Ignatian Online, Website of St Ignatius Church, Petaling Jaya

In a short ceremony during the 8.45 am Mass on Sunday 1 February 2015, St Ignatius Church (SIC) launched its Parish Pastoral Plan and Theme for the next two years. SIC Parish Priest Fr Lucas Ng and Parish Pastoral Council Chairman Erwin Ho jointly unveiled the theme – To be a Worshipping, Welcoming & Caring Community with the figure of Welcoming Christ reinforcing the message. Earlier during offertory, the Parish Pastoral Plan and elements of worship, welcome & care were offered up together with gifts of bread and wine. The Parish Pastoral Plan will be introduced to parishioners soon.

Photography: John Ari Ragai

St Ignatius Church (SIC) Parish Priest Fr Lucas Ng has been assigned additional duties in serving the Roman Catholic Church. He has been appointed an episcopal vicar of the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur in charge of religious affairs. A vicar (vicarius in Latin) is a representative, deputy or substitute – anyone acting in the person of a superior.

In the Catholic Church, a vicar is the representative of any ecclesiastic entity and vicars have various titles based on what role they are performing. They exercise authority as representatives of the bishop of the diocese. Parishioners of SIC offer their heartiest congratulations to Fr Lucas for his appointment. Click on Canon Law for information on episcopal vicars & vicars general and KL Archdiocese for the full list of appointments.

Six new Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion (EMOHC) and two new Home EMOHCs were among 69 EMOHCs who participated in the Rite of Commissioning at St Ignatius Church (SIC) on 23 November 2012. Held during the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, the EMOHCs made a pledge to perform the sacred duty of distributing Holy Communion to the faithful during Mass, to the sick in hospitals and the home-bound, as well as conducting service for the faithful departed at cemeteries & crematoriums. SIC Assistant Parish Priest Fr Andrew Wong – celebrant at the Mass and presider at the pledge-taking – reminded the ministers to love one another, and to be exemplars of Christian faith and good behaviour. 

An extraordinary minister of Holy Communion in the Catholic Church is, under the Code of Canon Law, 'an acolyte or another of Christ's faithful deputed', in certain circumstances, to distribute Holy Communion. The term 'extraordinary' distinguishes such a person from the ordinary (normal, regular) minister of Holy Communion, namely a bishop, priest or deacon. Stephen Ho is the Coordinator of this ministry while Edward Sta Maria is the Assistant Coordinator.

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Photography: Daniel Khong & Peter Law

An idea which germinated a dozen years ago has come to fruition. In a short ceremony on 16 November 2014 at 8.30 pm, SIC Parish Priest Fr Lucas Ng unveiled and blessed the Welcoming Christ statue situated on the third floor of Costantini Community Centre. A ledge for holding a statue was in the original architect's design for the Centre way back in 2002. Due to budget constraints, the installation of a statue was delayed till now. Fr Lucas mentioned in the souvenir magazine to commemorate the unveiling that Our Lord Jesus Christ welcomes all from near or far. He added that when the celebrant extends his hands and greets the congregation with the words "the Lord be with you" during Mass, it is a simple yet powerful invitation for all to come and dwell in his presence.   

The 4.52 metres tall sculpture made of white marble from Beijing is illuminated by LED lights which changes according to the liturgical season. Weighing 11.8 tons, the statue with hands outstretched is made up of five separate parts: pedestal, mid, top and two palms. Its design was inspired by the bronze statue of Christ in Mt Teide, Tenerife, Spain. Those who see the Welcoming Christ statue will be reminded of the world-famous 30-metre-high Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking Rio de Janeiro. It is believed that the statue at SIC is presently the tallest solid marble statue in Malaysia.

The programme for the evening included songs and musical accompaniment by various choirs and talents from both within and outside SIC. A march by St John's Alumni Pipe Band performing bagpipe music ushered in the musical part of the event followed by an opening prayer and welcome speech by Fr Lucas. Among the highlights were Fr Philip Tan's (Provincial of CDD in Malaysia) rendition of Lord, I Love You (in Mandarin) & You Raise Me Up and two instrumental pieces by award-winning pianist Celestine Yoong. More than 800 parishioners attended the event.

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Photography: John Ari Ragai, Peter Law & Matthew Soo

More than 200 parishioners from both the English- and Mandarin-speaking communities representing BECs (Basic Ecclesial Communities) and parish ministries attended this year’s Parish Assembly (PA) convened by St Ignatius Church (SIC) on 15 November 2014. John Ooi (Vice-Chairman, Parish Pastoral Council) and Sebastian Yew acted as Joint Chairmen of the Assembly which was honoured by the presence of His Grace Archbishop Julian Leow – his first official event at SIC after being installed as the fourth Metropolitan Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur on 6 October 2014. Also in attendance were SIC Assistant Parish Priest Fr Andrew Wong and Fr Clarence Dass (Director, Archdiocesan Pastoral Institute & Priest-in-Residence, Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus). 

The event started at 1.15 pm with praise & worship, Bible enthronement and an opening prayer. This was followed by SIC Parish Priest Fr Lucas Ng giving a welcoming address during which he revealed the theme for SIC parish in 2015 – To be a Worshipping, Welcoming & Caring Community. Fr Clarence then gave a presentation on the state of the BECs in the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur and ways to increase attendance and participation in its activities. After the presentation, attendees formed groups to discuss issues and put forward possible solutions relating to BEC participation which were noted for further action. 

After a short break, the Mandarin Apostolate gathered in another room to carry out their separate discussion. Alphonso Lourdesamy (Chairman, Parish Coordinating Council) presented a summarised report of the Parish Pastoral Plan of 2014. Erwin Ho (Chairman, Parish Pastoral Council) then gave a presentation on the Parish Pastoral Plan for 2015 with a focus on the following areas in line with the parish theme:

  # Worshipping Parish (Prayer & Sacramental Life)

  # Welcoming & Caring Parish (Family, Youth & Community)

  # Welcoming & Caring Parish (BECs)

The goals and rationale for each of the above focus areas were laid out and their desired outcomes stated. 

The Parish Assembly agenda continued with the Parish Finance Report by Edward Sta Maria (Chairman, Parish Finance Committee) and a Question & Answer session. Matters raised regarding the report were clarified and noted. The moment many had waited for finally arrived when Archbishop Julian took centre stage to make some remarks. He started off by putting forward some questions: What is your dream for your church, BEC and country? Do we know where we want to go (our destination)? Do we care for the other (e.g. the stranger in our midst or newcomer to the church) as we strive to become a more caring community? His Grace Archbishop Julian also mentioned that not seeing or being aware of the lost, least, last or little amongst us does not mean they do not exist. In closing, he commended SIC for articulating a parish theme which emphasises worship, hospitality and care.

Fr Lucas in his final remarks thanked His Grace Archbishop Julian and Fr Clarence for their time and effort in imparting invaluable pastoral advice to parishioners for the coming year. The Parish Assembly ended at 5.15 pm with a closing prayer recited by all and a blessing from the Archbishop.

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Photography: Peter Law

By Dr Mary Peter, SSS facilitator 

I have attended several Bible studies in the past. One lasted 40 weeks, another 100 weeks and the longest was 3 years. Therefore when I first heard about A Quick Journey through the Bible (QJ), I wondered how anyone could possibly present salvation history in just 8 weeks! It is only after I attended the QJ recently I realised that yes – it is possible. This is because the QJ Bible study is well-structured and stresses on the narrative books therefore it is easy to understand and remember. What is special about the QJ is that firstly it sets the foundation for reading the Bible within the context of the teachings of the Catholic Church. Multiple references are made from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Secondly, by focusing on the Covenants, the Old Testament is more exciting to read when we learnt how Jesus fulfils all of the promises God made with key figures like Abraham, Moses and David. We see how the Church lives the life of Christ and continues God’s saving mission by the power of the Holy Spirit. The QJ made me realise that I am part of this wonderful story. The main message of QJ is about trusting God in difficult and challenging times. In this short study, I was reminded of God’s love and His faithfulness to all His promises and this has given me the confidence to trust Him in all the circumstances of my life. The QJ has also rekindled in me the desire to read the Bible more often and has set me on the path of a life long journey of knowing God and letting Him speak to me through His word.

Editor's Note: The Quick Journey class of 2014 started on 18 Aug with 95 participants and 16 facilitators. This was the highest attendance for any module in the history of SIC Scripture Study (SSS) since it was founded in 2003. Participants include eight SIC youth leaders and parishioners from other churches beside SIC. A total of 78 participants qualified for attendance certificates for having attended at least 5 out of 8 sessions whilst 31 participants achieved 100% attendance. A QJ Certificate Presentation Dinner was held at Gold Dragon City Restaurant on 16 Oct. 

Click on SSS for more information on scripture study in SIC and upcoming modules. Click here to view more photos.

Photography: Matthew Soo, Cassandra Lim & Cecilia Ng