SHC closes synod process with parish pastoral assembly

As the community of the Sacred Heart Cathedral (SHC) gathered for the closing of their synod process on April 23, they were issued with a challenge by Archbishop John Wong to “make an impact, not only to the parish of Sacred Heart and sub-parish of Church of Mary Immaculate, but also to the whole ar

May 13, 2022

Top left clockwise: 1) Bible enthronement to mark the opening of the program for SHC parish pastoral assembly on Apr 23. 2) Fr Paul Lo, rector, shared on the readings of the day. 3) Archbishop John Wong gave his concluding Exhortation. 4) Anthony Lim gave a flashback on Synodality of being Church for the third millenium as advocated by Pope Francis. 5) Group photo of the assembly.


By Catherine Wan
As the community of the Sacred Heart Cathedral (SHC) gathered for the closing of their synod process on April 23, they were issued with a challenge by Archbishop John Wong to “make an impact, not only to the parish of Sacred Heart and sub-parish of Church of Mary Immaculate, but also to the whole archdiocese.”


The Parish Pastoral Assembly was convened by parish priest Fr Paul Lo, to officially close the parish synodal process.

The SHC parish synod process was launched on Oct 22, 2021, spanning a six-month journey of listening to the experiences of the grassroot Catholics about being Church – as companions journeying together, in their participation in promoting collaboration between the groups and dialogue with society, and their understanding about mission and sharing responsibility in the mission of the Church.

Fr Paul informed that reports from the synodal consultations of various communities (LJCCC, Neo-catechumenate, OCDS, FSIC, CFC, Filipino Community), parish groups and ministries had been submitted to the parish office for compilation and synthesising, which was forwarded to the archdiocesan office by end of April.

Coordinator of the Archdiocesan Team for the Synod Process, Anthony Lim, recapped the Synod of Bishops 2023 on Synodality, which is about “journeying together” through communion, participation and mission.

He quoted Pope Francis, “It is a mutual listening in which everyone (laity/religious/priests, bishops and Pope) has something to learn from each other, and all listening to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth (John 14:17) in order to know what He is saying to the Church.”

Anthony also stressed that the Spirit of Synodality must continue to become the way of life for the parishes/archdiocese to move forward in building the Kingdom of God (as stated in the Archdiocesan Vision).

He believed that God would bless all who had participated in the parish synodal process and those who laid claim on their sense of belonging to the parish.

Fr Paul then presented a throwback on the parish synod processes of the various parish groups. He highlighted that the youth and children from the Neo-catechumenate and the Chinese Faith Formation were also involved in the process, with the guidance of the teachers.

The synodal syntheses, which contained both the positive and negative aspects of the synod conversations, were presented by Bernard Liew (SHC) and Patrick Tan (CMI). The synthesis reports can be obtained from the parish offices.

There was an open session after the presentation of the syntheses. Among the views shared were: the local Church had already begun the journey of synodality with the Archdiocesan Vision and Mission under the Diocesan Organisational Pastoral Plan (DOPP) 25 years ago; pastoral care for the blind and the physically handicapped to be improved, social teaching of the Church to be more visibly promoted, media technology to be tapped as a way to reach the youth, etc.

As the assembly concluded, Archbishop John commended the active participation of all in the synod process, to reflect on their faith journey from baptism in which one shares the threefold mission of Christ, namely priestly, kingly and prophetic.

They are to be congratulated for being chosen to be witnesses of the Risen Christ, who promised to be with His Church throughout the ages. --Catholic Sabah

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