Five seminarians were ordained deacons on Saturday, Dec 13 at Cardijn House. The five, Deacons Surain Durai Raj, Allen Pereira, Clement Lim, Lawrence Ng and Thomas Loh are transitional deacons, on their way to their priestly ordinations.
Friends and family of the newly ordained deacons as well as a number of priests and seminarians were present at the ordination ceremony presided over by Archbishop Murphy Pakiam. During the ceremony, Archbishop Pakiam emphasised on the vow of obedience to the respective diocesan bishops.
Like other clerics, the deacon participates in the threefold ministry of Jesus Christ; the "diaconia of the liturgy, the word, and of charity." He represents "Christ the Servant" in his vocation. The deacon teaches the Word of God, sanctifies through the sacraments, and helps lead the community in its religious life.

Sr Theresa Chua 1J chose the Feast of Christ the King to celebrate her silver jubilee as a Sister of the Infant Jesus Fraternity of Nicholas Barre and to give thanks to God for being with her throughout her journey in the ministry. She spoke with so much conviction, zeal and fulfillment in her life in the service of God. "It is 25 years of faith, love and hope full lived with enriching and grace-filled experiences," said the unassuming, simple and people centred nun of the Seremban IJ Community. "It has been an experience of God's fidelity and love, of a faith deepened through years of joys and pain, a journey of contemplation an action serving in the (rewarding) ministry to poor children and good years of faith-sharing in Catechetic. I have in fact returned to my home parish where my faith was nurture and where I was guided and was able to discern the call to be a religious Sister in the Institute the Infant Jesus Sisters and to live in the Spirit of the founder Blessed Nicolas Barre - living life of simplicity and the practice of obedience poverty and chastity."

The Church Of Our Lady Of (Guadalupe (OLG) celebrated her patronal feastday from Dec 10, culminating with a procession oil Dec 14, Fr John Anandan OEM Cap, the preacher on the actual feast day on Dec 13, invited all to ask God to break the bondage of sin, so that we are set free. Fr John preached in English, Tamil and Bahasa Malaysia with ease. He said Mary bore Jesus, the Word made flesh. She conceived Jesus and through her Immaculate Conception, because of her faith, she bore God within herself. "Jesus said everyone who does the will of God is my mother, brother and sister... a compliment to Mary who heard, welcomed and accepted the Word, surrendering herself to the Good News, allowing it to manifest in herself;" added Fr John. Fr Leonard at the end of the celebration thanked the Feast day Committee for making the days of celebration meaningful and welcoming.

On Monday Dec 15, 2008, Fr Leo Chang Hio Ly died at the age of 79. He was suffering from cancer of the pancreas. "We have lost a wise and virtuous priest," said parishioner from the Church of the Holy Family, where F Leo served as parish priest from 1991 ti 2005. "Fr Leo worked effortlessly t( build a strong foundation in the Catholic Church, while being a very caring am lovable human being," another shared. Fr Leo Chang lost his battle to cancel at 10.15am at the Sri Seronok Retirement Home in Cheras. This good and faithful servant of God was given a funeral service at the Holy Family Church in Kajang of Wednesday, Dec 17, 2008. Clergy, religious and laity from all over the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur joined in the solemn farewell to him. Archbishop Murphy Pakiam was the main celebrant, He shared that Fr Leo was a simple disciple of Jesus living in the path of true life, where he shared the love and life for Christ to the people through performing Baptisms Eucharistic celebrations as well as in his every word and deed.

Following almost two and a half years of hard work in planning and raising funds for the construction of a new building, the Assunta Children Society finally achieved its goal at the opening ceremony and blessing of the house on Dec 13 at 10.00am. About 150 guests turned up to witness this simple ceremony. It was, indeed, a proud moment for everyone: the children, the volunteers who give their time to teach the children, the management committee, the FMM Sisters and the caring and loving supporters who, through their financial aid, had provided this new building for these underprivileged children. VIPs who were invited to cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony included the FMM Provincial, Sr Assunta Leong, Puan Sri Cecilia Lim, Mr Choy the CEO of Assunta Hospital, Mr Tan Cheng Hui, the Country Manager of Dow Agrosciences Malaysia and Alban Lee, the Manager of Emirates in Malaysia. Another important VIP was Fr Michael Raymond, OFM Cap, who blessed the building.

More than 30 members of BEC St Anthony in Taman Watan (Lembah Jaya, Ampang), which comes under the Cathedral of St John, visited the Asrama Cahaya in Bukit Nanas on Dec 14 as part of their outreach. Armed with gifts of provisions like rice, sugar, canned drinks, toiletries and the like, all specially donated by Carrefour Ampang, the BEC members had a get-together session, where Christmas carols were sung followed with a prayer recited specially for the wellbeing of the residents by BEC member Eria Raja. Charles Sebastian, the Coordinator of BEC St Anthony said that the objective of the outreach programme is to bring the joy and spirit of Christmas and share it with the lonely residents of this home. On hand to receive the group was Sr Lucy on behalf of Sr Betty Andrew, IJS who is the Animator of the home.

“We must accept the paradigm shifts in the society today and we need to identify and inspire our children in what they are good at," said the much acclaimed trainer and facilitator Martin Jalleh as he addressed the parents of Visitation's Confirmation students at a special session designed for them at the 28-30 November 2008 weekend Confirmation Camp theme Daring to be  Different held at the Seminary Theology Malaysia (STM). "We need to move with the change and stay relevant. We have prejudices. We do not see outside the box the way our children see. Change begins with its and changes must happen within its in order to accept children as they are. While time management (of our children) is good we need to consider giving them space to socialize. In our dealings with our children we need to invite them to discussions rather than ignore them, we need to innovate rather than always insulate them and inspire rather than impede them.”

Christmas is a season of joy and peace; you see everywhere people exchanging good wishes for happiness and peace among loved ones and friends both far and near. As disciples of the Lord, we engage one another in communicating the inner peace that Jesus has brought to this world by His Incarnation. This peace and joy are not continued to us only but is shared with everyone, who with an open heart receives the message of the birth of Jesus. Again and again Angels from heaven repeat the greeting: "Glory to God, in the highest, and on earth peace for those he favours." (Lk. 2:14).
When the Child Jesus was born, a shining star appeared over Bethlehem. "In the countryside close by there were shepherds out in the fields keeping guard over their sheep during the watches of the night. An Angel of the Lord stood over them and the glory of the Lord shone round them. They were terrified, but the Angel said, `Do not be afraid. Look, I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people. There in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you, he is Christ the Lord. And here is a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace for those he favours" (Lk 2: 9-14).
While I write thee lines I have in front of me the card with the image taken from the artistic Neapolitan Christmas Crib place at the main hall of the Apostolic Nuncio Bangkok. Christmas is for every one a season of joy and peace which radiates from Child Jesus: I would like to exchange peace with you. Christmas always reminds how much we are loved by God: let us be grateful for this generosity of God towards us and extend the love of God to others.
Every year HERALD gives me the opportunity to greet you, the ready benefactors of this weekly newspaper. On this graceful occasion of Christmas my sincere warm greetings and blessings come and to you and to your family. May the Prince of brighten your heart and your way. As we come close to the end of the year 2008, being a moment of renewal, I cordially wish you also a happy and prosperous New Year! To everyone once again, I wish a Blessed Happy Christmas!

Archbishop Salvatore Pennaechio Apostolic Delegate
Given in Bangkok, at the Apostolic Nunciature on November 30, 2008

Dr Freddie Loh Tak Seng of Malaysia was elected President of the Asian Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (AFCMA) along with Dr Chong Khin Yam as Treasurer and Dr Anthonysamy as Secretary. The term of office is four years. They are all from the Catholic Doctors Association of Malaysia. This is the first time since the inception of AFCMA in 1960 that three office bearers have been elected from the same country. The rest of the council members come from different Asian countries - Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines Indonesia, Hong Kong and Singapore. Dr Loh shared that in Malaysia through the Catholic Doctors Association, they have been reaching out to preserve the dignity of the less fortunate, be it the poor, marginalised, handicapped, migrants, terminally ill and others. He hopes that the newly elected office bearers will work together to address all that have been brought up at the congress.

The indigenous Catholic community of Kampung Tekir and Kampung Sebir in Labu, Negeri Sembilan celebrated Sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist for their children on Nov 23. Nine infants and one school-going child received the Sacrament of Baptism while 24 children between the ages and 14 received the Eucharist for first time. The preparations leading to evening celebration of the Holy Eucharist saw families - from infant to the elderly - eagerly gathered in premises of the community's historic 107-year old Gereja Bonda Maria occupying all available floor space and awaiting the commencement of the programme. It was an atmosphere joy and celebration. Present at the chapel were the village heads (Tok Batin) of both the Tekir and the Sebir settlements. The spirit of celebration moved to higher gear when a delegation of their counterparts from Kuantan, Kampung Batu Tiga (Rompin) and Kampung Permatang Keledang, Batu Tiga (Pekan) arrived in a convoy in two eight-seaters . Accompanying the Pahang visitors was Fr Eugene Benedict, the Parish Priest of the parish if St Thomas in Kuantan.

The Confirmation class of 2009 of the Church of Divine Mercy was given an eye opener as they visited Asrama Cahaya Wanita in Bukit Nanas, run by the Infant Jesus Sisters. This place started out as an orphanage during the war period, when children were abandoned by their parents. After many years, the children grew up; some left, some stayed. There were also women who came much later in their life, those who were unable to take care of themselves. When we were introduced to the old ladies, most of us had no idea how to approach them. We attempted to make conversation. We realised that the Moral book scenarios are not easy to recreate in real life. Conversation was hard. Yet there were a few who really communicated well with the old ladies which was truly impressive. We had a lot of fun and are happy to have been able to spread some smiles as well.

Twenty-four altar boys and girls from the Banda Kaba parish of St Francis Xavier as well as parents and animators attended a three-day end of year holiday camp and retreat at the Nicholas Barre Centre earlier this month. Apart from a wonderful guided tour of the Highlands and the cool climate, a full day retreat themed Prayer Life in God's Service was also conducted with Paul Gentis as the principal animator. In his introductory address to the young servers of the Lord, Paul noted that altar boys and girls are `special persons' picked by God and given a mission to undertake or service to perform. He said, "The highest or greatest activity of a Catholic Christian is to take part in the Eucharistic Celebration. The Eucharist is a celebration, remembrance and sacrifice. Jesus died on the cross to save us and that is the reason why we celebrate and serve with joy the Eucharistic Celebration.

Knowledge course for teachers' held on Nov 26-30 at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Centre drew 14 participants to experience the Life of Jesus and the Acts of the Apostles from the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur and the Diocese of Penang.
It was a stay-in course beginning every morning with the Liturgy of the Hours and Mass and sessions in the morning, afternoon and evening. The sessions were facilitated by Anthony Gnanapiragasam and Robert Teh supporting the sessions with slide projections and CDs. The KL Archdiocesan Bible Apostolate has just published for SPM Bible Knowledge user-friendly texts. At the front pages details and summaries of Jesus' miracles and parables in Luke are given. The texts are accompanied with supplementary notes at the side making SPM Bible Knowledge easy to use for preparing students for SPM. In the final session the participants appreciated the efforts made to train teachers and provide materials for the teaching and learning of BK.

Catechists play a vital role and function in the church particularly in educating and handing down the Catholic faith to young Catholics in Sunday school. In recognizing their commitment, parish priest of the Church of St Aloysius in Mantin, Fr Anthony Thomas, feted nine catechists plus several potential ones to a sumptuous Hi-Tea at Klana Resort in Seremban on Nov 30. Fr Thomas mooted the idea for the fellowship gathering as a way to express his appreciation to his parish catechists for their undivided support in ensuring that his parish children's faith life is molded and taken seriously.
Presently there are some 85 children attending Sunday school held in Tadika St Aloysius, with catechism classes conducted in English and Mandarin. The catechists were grateful that their parish priest appreciated them as he wanted to build up the community and deepen its faith life.

Thirteen couples took time for an enriching experience at the Marriage Encounter (ME) Weekend No. 141. The ME Weekend brings to life methods that allow for individual self-awareness, as well as specific techniques that inspire couples to greater openness, appreciation and understanding of each other. "The aim of ME is to foster better communication and understanding between couples. ME has proven to be the perfect life-changing experience for every couple in a good marriage," said Fr Boudville. During the Weekend (Friday evening to Sunday evening), each couple is given complete privacy - sharing is personal and done only between spouses. Participants have the opportunity to meet other couples during the inputs and during meals. "As participants, we had initially decided to attend the ME Weekend for a "secret little hideaway holiday." We were, however, surprised and inspired by how much positive change the Weekend brought into our hearts and lives.

It was ten years ago (1998) when we were all (individually) invited to attend the Marriage Encounter (ME) weekend. Ours was the 105th ME weekend. We all went to the weekend with different feelings and different expectations. However, after the weekend life was not going to be the same again for each of us. This much we each shared, on Sunday Nov 30 when the ME 105 group met in the home of one of its members to celebrate 10 years of love circle ME couples. We all shared on how the weekend touched and changed our lives, our perceptions of Christian marriage and life itself. We shared on which aspects of the weekend touched us the most. We shared on how we had individually coped as sacramental couples. We ate, we drank, we sang and we laughed. It was an unforgettable and memorable night which ended with a closing prayer and blessings from His Grace Archbishop Murphy Pakiam.

Stella Maris Primary School, a private Catholic school in Madonna Heights, who sat for their UPSR examinations in 2008, 19 students or 47.5 percent scored 5As. The school, owned by the Yayasan Tan Sri Dominic Vendargon, first opened in Jan 2003 with 28 students in three classes; now in 2008 the school has a total enrollment of some 320 students in 12 classes. According to the school principal, Michael Anthony, a number of factors can be attributed to this success; these students; who have studied here since Standard 1, have been moulded with good foundation to produce good grades; a good team of teachers; a good team of Governors consisting of five persons who work with the headmaster (principal) to provide checks and balances and transparency. Michael added that the student-teacher ratio is 22 students per teacher, to ensure that each child is given individual and personal attention.

The Parish Pastoral Assembly of the Church of Our Lady of Fatima was held on Nov 16, and graced by Archbishop Murphy Pakiam. Parish priest Fr Clarence Devadass reminded the members the main purpose of the Assembly was to reflect, share and project the future direction of the Parish. However, to move we need to be committed and of one mind anti spirit. He gave an illustration: in a boat race, the twelve crew members have to synchronize their movements in the same direction and in the same timing. He said that we have prayed for the Holy Spirit to lead and showed the direction that God wants us to take. The moderator, LA Fernandez, called the zone BECs, Ministries and Organizations to present their reports. In closing, Archbishop Murphy Pakiam said that the Pastoral Assembly reports were well focused and complimented the Parishioners and Fr Clarence on their high achievement.

More than one million ringgit was raised for the Jesus Caritas Church Building Fund at the dinner at HGH Convention Centre, Sentul, Kuala Lumpur recently. The dinner was well attended by more than 1,000 parishioners and guests, priests from other parishes, Dato Lim from the Archbishop's office and the Canossian and IJ Sisters. Fr Mitchel Anthony, the parish priest of Jesus Caritas Church especially commended the Chinese Apostolate Chairman, Peter Tan, who was also the Dinner Organizing Chairman and the committee members for their determination, hard work and team spirit in organizing this joyful event.
The highlights of the evening were the ribbon cutting ceremony by the generous sponsors and handing of pledge forms to Fr Mitchel by the sponsors who pledged donations ranging from RM20,000 to RM500,000 for the multipurpose hall, chapel, meeting rooms, classrooms and the 4-storey building of the new church.
A Chinese Acrobatic troupe was engaged to entertain the guests with songs and acrobatic shows throughout the evening.

"As church we need to stay committed to the mission of Jesus and this is best done in small groups or BECs," said Kuala Lumpur Archbishop Murphy Pakiam in his closing address at the Visitation Parish Pastoral Assembly on Nov 16. "The BECs are our way of life and it is now a personal responsibility of the people of God of all ethnic groups to take upon themselves to make the area church a serious commitment and a means to live out the missionary call of Jesus Christ. Priests will come and go, but the BECs are on-going and they will remain the basic church. They should be organized and properly structured to address the needs around them including taking on the care of the poor through their involvement with the Parish Integral Human Development (PIHD) ministry. "The BECs also develop and nurture relationship with people of other faiths in their own community through parish programmes on Interreligious dialogue.

The Parish Assembly for St Ignatius Church was held on Sunday Nov 9. About 250 parishioners from both the English-speaking and Mandarin-speaking communities attended the Assembly. Fr Philip Tan CDD, the Parish Priest, opened the Assembly with a welcoming speech. The assembly was also attended by His Grace Archbishop Murphy Pakiam The participants were happy to see His Grace and appreciated his closing remarks. The format of this year's parish assembly followed very closely the Guideline for Parish Assembly issued by the Archbishop's office recently. During the Parish Assembly, the chairperson of the Parish Pastoral Council presented a review of the current year's pastoral plan as well as the following year's pastoral plan. The pastoral plan was also opened to the participants for them to ask for clarification as well as to seek their consultation and feedback. Finally, an open forum was conducted where the participants were allowed to raise other questions not relating to the pastoral plan.

The Catholic Prison Ministry (CPM) celebrated its 25 years of Passion and Mission for the Least, Last and Lost with a dinner and dance at the Royal Selangor Club. From a small group of five volunteers led by Infant Jesus Sr. Catherine O'Sullivan, in the late seventies, the movement progressed to a church-based Ministry at the Holy Family Church in Kajang and subsequently became an Archdiocesan Ministry. Undeterred by the various obstacles and difficulties in dealing with the prisoners, drug users and People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), members relentlessly and tirelessly carried on to provide these law offenders with love, care and support and more significantly cared for their innocent children and families who are also ostracized in society. "The works of the Ministry must be applauded for it is a noble effort and a meaningful gesture by the volunteers of the Ministry to provide law offenders an opportunity to rehabilitate themselves and also to provide them with the requisite assistance to help them and their families," said Archbishop Pakiam in his address.

The police have cancelled bail imposed on 24 individuals arrested at the Nov 9 candlelight vigil - an indication that action will not be taken against them. PJ Utara MP Tony Pua, one of those involved, said most of the group had reported to the PJ police station on Nov 24 as required. "The police told us that if there is anything else, they will call us. It's a non-committal way of saying no action will be taken against us," he claimed when contacted. Elaborating on the cancellation of police bail, he said the arrests had been "unnecessary" in the first place,-since most of the individuals arrested had been participating in a peaceful gathering. Among them was Church of the Divine Mercy parish priest, Fr Paulino Miranda. Malavsiakini videourapher, Shukri Mohammad, was on duty that night to record footage of the candlelight vigil. Apart from arresting him, police also confiscated his video camera and tape, and held these for about two weeks.

The Church of Our Lady of Lourdes is all geared up to celebrate 8O years of Faith, Prayers and Miracles. The Celebration to mark the 150th anniversary of the appearance of Our Lady to St Bernadette, in Lourdes, Frances and the 80th Anniversary of the construction of the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes here will be held on Mon Dec 8. At Lourdes, Our Lady said "I am the Immaculate Conception", in response to Bernadette’s question, "Who are you'?" Our celebrations will coincide with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and the celebrations in Lourdes, France. Two Eucharistic celebrations are planned for the day. At 10.00am there will be the Eucharist with the Healing Service for Senior Citizens, the elderly and the sick. At 6.OOpm, the Liturgy of the Hours will be said followed by the Eucharist, Candle Light procession, Prayers for the family, Vocation, Healing and Peace.