KOTA KINABALU – A two-day seminar on the Social Teachings of the Church was held at the Sacred Heart Parish Centre Oct 17-18, organized by the Archdiocesan Human Development Commission. It was facilitated by La Salle Brother Anthony Rogers. About 59 persons from St Simon Church Likas, Sacred Heart and CMI attended the seminar which also encompassed reflections on Pope Francis’ “Joy of the Gospel”.
KOTA KINABALU – In an Oct 25 meeting called by Archbishop John Wong with all Principals and Guru Besar of all Mission Schools under the Archdiocese, it has, for the first time in its history, resolved to form a Committee of Principals and Guru Besar in response to the call of the Federation of Council of Christian Mission Schools (FCCMSM) who urges each Church authority to do so.
VATICAN CITY – On 31 Jan 2014 in the Press Office of the Holy See, Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, and Archbishop Jose Rodriguez Carballo, O.F.M., secretary of the same congregation, presented the Year for Consecrated Life 2015. It was called for by Pope Francis at the end of his meeting with 120 superior generals of male institutes, at the suggestion of the heads of the aforementioned congregation on having heard from many of the consecrated.
TELUPID – The Diocesan Youth Leaders’ Camp (YLC) is a yearly program initiated by the Diocesan Youth Apostolate (DYA) to cater to the needs of youth leaders from across the Diocese of Sandakan.
YLC-I was held at St Mary’s Cathedral Sandakan from Feb 2-6, 2012, YLC-2 was at Holy Trinity Tawau from Jan 23-27, 2013 and YLC-3 at St Dominic Lahad Datu from Feb 5-9, 2014. YLC-4 is scheduled to be held from 25th Feb 25-Mar 12015 at St Martin Telupid.
TAWAU – The Youth ministers from the Diocesan Youth Office (DYO) together with the youths from Holy Trinity Church (HTC), Tawau visited St Thomas Chapel, Bombalai, about 30 KM from Tawau town on Oct 11. 30 youths gathered at the Chapel for the Youth Leaders’ Camp (YLC) Club. Also present at the event was Sr Anita fsic.
SANDAKAN – Twelve catholic youths from St Mark Mile 12 and St Peter Sg Manila visit Cheshire Home Sandakan Oct 4 for their charity outreach, while at the same time making a study tour of the institution.
The charity visit was a response to the challenge to reach out to the less fortunate, given in the Unite Camp held at St Mary’s Cathedral last September themed “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy” (Matt 5:7).
KENINGAU (Herald) – PUKAT-10 (10th edition of Perhimpunan Umat Katolik Keuskupan Keningau) was held at Tatal Retreat Centre Sep 25-27 with the theme Family centred on Christ, a Culture of Worshipping God, Deepening of Faith and Social Responsibility’, which was the basis for their inputs, sharing and pastoral planning for the Keningau Diocese.
United with and embracing the spirit of Pope Francis and the universal Church, the focus of PUKAT-10 was aligned on ‘the Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization’, the theme of the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops which took place Oct 5-19 in Rome.
Pastores Dabo Vobis [PDV] (I shall give you shepherds) a document by Pope John Paul II in 1992 on the Formation of Priests has guided our seminaries in forming priests these past 22 years. I can vouch for its comprehensiveness (as it looks into aspects of the Human, Spiritual, Intellectual, Communitarian and Pastoral Formation). I am a product of PDV.
While the broad areas of formation are still relevant, I think we have been slow to anticipate and provide training for our priests to face the fast changing world and its new demands on our priests. The changing social and political landscape of our nation requires that our future priests understand and are able to respond to new challenges.