Assembly to Celebrate, Listen and Walk as One Catholic Church in Sarawak

The first Sarawak Regional Pastoral Assembly (SRPA) was held at the Kemuyang Pastoral Centre, Sibu from 18–19 September 2024.

Oct 10, 2024

Historical event: Delegates from Kuching, Sibu and Miri meeting up for the first Sarawak Regional Pastoral Assembly. (Photo: SRPA/Anthony Chai)


By Ivy Chai
The first Sarawak Regional Pastoral Assembly (SRPA) was held at the Kemuyang Pastoral Centre, Sibu from 18–19 September 2024. 

It opened with a Mass celebrated by Sibu Bishop Joseph Hii. “Let the Holy Spirit guide us and not only do something to Sarawak or Malaysia, but the whole of South East Asia. We must listen to the Holy Spirit and let Him guide us along the journey,” he said in his homily, calling Borneo Island the “Garden of Eden” and holding the SRPA in the heart of Borneo, “a blessing”.

Fr Patrick Heng, chairman of the SRPA 2024 Organising Committee in welcoming the 175 delegates from the three dioceses of Kuching, Sibu and Miri, said this was the first time the dioceses had “come together as a Catholic Church, as people of God, to Celebrate, Listen and Walk in Mission… as one Catholic Church in Sarawak.”

Among the delegates were guests from Semenanjung Malaysia and Sabah. From the Diocese of Penang was Msgr Jude Miranda who also gave a keynote address on Synodality. From the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur were Fr Simon Labrooy, Charles Bertille, former executive secretary of CBCMSB, and Gregory Previn from Salib Malaysia 2025. Fr Thomas Madanan came from the Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu.

Diocesan Reports – One Catholic Church
The vision of being One Catholic Church in Sarawak culminating in One Malaysian Catholic Church at the Malaysian Pastoral Convention (MPC 2026), is to come together as clergy, religious and laity to listen to pastoral progress and initiatives in the various regions, and to focus on responding to the challenges affecting the Church, Family, Society and Ecology.

The outcome of the SRPA hinged on the three Diocesan Reports compiled from the respective Parish Pastoral Assemblies and Arch/dioceses Pastoral Assemblies in 2022-2023. 

The Reports were shared by Fr Patrick Heng, Fr Andy Lee and Martina Yong from the Archdiocese of Kuching, Diocese of Miri and Diocese of Sibu, respectively.

After listening to the voice of the people, delegates were divided into 29 groups to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit through the Spiritual Conversation methodology.

Synthesis Report

The delegates’ shared concerns centred on seven key points which were packaged and presented as a Synthesis Report by Fr Andy Lee. They highlighted:

1. The importance of Faith Formation in the Family.
2. The Family is the domestic Church.
3. The Church is the Family of God. The Church is not an organisation but a living and growing community of believers.
4. Everyone has a vocation and role to play in the Church.
5. A Church that is inclusive and no one should be left behind in the journey of faith in the Church.
6. A courageous Church that engages with society.
7. Ecological conversion is for everyone.

Fr Andy surmised the synthesis report is an affirmation of what was already captured in the three Diocesan Reports and encapsulate the seeds that embody the vision and mission of the dioceses.

1. We are called to discipleship (a personal relationship with Jesus).
2. We are called to be a family: communion (with God and with one another).
3. Faith formation is an integral part of discipleship.
4. The family and the Church support one another in faith formation.
5. Firmly formed in the faith, we are able to witness our faith in society.

Fr Patrick Heng and Fr Raphael Samosir, OFMCap then joined Fr Andy Lee to moderate a plenary Q & A session to answer issues brought up by the delegates.

Brief insights of the Assembly
Archbishop Emeritus John Ha had been invited to give his insights from the input of the Assembly. He congratulated the dioceses for the excellent, comprehensive and very honest input and gave his comments on the vision and mission of the dioceses.

“God hears” he said, and God’s hand is always there, though sometimes invisible. He advised the participants to be led by the Holy Spirit “through genuine listening and sincere talking” in a spirit of synodality (everything coming from the heart). 

SRPA is a step towards MPC 2026. Since the goal of the MPC is to realise it as a Malaysian Church, Archbishop Emeritus John then posed the questions: “Is there a Malaysian Church? What is a Malaysian Church?” 

Synodality must be the underpinning force for the universal as well as the Malaysian Church. No one is left behind. It is unity in plurality, unity in diversity.

Drawing inspiration from the Reports, the Archbishop proposed that after MPC 2026, to let the entire Malaysian Church carry out a 3-Year Programme as follows:

Year 1: Bible Year – Word of God
Year 2: Apostles Creed – Faith
Year 3: Sacraments – Liturgy and Life (living Faith)

He added that each year should be accompanied with prayer as well as conversation experience programmes, and to put everyone in a level playing field to allow for synodality.

Bishops share their Reflections

The three Bishops who had been quietly observing the two-day proceedings of the Assembly finally gave their reflections. 

Bishop Joseph Hii reflected on the early History of the Church in Sibu, beginning with the Brooke family. He would like to see peace in Malaysia. 

To him, uniting the four areas of concern of Family, Church, Society and Ecology equates to what he calls HOME. Once we are really at home with our family, church, society and ecology, we are actually “at home with God”.

Bishop Richard Ng picked up on Bishop Joseph’s history of the Church and expounded on taking the Church forward. While looking back was good, the Church needs to prepare for the future. The way forward is through MISSION.

As synodality is always about Mission, Bishop Richard hopes Sarawak will be able to send missionaries out into the world one day. He commended Archbishop Emeritus John for his proposal of a 3-Year Programme to provide solid faith formation.

Archbishop Simon Poh reflected on Evangelisation and Mission. The workplace is an overlooked area for evangelisation. He talked about building disciples for mission, to let “Jesus go out to the people,” and to “make mission the heart of the assembly.” 

Another area is to groom the young people so there will be a mix of young and elderly. Young people have energy and enthusiasm, whereas the elderly have the wisdom to guide them, resulting in One Church in communion and solidarity.

Archbishop Simon Poh presided over the Mass to conclude the SRPA, concelebrated by all the delegate priests. 

In his homily, he disclosed that Pope Francis while in Singapore, said it was okay to criticise the Church when it is to “bring something good and not to put people down.”

“Become a welcoming Church. Go further beyond our parish, diocese, Malaysia, Asia and the world. God’s love does not differentiate anyone. So, we ask God to help us to always be a welcoming Church and bring His love and mercy to all,” he said.--Today's Catholic

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