The composition of Catholics in Brunei

Fr Arin Sugit, the bishop’s assistant at Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral in the nation’s capital of Bandar Seri Begawan, explained that the majority of Catholics are migrants.

Jun 05, 2021

Fr Arin Sugit, the bishop’s assistant at Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral in the nation’s  capital of Bandar Seri Begawan,  explained that the majority of  Catholics are migrants.

Some 70 per cent of the diocese’s Catholics are migrant  workers from the Philippines. Another 20 per cent are from other  countries such as Indonesia, India  and Malaysia. Only some 10 per  cent are indigenous Bruneians, he  said.

“We’re fortunate to have a substantial Filipino congregation,  which makes our Church very  lively,” reflected Bishop Sim.  “They bring their faith, with popular pious devotions, and they enrich us and our faith very much.” Fr Sugit was ordained in 2008.  The apostolic vicariate’s two other  priests are Fr Paul Shie, ordained  in 1999, and Fr Robert Leong, ordained in 2003.

Catholics are free to practise  their faith within the church compounds and at home, but public  displays of the faith are restrained.

For example, Fr Sugit said that  some 5,000 to 6000 people attend  Mass at Our Lady of the Assumption each Sunday.

Franciscan missionaries  brought the Catholic faith to  Brunei in 1587. Brunei became  a separate apostolic vicariate, an  ecclesiastical division, before becoming a diocese in 2004.

Before that, Brunei was part of  the Diocese of Miri in Malaysia.  Bishop Sim has also ordained a  priest for Miri in 1989.

As a first step to separating Brunei as a diocese, Pope John Paul II  made it an apostolic prefecture in  1997 and appointed Father Sim as  its prefect apostolic.

His Church, Bishop Sim said,  had “a humble beginning, and  we have to move on to enrich our  faith-based communities.” Bishop Sim, 69, became the  first cardinal from Borneo Island.  — ucanews.com

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