Sandakan ordains her seventh priest

The Diocese of Sandakan ordained its seventh priest — Raymond Lee Seng Huat, on May 16 at St Mary’s Cathedral Parish, Sandakan.

May 20, 2022

From left: Fr Raymond Lee, Bishop Julius Dusin and Archbishop John Wong.


By Evelyn Jock

The Diocese of Sandakan ordained its seventh priest — Raymond Lee Seng Huat, on May 16 at St Mary’s Cathedral Parish, Sandakan.

Bishop Julius Dusin Gitom celebrated the Ordination Mass and conferred the Holy Orders of Priesthood on the deacon.

Fr Raymond is the fourth priest from the local Chinese community.

Baptised at 14, he received the Sacrament of Confirmation at 20. He entered the Catholic Diocesan Centre in Kota Kinabalu as an aspirant in 2011. His formation took seven years, five of which were spent at St Peter’s College, Kuching. He did his pastoral immersion at numerous churches — Holy Trinity, Tawau; St Martin’s, Telupid and Paitan Mission; and St Theresa’s, Serian. He is currently assigned to the Church of Our Lady of Fatima, Beluran. He was ordained as Deacon on Nov 15, 2021.

The Cathedral hosted about 500 local parishioners and guests. The event was also live-streamed.

The Entrance Procession was accompanied by the beating of the traditional gongs by the local Beluran community, where Deacon Raymond did his pastoral immersion.

“By Baptism and Confirmation, all Christ’s faithful are called to be prophets to proclaim the Good News. But whenever God calls, He empowers, and then He sends Christians on a mission. From the People of God, these men are called to be set apart for priestly ministry. The sacrament of Holy Orders imparts a permanent grace, the seal of character. This gift cannot be taken away because it is the work of the Holy Spirit, who is forever faithful,” said Bishop Julius.

After the Rite of Ordination, Fr Raymond concelebrated his first Holy Eucharist with the bishops and fellow priests. It was a moving sight as the newly ordained priest bestowed his first blessing on the bishops, priests, deacons, and his family.

Fr Raymond said his priestly vocation is a manifestation of God’s amazing grace and love, and it is an honour and blessing to be part of the priesthood. He believes his ordination signifies a new journey of blessings, with challenges and obstacles. He asked the congregation to continue praying for him and to help and support him to be a good priest so he can serve the Church and its people faithfully and wholeheartedly.

Bishop Julius thanked everyone present, and Fr Raymond’s family for their undivided support and prayers for the newly ordained. The prelate said that although Fr. Raymond will face challenges in his new journey, with the community’s help, he is sure Fr Raymond’s priestly life will be easier.

Bishop Julius said that when they become priests, the faithful tend to shower them with love and may even spoil the priests. He reminded the people not to spoil the priests, but to be generous, helpful, and supportive.

On what it takes to produce a priest … Bishop Julius explained, that it is a gift from God to the community, and the community must respond — for it is not the individual that makes a priest, but the whole community working together, and only then can we produce priests.

He added that the grace of God is sufficient for us but, only when we respond to it can we produce priests. The prelate said, when we ask for a priest to serve us, the Lord ensures that one is given to us. Bishop thanked God for His grace and stressed that we should continue to promote priestly and religious life in our communities.

“When we can produce priests, it is a sign that we are evangelising and bringing the Good News to other people,” said the bishop, before urging parents to pray for their children to become priests or religious.

The Catholic faith was inculcated to the people of Sabah by the Mill Hill priests in 1883. They established a Catholic mission, based not only on faith for the Chinese community of Sandakan, but also a mission on education, society, and economy. Many distinguished Chinese leaders and priests have emerged from this mission. Local Chinese priests from Sandakan include, the late Bishop Simon Fung the first Bishop of the Diocese of Kota Kinabalu in 1977 and the first Sabahan to become a Bishop in Malaysia; the second is Msgr Nicholas Ong of Holy Trinity Tawau (ordained in 1978) and third is Archbishop John Wong of the Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu. --Dospo

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