Church of St Michael (1890)
24 Church Road, 30300 Ipoh, Perak
T: 05-2540176
F: 05-2415437
stmc@streamyx.com
Parish Priest : Rev. Michael Cheah
Sat. Sunset Mass : 7.00 pm (English)
Sunday Masses :
8.00 am English
10.00 am Mandarin
5.30 pm English
Parish bulletin:
Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4
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Declining number of vocations, a cause for concern |
| Posted by Diocese of Penang (pgdiocese) on Jun 03 2009 |
May 15 , 2009
IPOH: The declining number of young people who are joining religious vocations and the priesthood, is a cause for concern as it reflects the community’s reluctance to sacrifice and pray for vocations.
St Michael’s Church parish priest, Fr Michael Cheah (pic), said this during his homily on Vocation Sunday.
Among the reasons why there are fewer religious vocations is that families tend to be smaller in size compared to previous years when there were at least five or more children per family.
Today, many marriages produce only one or two children, with parents citing reasons of financial burden of educating their children as the main reason.
“Our parents sacrificed a lot to provide for their larger families. There are many implications to having a smaller family. Religious vocations will be the last thing parents think of and prefer to pack the children off for further studies when they finish school.
“The usual excuse is, “God will provide” but where will He source (priests) if there is no one to take up the call?” Fr Cheah said.
He pointed out that youth today are involved in so many things in school but refuse to be involved in church activities. Many also have fear of responding when they experience a calling or interest in religious vocations. “It is okay to try it out, for then we will be really sure if we are suitable to that life. People will respect us more if we tried but found it nsuitable. Besides, we will have given ourselves a chance.” he said.
“Vocations depend on God’s grace and so the community needs to pray for its priests and for others who are drawn towards it,” he said.
As there was now a downturn in vocations in the Penang Diocese, parents should continue to pray for more vocations to the religious life and priesthood because of the growing number of parishioners.
Relating the dire state of vocations, Fr Cheah said the last priestly ordination in St Michael’s Church was twenty years ago, when he was ordained. Penang diocese has a total of 44 priests. Only 27 are diocesan priests who are still working in the various parishes. Out of this, 13 are below 50 years of age.
“In the eight to ten years it takes to train a priest, we may have only four new priests and by that time only 17 priests will be below 50 years old. These new priests and the remaining older ones have to serve 28 parishes in Penang,” he said.
Last changed: Jun 03 2009 at 5:03 PM
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