Sentul’s community in interreligious dialogue

Her Excellency Kamala Shirin Lakhdir, the US ambassador to Malaysia, paid a courtesy call on the Church of St Joseph on Thursday, Nov 8.

Nov 21, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Her Excellency Kamala Shirin Lakhdir, the US ambassador to Malaysia, paid a courtesy call on the Church of St Joseph on Thursday, Nov 8, in conjunction with a Harmony Walk to several places of worship in Sentul.

This is a yearly programme on her agenda and is close to her heart. She was accompanied by YB Senator Waythamoorty, the Minister of Welfare and Social Wellbeing, representatives of various religions in Sentul and staff of the Embassy.

On hand to welcome her were Gabriel Moses, the Parish Pastoral Council Chairman, Eleanor Tennakoon, Coordinator of the Parish Ministry of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, as well as several senior members of the parish.

Her Excellency was scheduled to spend 15 minutes here but ended up being here for a good half hour. She had earlier been to the Hindu and Buddhist temples in Sentul, enroute to the Taoist temple and Masjid Al Hidayah in Sentul Pasar.

She listened attentively when Gabriel, the PPC Chairman, gave an account of the history of the church, which celebrates is 110th anniversary this year.

The church was founded to serve the people who worked in the Railway Department. Today, the parishioners come from various communities.

There are programmes for the poor and the migrants, especially those from Myanmar. Madam Kamala inquired about the problems encountered by the migrants in Malaysia. Gabriel spoke about the Sunday Catechism classes for the Tamil, the English speaking and Myanmar communities.

When the ambassador asked about the current biggest challenge, Gabriel replied that it was the lack of participation by the youth due to other priorities of the world. However, there are on-going programmes for the youth.

After that, the visitors were ushered into the church. The group left about 9.30am, after an encouraging inter-religious dialogue.