Cathedral of the Holy Spirit (1968)
1 Tingkat Besi Satu, 11600 Pulau Pinang
T: 04-6584909, 04-6566681
F: 04-6564309
email: pgspirit@tm.net.my
Parish Priest : Rev Francis Anthony
Asst. Priests : Rev Henry Louis Rajoo (Tel: 012-4361681) and Rev Fabian Dicom
Sat. Sunset Mass: 6.00 pm (English)
Sunday Masses :
7.00 am (English)
8.20 am (Mandarin),
10.00 am (English)
5.30 pm (Tamil)
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An afternoon tete-à-tete with Fr Fabian Dicom |
| Posted by Diocese of Penang (pgdiocese) on Sep 12 2008 |
17 August 2008
PENANG: A meeting between Fr Fabian Dicom and the Catechism teachers of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit was held recently.
Fr Fabian began by asking the teachers how we would like to be identified. Ann-Marie, the coordinator, explained that we were known as catechism teachers but there was a move sometime back to be known as “faith sharers”.
The catechists were then asked what were the objectives of the Catholic Education Committee (CEC). To help them, Fr Fabian suggested faith sharing, portraying God’s love, and imparting knowledge on Christian faith. He then proposed we look at the objectives from the children’s perspective. From this view, the catechists suggested such objectives as to know Jesus/God’s love, grow in faith, understanding Christian/basic values, developing a sense of values and community.
We were then told to put the child/youth as their priority or focus: To consider the whole person and how this person can grow; how we could provide the means for this growth through the CEC. The objectives were to serve the dual purpose of meeting the children and our adult needs.
Fr Fabian then invited us to consider our objectives through the adoption of SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats). He explained that strengths and weaknesses are internal attributes and opportunities and threats are external influences. Strengths and opportunities are helpful while weaknesses and threats are harmful. The catechists were then asked to do a SWOT on ourselves and list our own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
As an extension of this exercise, the catechists were asked to exercise humility when identifying our strengths and weaknesses and to be objective as to their opportunities and threats. Not only do we need to know the child that we instruct and guide, but more importantly, do we know ourselves? He reminded everyone of the old saying: “Faith cannot be taught but faith can be caught.”
The catechists were then questioned on our motivations to be a faith sharer. Some shared responses were: “Jesus is my motivation, to know the faith better, to share our love for the Lord, to pass on our knowledge of God, to show our gratitude to God, to keep in touch with the children, to know more about God and to give time to God.” Fr Fabian then stressed on the importance of our motivations.
A discussion then followed on volunteerism. To what extent did it become an obligation? What are the limits of our commitments? Were we interested in on-going formation to better ourselves? We were made to look at the role of constant self-evaluation of work and purpose, the limits of creativity in our instruction and if we had a joyful spirit towards our work.
To obtain a better idea of the CEC, we were divided into three groups and asked to do a SWOT of the CEC. This was then displayed and generally discussed. There were very similar findings from all three groups. The challenge was to identify how these elements were reflected in the needs of the children when we instruct them. More attention needs to be directed towards turning threats into opportunities; exploiting opportunities to better fit our objectives. Perhaps it is not just the task for the CEC alone but that of the whole parish towards achieving this goal. The head of the body should feel the pulse or pain of its other parts.
Due to time constraints, the findings were gathered by Fr Fabian for closer study. It was a good two-hour session of sharing and reflection. Fr Fabian gained a better insight of the challenges of the CEC. On the teachers’ part, we saw the bigger picture and a genuine search for some improvement. The personal question would be if we were ready to face the change, if at all we could.
— By Dr Ivan Filmer
Last changed: Sep 18 2008 at 9:13 AM
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