Inanam welcomes 93 new members at Easter

INANAM – St Catherine here welcomed 93 new members who became Catholics through receiving the Sacraments of Initiation.

All the elect were baptised by parish priest Father David Sham at the Easter Vigil on 15 Apr 2017, while 71 were conferred the Sacrament of Confirmation the next day, and 11 received their first Holy Communion.

At the same time, an Anglican was received into full communion with the Catholic Church.  Paul Samsi, 36, who hails from Kg Penangah, Telupid, Kinabatangan, is not new to the Catholic faith as his wife is a practising Catholic and their marriage was blessed according to Catholic rites at Sacred Heart Cathedral in 2015.

This year, for the first time, the parish celebrated its hfeast day on Divine Mercy Sunday, which fell on the second Sunday of Easter Apr 23.

As is customary for Archbishop John Wong to make his pastoral visit to the parish on her feast day, the confirmation of 120 candidates took place on the same occasion.   The prelate conferred the sacrament on the confirmands during the morning Mass, assisted by  Fr Sham.

After the Mass, all  adjourned to the parish hall where the archbishop was briefed by Judy Joanes, parish Divine Mercy Apostolate chairperson, on the various activities undertaken by the group since its inception five years ago.

The prelate was also informed on the parish’s plan to celebrate the Parish Kaamatan Festival on May 1, which he was expected to grace. – Michael Guntili