Church of St. Francis de Sales (1900)
521 Jalan Raja Omar, 32000 Sitiawan, Perak
T: 05-6911594
F: 05-6913423
Email: sfdsparish@gmail.com
Parish Priest : Rev. Arulnathan Joseph
Sunday Mass :
7.00 am (English)
9.30 am (1st & 3rd Sun. in Tamil; 2nd & 5th in English; 4th Sun. in BM)
6.00 pm (1st & 3rd in Mandarin)
Chapels:
St. Anne, Ayer Tawar :
St. Jane Francis de Chantal, Brus: once a month
Pantai Remis/Sg. Batu: once a month
Our Lady of Fatima, Suak Padi (Orang Asli): once a month
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Feast of Our Lady of Fatimah |
| Posted by Diocese of Penang (pgdiocese) on Jun 15 2009 |
May 30 , 2009
By DMC Durairaj
S
ITIAWAN: The annual feast of our Lady of Fatimah was celebrated in Sauk Padi, an Asli Camp on May 17 at 4.00pm. The whole celebration was in Bahasa Malaysia. The chapel comes under the jurisdiction of the parish of St Francis de Sales, Sitiawan.
A total of about 120 people comprising the Orang Asli community and well-wishers from Sitiawan, TLDM Base, Lumut and the neighbouring parishes came to participate and witness this year’s celebration. Fr Arulnathan Joseph in his homily touched on the life of Mother Mary. The day ended with a fellowship where special Orang Asli dishes were served.
The chapel was blessed by His Lordship Rt Rev Bishop Selva sometime early 2004. The community came into contact with Catholicism through the efforts of late Fr George Lee and the pastoral care was taken over by Sr Betty Andrew.
Since the community was fast growing, Sr Betty Andrew sought the assistance of the late Fr Arthur Julien MEP, who was then the parish priest of St Francis de Sales, Sitiawan. Upon Fr Julien’s retirement, a number of priests were assigned to look into the needs of the people in Sauk Padi.
Special mention must be made of Fr Charles Chin who had visited the chapel regularly in the early days to give formation talks to the community.
The first baptism took place when Fr Francis Xavier baptized about 25 Orang Asli at the village when there was only a ‘one wall chapel’ with flooring and wall only. Many Orang Asli couples had their marriages solemnised in this chapel.
Today with the help of wellwishers and parishioners of Sitiawan, they are proud to have a chapel of their own. This chapel is named ‘Chapel of Our Lady of Fatimah’ in honour of Our Lady and was officially blessed by Bishop Selva and Fr David Lourdes who was then the parish priest of St Francis de Sales, Sitiawan. —
Last changed: Jun 15 2009 at 3:06 PM
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