Catechist Lawrence’s passing, a huge loss for parish community

The sudden death of the 61-year old catechist came as a surprise to all who know him, and a great loss to the Penampang Catholic community where he has given more than 20 years of faithful service, Catechist Lawrence Bisuil breathed his last Oct 1 at his house due to health failure.

Oct 08, 2020

By Linda Edward
The sudden death of the 61-year old catechist came as a surprise to all who know him, and a great loss to the Penampang Catholic community where he has given more than 20 years of faithful service, Catechist Lawrence Bisuil breathed his last Oct 1 at his house due to health failure.

Bisuil, a dedicated servant of God and a hardworking person as many of his close contemporaries and family members would describe him, has just last year retired from the civil service in Land and Survey, Kota Kinabalu.

The wake for the late Kat Bisuil, as he was fondly referred to, was held at his residence in Kg Maang here, followed by the funeral service Oct 3 conducted by Fr Wilfred Atin, parish priest of St Michael and his assistants, Fathers Gilbert Marcus and Jeffri Gumu.

Kat Bisuil responded to the call of a catechist for the Penampang parish at the young age of 40 on April 1999 and was involved in the formulation of Archdiocesan DOPP in the mid 90’s. He was appointed as the Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) chairman in 1999 and has since helmed the council until he returned to the Lord.

“Kat Lawrence is a man of God. If I can describe him in one word, it would be ‘dedicated’. It was vital that the finance and pastoral council must be able to work with the PPC to build the Church; therefore I am thankful to be able to work with him,” said Ernest Mojikon, chairman of the parish Finance and Property Council.

Catechist Jimmy Totu, 66, a friend of Bisuil, serving alongside him for 19 years said, “Catechist Lawrence is my mentor because I’ve learnt a lot from him. Whenever I’m doubtful about something (in the service in the Church), he was ever ready to guide me.”

Some of his fellow catechists who regularly served with him throughout the years shared, “Kat Lawrence, who is committed and dedicated in his service, was willing to sacrifice energy, time and even his own money to make sure every responsibility is thoughtfully carried out.

“He was faithful in his prayer and in the Eucharist. He was also committed in giving catecheses on the Catholic faith to the faithful.

“He was also responsible in preparing the tri-lingual weekly readings and materials for Thursday’s Kadazan Adoration in our parish,” they added.

Several weeks before his passing, the Archdiocesan team for Kadazan Bible Translation headed by Kat Bisuil has completed the bible translation for Cycle A and Cycle C which are now providentially ready for printing.

In retrospect, church and family members alike agreed that the catechist was instrumental in the completion of the translation project and regarded it as Bisuil’s final contribution to the Church.

He went back to the Lord leaving behind his wife Christina Tokuzip, three daughters and a son aged between 20-38 years.

Born on January 1, Bisuil would be sorely missed by his family as niece Kathy Ah Ting already could foresee that the “celebration of the new year would not be same without my uncle because we always celebrate his birthday right after welcoming the new year”.

Using his God-given talents, Bisuil has contributed tremendously to the life of the Church in serving the Parish Pastoral Council, Catechist Committee, as Worship Chairman, Parish Consultors, Human Resouces Parish Committee, Bible Translation, Liturgical Commission Diocese, a member of the Light of Jesus Covenant Community and Parish Family Life.

In his capacity as chairman, he was involved in the organization of the Celebration of 130 Years of Good News to St Michael parish in Sep 2020, in the Silver Jubilee of St Michael parish in 2002, in the Jubilee Year 2000, in the Penampang Parish Kaamatan since 2000, as well as in the Finance and Property Council for Maang Zone.––CS