Archdiocesan census to be taken in August

Jul 22, 2015

KUALA LUMPUR (Herald Malaysia): An Archdiocesan Census for all Catholics residing in the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur will be taken in August 2015.

The last census was more than 10 years ago. A lot has changed since then. Fr Clarence Devadass, the Director of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Institute (API) who is coordinating the entire project with his team, said there has been a large influx of migrants, foreign nationals and Catholics who have come from various parts of the country into the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur, either as students, or to work in the Klang Valley, over the last 10 years.

“This census will help provide current data for pastoral planning needs for the Archdiocese, District and Parish for the next ten years and onwards. Next year is also the 40th year since Aggiornamento (1976-2016), when the Church in Peninsular Malaysia initiated a renewal process where, every ten years, we have had the Peninsular Malaysia Pastoral Convention (PMPC) gathering to review where we are heading.”

The Archdiocesan Census 2015 will include every Catholic living, studying, working and visiting the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur, which comprises the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang and Terengganu. The census will be for all Catholics: adults, children and infants. It will be conducted simultaneously in all parishes and chapels in the Archdiocese over the two weekends of August 15-16 and August 22-23, with follow up actions until end August 2015.

All parish priests are aware of and are also involved in this census exercise in their respective parishes.

A three-hour long briefing and training session of the Parish Census Team (PCT) comprising of the PPC, PCC, BECCOT Chairpersons and a Youth Rep representative of all parishes/ chapels in the seven districts in the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur was held on July 4 in Dewan John Hsiong, Church of the Holy Rosary. The Myanmar Catholic Community of Malaysia (YCCM) was also represented. On July 11, the same census training and briefing for the East Coast (Pahang/Terengganu District) Churches was conducted separately.

The session was organised by the Archdiocesan Pastoral Institute (API), in preparation for the Archdiocesan Census 2015, next month.

The Archdiocesan Census Team, in collaboration with the specially setup Parish Census Teams will coordinate this census. They hope to reach out to everyone, especially those who may be homebound, unable to attend regular Sunday Masses, living away from their homes (eg: on campus or in camps) and the various foreign Catholic communities in the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur.