had a positive response in fostering a greater sense of belonging among family members, through the activities organised for them and the strengthening of brotherhood among BEC members. Weaknesses discovered through the SWOT analysis were well received as areas not to be repeated in the future planning of events though some, such as, distances and transport were unavoidable.

As the Assembly prepared itself for the planning of 2012, Msgr Liew recalled that the Peninsular Malaysian Catholic Church had embarked since 1976 on a ‘new way’ of being church through BECs. This journey, he said, had been broken up into a 10 year cycle. Our journey today began in 2006 at PMPC III. The leaders of the three dioceses had agreed then, that the new way of being church would be towards growing in Holiness and a life of Communion. He said that from 2007 to 2011, we have embarked on deepening our discipleship as a way of growing in holiness and communion. Being a disciple, was not an end by itself, it has a purpose.

Touching on the theme for 2011 and the acronym CARE which was adopted by the parish to strengthen the family, he went on to say that with the theme for 2012 Discipleship Towards New Evangelisation and the acronym SHIP, the parish priest Fr Jude Miranda was no more shepherd but the ‘skipper’ of the ship heading the cruise towards Evangelisation. That ship, the Taiping Catholic Church, does not exist for herself but exist for the world so that the story of Jesus will be told and retold until everyone in Taiping has heard the story of Jesus for the glory of God.

Having been prepared for the mission set for 2012, the assembly was divided into groups. Everyone had an opportunity to share their encounter with Jesus and how they had shared it with others. If they had not shared their Jesus story with others, they were asked to share what had prevented them from doing so. At the end of the workshop the participants noted the suggestions to be used to Evangelise in and through the Parish. It was agreed that the Taiping Catholic Church would in 2012 Evangelise through a Concert. —By Gerry Pereira