Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur: Reopening of Churches

May 31, 2020

KUALA LUMPUR: In a letter dated May 22, 2020 from the Ministry of National Unity, the Catholic Church had been notified that approval has been granted to three (3) churches/Mass centres, namely:

1. Church of St John Vianney, Tampin;
2. Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Cameron Highlands, and
3. Catholic Mission, Kuala Terengganu

The above approval is subject to the SOP issued by the Ministry of National Unity and other conditions stipulated in the above letter. This will take effect from the June 10, 2020.

We were given to understand that the list of other churches which were submitted to the Ministry for approval were rejected due to zoning and incomplete data. We hope to resubmit a fresh list with the required additional data, if allowed to do so by the Ministry.

The Archdiocese will study the requirements set by the above SOP and discuss with the priests of the above approved communities to ascertain their capacity to comply with the SOP and further guidelines issued by the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur. In the event that the Archdiocese or the various communities decide to reopen, we will do so in a measured and cautious manner, based on a phaseby-phase roll-out of the Masses and other sacraments.

We would like to thank the Minister of National Unity, YB Datuk Halimah Binti Mohamed Sadique and her team, for expediting this approval and facilitating the vari ous discussions with the heads of religions to listen to our views. They have been working tirelessly around the clock for the past week to finalise this arrangement. Special thanks to the Secretary General of the Ministry, Y Bhg Datuk Wan Suraya binti Wan Md Radzi, for being readily accessible and answering our enquiries when needed.

We hope that as the situation in our country improves in the coming weeks and months, the Ministry of National Unity and the National Security Council may consider easing some of the restrictions of SOP whilst maintaining the essential public health measures of social distancing, to allow more of our faithful to return to their respective churches for public worship.

Since the above approval would only permit a fraction of our Catholic community to return to church for Masses, the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur will extend the dispensation to attend Mass on Sundays to all the faithful. The faithful are encouraged to continue viewing the live streamed Masses that are being provided by the Archdiocese and other dioceses. His Grace Archbishop Julian Leow Beng Kim wishes to remind us, “As Malaysians, we need to come together to overcome this pandemic. If anyone wants to be safe, then everyone has to be safe.”

(Ms) Patricia Pereira
Communications and Media Relations Officer
Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 016-6368983 May 23, 2020