Bishop Simon Poh shares his thoughts about Episcopal Ordination
Reflecting on my faith journey, I realise that St Joseph’s School was where my faith was planted, nurtured, grew and matured. In gratitude to my Alma Mater, as “a son of St Joseph who is responding to God’s call,” I am using the profile of the School Badge in my episcopal Coat of Arms.
Oct 08, 2015

KUALA LUMPUR (Herald Malaysia): The
focus of the ordination celebration is about God’s blessing and
mercy for the Archdiocese of Kuching which is in the midst of a
one-year preparation for its 40th anniversary.
Today’s
Catholic is a monthly publication by the Archdiocese of Kuching. They
interviewed the Bishop before the ordination.
Congratulations,
Bishop-Elect Simon on your recent appointment! Were you surprised by
the appointment?
Yes indeed I was. We were recently
blessed with two new appointments of Bishop Richard Ng for Miri
Diocese and Archbishop Julian Leow for Kuala Lumpur in 2014. So, like
everyone else, I was not expecting any new appointment of
bishops.
On 9 July, when I was appointed as the Auxiliary
Bishop of Kuching and the Titular Bishop of Sfasferia, I actually
googled and found that Sfasferia was an ancient Diocese of Rome that
is no longer in existence. It is located in today’s Algeria. A
friend jokingly told me that it sounded like the movie Fast &
Furious.
How did your journey of
faith begin?
I come from a family of five siblings,
with my Dad and Mum. I am the eldest son. Our whole family became
Catholic in 1979-1980. Looking back, God had already prepared me
through the catechism classes in St Joseph’s Primary (1970-1975)
and Secondary Schools (1976-1982). As I recall, I came to know about
Jesus when I was in Primary One. On my bookshelf, I still have the
series of primary school catechism books through which the seed of
Faith was planted in my little heart. It was only in 1979, while I
was in Form 4, that I was baptised, after a year-long catechesis with
Br Columba Gleeson. As a new Catholic, I joined the School Young
Christian Students (YCS), Legion of Mary (Our Lady of Star
Praesidium) and St Joseph’s Cathedral’s Altar
Servers.
Reflecting on my faith journey, I realise that St
Joseph’s School was where my faith was planted, nurtured, grew and
matured. In gratitude to my Alma Mater, as “a son of St Joseph who
is responding to God’s call,” I am using the profile of the
School Badge in my episcopal Coat of Arms.
What
made you want to be a priest and were you inspired by anyone?
Our
Lord had a wonderful way of involving me after my Baptism. When I
started serving during Sundays and weekday Masses, I began to
experience the presence of Jesus in the Word and in the Eucharist. I
would often feel a deep sense of peace.
The late Fr Josef
Wassermann was my parish priest at that time. Most evenings, he could
be seen walking to the neighbourhood family rosary prayers. His
commitment and dedication, his adoration before the Blessed Sacrament
during Holy Hour in May and October Rosary months have greatly
inspired me.
During Lower 6, I heard God’s gentle whisper
calling me to serve at his altar. The initial question on my mind
then was not “Do I want to be a priest?” It was something
simpler: “Would I be willing to enter the seminary to answer God’s
call?” Thus, I made a leap of faith and entered St Peter’s
College seminary. In 1988, I was ordained a priest by Archbishop
Peter Chung. I am honoured that he will be one of the co-consecrating
Bishops during my episcopal ordination.
I can recall clearly
that just a few days before this announcement in July, our Apostolic
Nuncio, Archbishop Joseph Marino, on behalf of our Holy Father, Pope
Francis, asked me whether I was willing to accept the appointment to
be an Auxiliary Bishop. Deep within me, I knew that I had to make
this journey of faith again. And so I accepted it willingly, with a
humble heart, to serve God’s people in the Archdiocese.
What,
in your opinion, are the characteristics of a good shepherd?
Last
month in August, I made a retreat with Archbishop Emeritus Soter
Fernandez in Kuala Lumpur to prepare for the episcopal ordination. I
was blessed with his guidance and have come to understand that the
ministry of a bishop is a call to be a shepherd for the flock –
priests and faithful – entrusted to me. I am sure you notice that
bishops always carry a ‘tongkat’. This is called a crosier and it
symbolises the staff of a shepherd and is handed to every bishop at
ordination.
I will seek to follow Jesus, the Good Shepherd. As
his shepherd, I will be called to sanctify the people by celebrating
the Sacraments; to govern by providing pastoral care; to preach the
Gospel of mercy, hope and joy. He (a bishop) is to do this with the
heart of a servant-leader. This corresponds to the Church as a
Priestly People; Kingly People; Prophetic People; and Servant.
In
my Coat of Arms, I use symbols of the Chalice, “Baruk” House, the
Bible and a Jug of Water – to represent the four areas of ministry.
And so, for my episcopal motto, I have chosen Pastor Cordis Christi
(Latin) which translates as “Shepherd of the Heart of
Christ.”
With God’s grace, I will look after our priests,
our people in the parishes and work together in solidarity with the
other bishops in Malaysia, and in communion with Pope Francis, our
Holy Father as the Bishop of Rome.
May I ask you to keep me in
your prayers, that I will be a shepherd after the heart of Jesus,
whom God would like to give to his people (Jer 3:15).
You
have been guiding young people for many years. What have you learnt
from them in return?
Yes, the youth ministry has
been very close to my heart, having spent about 20 years ministering
to the youth. One of my greatest joys is to bless the weddings of the
youths that I have journeyed with while they were in school, Young
Christian Students, Legion of Mary, Parish Youth Ministry, KAYA
discipleship formation, Campus and CHOICE single adult ministry. It
is an immense satisfaction to baptise their children and to see these
families coming to Church together. It is so encouraging to see these
youths passing on their Faith to the next generation. This offers
great hope for the Church.
The ministry with the youth has
also formed me to be a better pastor. From them, I learnt to be
patient and understanding, to trust by empowering them with
responsibilities, to allow them space to learn and, if they do make
mistakes, with a compassionate heart, to be available to help them
pick up the pieces, to stand up and journey on. As for those on the
road to Emmaus, I pray that these youth, and all of us, will
encounter and experience Jesus accompanying and walking beside us in
our journey of life as his disciples (see Luke 24:13-25).
What
challenges do you anticipate as bishop?
This might
be too early for me to give you a full response.
In our
Archdiocese, I see that we have been blessed with great shepherds in
Archbishop Emeritus Peter Chung, and now, Archbishop John Ha. Their
Pastoral Letters over the years have already provided the foundations
and vision for the Archdiocese. Recently, after the 5-year Focus on
the Family (2007-2012), we concluded with the ACTs of the Congress,
where Archbishops, Priests, Religious and Faithful carved out the
Vision-Mission for the whole Archdiocese. Many of the challenges
faced in our time are already envisioned in the ACTS.
As an
auxiliary Bishop, I will be working with Archbishop John Ha to
implement this vision. As a Church, we will definitely need to work
together, and with all people of goodwill, to respond to the growing
religious fundamentalism, political and racial polarisation, erosion
of religious liberty, etc that affect all of us as Malaysians.
In
our particular context in Sarawak, where the majority of our
Catholics are in the rural parishes and villages, we will need to
raise up new leaders from the youth, through education and formation
and, at the same time, to empower the existing leaders of these faith
communities in the villages. We will also need to look into
demographic change as a result of rural-urban migration as well as
our aging population, with rising average age of the elderly
population. I hasten to add that I am also contributing to the
average rates.
Allow me to also highlight the concern for the
ecology and the poor in Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’, stating the
“urgent challenge to protect our common home … to bring the whole
human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development
(n.13).”
Bishop
Simon Poh Profile in Brief
Simon Poh Hoon
Seng was born on April 15, 1963 in Sri Aman, the first of five
siblings and was later baptized in St Joseph’s Cathedral on
November 13, 1979. Following his baptism, he joined the School Young
Christian Students, Legion of Mary (Our Lady of Star Praesidium) and
St Joseph’s Cathedral’s Altar Servers. After studying in St
Joseph’s Primary (1970-1975) and Secondary (1976-1982) Catholic
Mission Schools, he entered the Major Seminary of St Peter’s
College, Kuching in 1982.
At the age of 25 he was ordained as
a priest at St Joseph’s Cathedral.
In 1988, Fr Simon Poh was
the assistant parish priest of the Church of Our Lady, Queen of
Peace, Sri Aman until the year 1991 when he was appointed assistant
priest of St Stephen’s Church, Bau followed by the post as
assistant parish priest of St Joseph’s Cathedral, Kuching in 1993.
A year later, he pursued a Licentiate in Missiology at the Pontifical
Urbaniana University in Rome, Italy which he obtained in 1996.
From
the year 1997 to 2000, Fr Simon Poh was the Parish Priest of St Ann’s
Mission, Kota Padawan while also holding the post of External
lecturer for Missiology, Evangelization in Asia, Pastoral Ministry
and Social Communications in St Peter’s College, Kuching where he
currently holds the same position.
In the year 2001, Fr Simon
Poh studied Mandarin in Fu Ren University, Taiwan and that same year,
was made Vocations Director and full-time director of youth and
campus ministries, holding the post until 2006.
He added
Spiritual Director for seminarians in St Peter’s College, Kuching
to his repertoire in the year 2003 and still holds the post. In 2006,
he became the Chairman of Commission for Mission and Human
Development and, the following year, added Director of Pontifical
Mission Societies in the Kuching Archdiocese to his belt, and he
still holds that position.
Fr Simon Poh was appointed Parish
Priest of St Joseph’s Cathedral, Kuching in 2012 and currently
holds the post. On May 8, 2015, he obtained a Doctorate Degree in
Ministry at the Graduate Theological Foundation, Indiana, USA.
On
July 9, 2015, Fr Simon Poh was appointed Titular Bishop of Sfasferia
and Auxiliary Bishop of Kuching by His Holiness, Pope
Francis.
Bishop Simon Poh was ordained by Archbishop John Ha,
with Archbishop Emeritus Peter Chung and Bishop Julius Dusin Gitom
co-consecrators on Sept 24, 2015.
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