City Parish, Penang
Our Lady of Sorrows (OLS), Assumption (AC), St. Francis Xavier (SFX), St.John Britto (SJB)
Parish house and Secretariat is at Church of Our Lady of Sorrows:
33 Jalan Macalister, 10400 Pulau Pinang
T: 04-2261502
F: 04-2284519
Email: cityp2@tm.net.my
Parish Priest : Rev. Michael Thoo
Assistant priest: Rev. Dominic Santhiyagu
Secretariat Opening Hours
Mon - Fri:
9.30 am - 11.30 am (Christine Choong)
3.00 pm - 5.30 pm (Margaret Sim)
Satiurday:
10.00 am - 6.00 pm (Lucia Lai)
1.00 pm - 6.00 pm (Margaret Sim)
Sunday:
10.00am - 6.00 pm (Margaret Sim)
1. (Main Church) Our Lady of Sorrows (1888)
33 Jalan Macalister, 10400 Pulau Pinang
T: 04-2261502
F: 04-2284519
cityp2@tm.net.my
Tue/Wed : 7.30 am
Thu/Fri : 6.00 pm
Sat. Novena: 6.00pm
Sat. Sunset Mass: 6.45 pm (English)
Sunday Masses :
8.30 am (English); 10.00 am (Mandarin)
Filipino Mass : 11.15 am (1st & 3rd Sunday)
Bahasa Mass - 11.30 am (2nd Sunday)
2. (Mass Centre) Assumption (1786)
3 Lebuh Farquhar, 10200 Pulau Pinang
T: 04-2610088
Sat. Novena: 6.00pm
Sat. Sunset Mass: 6.30 pm
Sunday Mass : 10.00 am (English)
3. (Mass Centre) St. Francis Xavier (1957)
52-K, Penang Road, 10000 Pulau Pinang
Sunday Mass : 6.00 pm (English)
4. (Mass Centre) St. John Britto (1969)
139 Sungai Pinang Road, 10150 Pulau Pinang
Sunday Mass : 8.00 am (Tamil)
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Thousands flock to Penang for SFX's feast-day celebrations |
| Posted by Diocese of Penang (pgdiocese) on Dec 28 2007 |
23 December 2007
Thousands flock to Penang for SFX’s feastday celebrations
PENANG: More than a thousand people attended the 150th anniversary celebration of the Church of St Francis Xavier which culminated on the patron’s feastday.
The multilingual Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Emeritus Soter Fernandez with Msgr Stephen Liew, Fr Anthony Francis, Fr Edwin Paul, Fr Decroix, Fr Arul, Fr Victor Louis and visiting priest, Fr Alfred Chan from Singapore concelebrating.
Archbishop Soter in his homily, pointed out that in the gospel, Jesus had said, “Go and make disciples of all nations.” How do we make disciples of people, he asked. Simply by being a friend to each other, sharing our faith and God’s love. We can do this by participating in our BECs and sharing our faith. Discipleship simply means being one with God.
“Today,” he said, “is a great occasion for the church because of its dual celebration. We are here, to celebrate the Church’s Feastday and at the same time the existence of the church for 150 years.” He was glad to note that the church had grown and flourished, especially through the efforts of the late Msgr I.J. Aloysius.
Fr Michael Thoo, parish priest, then remarked that if the Church could speak, there would be lots of stories, after all these 150 years. The Church, today, he said, is alive with activities, such as the St Joseph’s Home, The Lighthouse and the La Salle Learning Centre which are housed in the Church compound.
The celebrations began with a triduum. Fr Francis Anthony was the main celebrant for the first day, themed Living Mission and Personal Renewal.
He pointed out that Mark’s gospel opened with John the Baptist calling on us to repent for our sins. When we repent, we not only turn away from everything that is not pleasing to God but we must also purify ourselves. Jesus is also constantly challenging us to consider “Where do I stand in my relationship with God?” Personal renewal meant this — repenting, purifying and searching deep our relationship with God.
Fr Michael Dass’ theme for the second day Living Mission and Building Family pointed out that the meaning of ‘salvation’ is ‘God saves’, which St Francis Xavier understood perfectly, because he was inspired by St Ignatius’ words What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and suffers the loss of his own soul? That became St Francis Xavier’s mission to bring all people to God.
He said that a family is a Christian family if Christ is at its centre. Likewise, when Christ is at the centre of a BEC and a Church, the BEC and the Church will become a Christian family.
On the third day, the theme was Living Mission and A Witnessing Community, Fr Anthony Pillai started by focusing on Advent. He drew our attention to the responsorial psalm which was “I rejoiced when I heard them say — let us go to God’s house.” He said that we are all constantly moving towards God’s house where we will come together in harmony, unity, peace and love…. and joy. To prepare ourselves to welcome Jesus, there must be joy in us. He advised us to arm ourselves to be in the light — to stay awake to welcome him.
Mission, he said is when Jesus proclaimed “Go and make disciples of all nations”. Jesus wants us to be witnesses to the whole wide world.
St Francis Xavier understood this when he took the Gospel seriously. When we honour him, we are trying to be disciples in our own way.
— By Lucia Lai
Last changed: Dec 28 2007 at 11:59 AM
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