Path less travelled and that has made all the difference in Bishop Bernard Paul’s so journ in the Lord ’s vineyard

Jan 20, 2016

JOHOR BAHRU (Herald Malaysia): As a young man, Bernard Paul taught for seven years in Maktab Adabi in Alor Star. It was during that time that he found that he could not remain indifferent to the promptings within him.

The promptings of the Spirit were urging him to go beyond his life as a teacher and his family circle. He felt in need of something more deeply satisfying, something similar to St Augustine’s intimations of what it meant to be resting in the Lord.

In 1981, a dreamlike sequence of images played in his mind. He was tugged between pursuing further studies and the feeling that “now was the time to enter the seminary.”

He felt himself at a crossroad. One path led to a cluster of modern, brightly-lit buildings, and the other led uphill. He said, “The road I took was the steeper one and upon reaching the top, I saw a cemetery.”

He then passed rows and rows of crosses and graves. “And there, at the end was a church,” he recalled.

Bernard knew that the message of the sequence of images was clear. Both paths were good. “The path I chose was the right one, but I had many deaths to endure — I had to die to my ego, my past, my attachments, my family, my sins, etc.”

Coming from a family of eleven, and being the eldest, he had to run the gauntlet of family advisers who kept saying, “You must put your family right before you decide. You are important as a bread winner.”

Questions pressed at him. “When will things be right? Whose time? Theirs or God’s?”

Bernard knew that as the eldest son, his commitment to his family’s welfare was not a trivial matter.

However, on Maundy Thursday in 1981, during the rite of the Washing of the Feet, Bernard felt he was in a dialogue with the Lord.

He said, “I was asking: ‘What is it, Lord? Are you asking me to wash the feet of others?’ Nothing happened. ‘Are you asking me to become like the priest who is washing the feet?’ Something happened.

I felt like I had received an electric shock. Tears flowed and I felt a deep peace.”

He bargained for three signs as confirmation. These came in a smooth sequence. First, it was the approval of his parish priest. Later, it was the Bishop’s acceptance of his suitability and, finally, it was success at the seminary entrance examination.

He recalled the many times he became attuned to the Word, the signs, the dreams and the events that had prepared him to say ‘yes’ — all from a 1975 Life in the Spirit seminar.

“I had opted for the diocesan priesthood because of the words of Fr Marshall Fernandez at a vocation camp in 1980. I realized that the diocesan priesthood was the place of greatest need.

The seminary studies, from 1982-1988, now loomed before him. He knew the journey was not going to be easy. “How to cope? How to go through the next seven-eight years?”

It was during this time that Bernard prayed for an image of how the Lord wanted him to cope with seminary life.

The answer came. “The seven years is your Upper Room Experience. Pray and wait. So I prayed hard, played hard and studied hard,” he said.

There was another prayer that had made him open and receptive to the teaching: “Help me forget all that I know so that I may learn anew.”

Applying that principle, the seven years breezed by for Bernard.

He was ordained a priest in 1989.

Twenty-six years later, that journey has entered an Episcopal phase, with his appointment as Bishop of the Melaka-Johor diocese.

“The various experiences were not of my choice,” said the Bishop-elect. “They were given to me and I just submitted.”

Bernard Paul was born on July 6, 1953 in Kuala Lumpur.

He is the eldest son of civil servant Paul Gnanapragasam and homemaker Marina Arputhasamy.

He began schooling in 1960 at the La Salle School in Peel Road, Kuala Lumpur. He continued his studies at St Thomas, Kuantan. In 1968, he left for St Michael’s, Alor Setar. He completed his HSC in 1972 at Derma English School, Kangar.

Bernard began teaching Mathematics and Geography in Maktab Adabi in 1973, after his HSC.

He then entered the seminary in Penang and was ordained a priest on July 21, 1989.

After his ordination, he was posted to St Mary’s Church, Tapah as assistant parish priest.

He has served in almost all the states in the Penang Diocese except for Kelantan.

Three years later, he was appointed parish priest of the same church.

In 1995, he became the parish priest of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Butterworth.

In 1998, he became the administrator of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Penang and the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Kulim, Kedah.

One year later, he was appointed the parish priest of the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Kulim until 2005.

Then he served for five years as the parish priest of Our Lady of Lourdes in Silibin, Ipoh.

From 2010, until his appointment as bishop, he has  been the parish priest of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Penang.

Besides his tenure as a parish pastor, Bishop-elect Bernard has also served as the Vocation Director in 1996 and, in 2006, as the Director of the Diocesan Pastoral Commission.

He was appointed Vicar-general of the Diocese under two bishops.

His first was under Bishop Antony Selvanayagam, from 1997-2000 and later under Bishop Sebastian Francis, from 2012 until the present time.

In July 2014, Msgr Bernard celebrated his 25th sacerdotal anniversary at the Holy Spirit Cathedral.

Bishop Sebastian has described him as “a Father, a Priest, a Shepherd, a Friend, a Confessor, …” an Enabler, a Disciplinarian and a Fun Guy.