KAJANG: The parish of Holy Family concluded the year of St Paul with a play by the Catechetical pupils from Year 6 until Secondary 4.

The play was held after a multi-lingual Mass in the morning, with free breakfast in between.

Before the actual play was presented, there was a lively dance performance by the children from the English language group.

The play itself was divided into three parts. The first was on the childhood of St Paul, or Saul as he was then known. With the props and supporting cast, one could feel the atmosphere of the particular place and time, 2000 years ago.

Before the second part, the time taken to change the backdrops was wisely used for a dance by the Tamil language apostolate.

Then the audience were shown the “conversion” of Paul.

During the second interlude, the Chinese apostolate performed a short dance.

Finally, we were shown glimpses of the missionary work of the great apostle Paul. Again, the brilliant performances by the secondary school children, aided by wonderful costumes and backdrops, as well as live piano and organ music, entertained and educated the crowd of more than 800.

Before the parish priests took the mike to give their speeches, there was a slide presentation aimed to thank all those involved. Well-captured photos of the preparation work for the play for the last many weeks were shown, and the efforts of everyone, from the actors to the stage managers to the teachers and those in charge of food and refreshments were acknowledged.

Thereafter Fr William Michael gave the closing blessing, but only after saying that the play was so wonderful, he would like the Catechetical students to stage another play the same time next year, this time during the closing of the Year of the Priests!

The day’s events ended with all the children from Year 6 to Form 4 singing pop songs with lyrics modified to suit the occasion — including You Raise Me Up (originally by Josh Groban), Everything I Do, I Do It For You (Bryan Adams, early 1990s) and Umbrella (2008, by Rihanna).

How did the play affect the audience? Hopefully it raised the faithful’s awareness of the significance of St Paul in the Catholic church. — By Alex Tan Ken Seng