The Year of the Priest

"Faithfulness of Christ, faithfulness of priests" is the theme of the Year for Priests announced on March 16, 2009, by the Holy Father. The Pope inaugurated the Year on June 19, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, presiding at Vespers in St. Peter's Basilica. He will close the year on June 19, 2010, at a "World Meeting of Priests" in St. Peter's Square.

The Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur also launched the Year of the Priest with Solemn Vespers and a Eucharistic Celebration on the same day at the Church of Sacred Heart, Peel Road, Kuala Lumpur. Our parish followed suit on the following day, 20th June, at the Sunset mass.

What is the Year of the Priest?

According to Pope Benedict XVI in proclaiming the Year of the Priest, he announced that the Year of the Priest, was "meant to deepen the commitment of all priests to interior renewal for the sake of a stronger and more incisive witness to the Gospel in today’s world." (the full text)

The Year of the Priesthood also commemorates the 150th anniversary celebration of the death of the saintly Curé of Ars, St. John Mary Vianney, the Patron Saint of Parish Priests and Pastors of Souls.

The Congregation for the Clergy also suggests and highlights the following points for reflection and action:
• It must be a year that is both positive and forward looking in which the Church says to her priests above all, but also to all the Faithful and to wider society, that she is proud of her priests, loves them, honours them, admires them and that she recognises with gratitude their pastoral work and the witness of the their life.
• May this year be an occasion for a period of intense appreciation of the priestly identity, of the theology of the Catholic priesthood, and of the extraordinary meaning of the vocation and mission of priests within the Church and in society.
This special year it is intended “to encourage priests in this striving for spiritual perfection on which, above all, the effectiveness of their ministry depends”.
• It must be, in a very special way, a year of prayer by priests, with priests and for priests, a year for the renewal of the spirituality of the presbyterate and of each priest.
• It also be a year in which the concrete circumstances and the material sustenance of the clergy will be considered, since they live, at times, in situations of great poverty and hardship in many parts of the world.
• It is a year of religious and of public celebration which will bring the people – the local Catholic community – to pray, to reflect, to celebrate, and justly to give honour to their priests. May it therefore be an opportunity to develop the communion and friendship between priests and the communities entrusted to their care.

Some Videos related to the Year of the Priest:

Pope Benedict XVI inaugurates the Year of the Priest

Year of the Priest

The Cure D'Ars, Patron Saint of Priests

Catholic Students Camp 2009: A Total Gathering In Christ and Amity in Brotherhood

By Franc Fagah Utoo (Nigeria),College of Law,INTI Uni.Col

What has come to become the Annual Catholic Students Camp staged in the traditional venue of Port Dickson took place between Friday,24th July and Sunday,26th July 2009 at the La Salle Bungalow, Port Dickson.

A remarkable part of this year's camp was the high improvement in attendance as it triples the one recorded last year. This, understandably was due majorly to the fact that unlike last year's, this year's camp was held while most schools were in session. The beauty of the gathering was that for the first time in the lives of many of the students close and intimate relationships were established with friends of diverse backgrounds and race as nearly all the major continents of the world were represented in the camp.

Campers went straight into action on arrival at the camp on the first day, as they all converge on the beach for some fun games and swimming. In the process, new acquaitances and friends were made as the games served as a channel for introduction of members, meeting of minds and getting to understand each other intimately. At the sea side, other campers were desirous of showing off their swimming skills whereas others expressed their fears for such a large volume of water and preferred to swim close to the bank.

All was set for the first devotional activity of the night after shower and sumptious dinner when the ever knowledgeable and amiable Dr. Sherman Kuek , who was the Pastoral Associate for Formation and Youth Ministry in the Church of Seremban (presently serving as Director of the Pastoral Institute of the Diocese of Melaka Johor Diocese) engaged the campers with the first lesson of the camp as he comprehensibly elaborated on what we mean and who we are as catholics. He spoke on how catholics allowed themselves to slow down in faith despite being blessed with the fullness of faith. At the end, he gave campers an assignment to be explained the following day and centred on the theme of this year's camp," MAKING IT COUNT", explaining that we have to create a way to make our lives a worthy example to other christians as christ's worthy ambassadors.

On Saturday morning after breakfast,our charismatic and highly inspirational Rev.Fr.Michael Chua took time to lecture campers on stereotypes and it's devastating effect on inter-personal and social relations,and asked us to be examples of how to unite in the midst of diversity. He also, admonished campers to imbibe the leadership spirit and be ready to lead for worthy causes or support those who sacrifice in leading for a good cause. In his characteristic self, Fr.Mike delved into pragmatism by dividing campers into 2 groups with one group asked to construct a bridge while the other was to prevent the construction of the bridge to their end of the river. Not knowing what was the exact reason for this task, campers from the two camps engaged themselves in tussles over the construction of the bridge. We were all surprised when he brilliantly explained that the moral of the practice was to learn the art of negotiation for peace and love. For if those virtues practiced by both parties, there could have been a hitch free construction to serve the interests of both sides.

Further activities for Saturday were galore of fun as campers engaged in swimming, tele match, banana boat ride, football, dancing, singing, and the day's activities culminated with a VERY HIGH CLASS BBQ,dinner and naughty fun games..
Camp came to and end on Sunday after Mass by Fr.Michael Chua.

The high point of this year's camp was the exclusive, sumptuous, and more than adequate meals that caused some students to accuse Fr.Mike of trying to overfeed them. Others were the relationships established, the discipline imbibed, the spirit of brotherhood reflected despite our various backgrouds as typified by the way we ate together, slept together, and play together. IT WAS A LIVE OF COMPLETE BROTHERHOOD AND A TRUE TEST OF OUR CIVILIZATION AND FAITH IN CHRIST. OUR LIVES WILL SURELY COUNT!!!

Below is an excerpt of brief comments by campers:

"Great, fantastic......." -Bagas Wira Paksi (Indonesia) Nilai U.C

"Unity among Catholics from different parts of the world" - Dennis Clement (Malaysia) I.M.U

"I am proud to be a Catholic, aren't you" - Diderot Diffo,(Cameroun) INTI-UC

"It was so nice meeting my fellow youth and getting together. The teachings from Fr.Mike also improved my way of live" - Jacqualine Sayi (Tanzania) Nilai UC

" As if it shouldn't have end' - Shaun Mirandah (Malaysia) Mal.Inst.Of Aviation Tech

"It was really fun and an avenue to make lot of friends"- Godfrey Akpakwu (Nigeria) Notthingham Univ. (Masters student)

" Highly spiritual and socially oriented" - Nicole Asha (Malaysia) Monash Univ.

"The camp was nice and fun too,esp.the games. I love the camp...... but I won't smile. We should have such occassions very often" Mariam Nannono (Uganda) NILAI UC

"Being able to show my true colors and being accepted was ^^ ^^*grins* " -Maria, INTI-UC

See you again next year in Jesus name

Rules, Laws and the Church

Twenty Second Ordinary Sunday Year B


Many people complain that Christianity and the Catholic church have too many rules and prohibitions. They often would use the excuse that if Jesus were alive today, he would abolish all these rules. They would argue that it is enough to do good and avoid evil. This is a very dangerous statement. More often than not it is an excuse to do what we want without reference to anything or anyone else. Very often, we can do a great deal of evil while we intend to do good. On the other hand, we are often corrupted by our own selfish desires that it would be hard to choose what is good rather than what is evil.

Today’s readings remind us that the law is given for our benefit. It is a guide to help us become better persons. It is guide to help us become mature and responsible Christians. The Book of Deuteronomy tells to “keep them, observe them, and they will demonstrate to the peoples your wisdom and understanding.” St. James in the second reading speaks of the law of God as “all that is good, everything that is perfect, which is given to us from above.” It is given to us in order that we become the “first fruits of all that he had created” – in other words, the persons that he had created. Without God’s law to guide us, we will be guided by our own pride and selfishness. Therefore, the laws of God and his church are meant to help us become free from our own selfish motives and intentions instead of taking freedom away from us.

James continues to remind us that we need to “accept and submit to the word which has been planted in you and can save your souls. But you must do what the word tells you, and not just listen to it and deceive yourselves.”

On the other hand, we must also avoid the other extreme. There are many who slavishly follow these church rules without understanding their intent. So much so that we find these people often very judgmental of others. They see themselves as the perfect guardians of the Law and take it upon themselves to be the watchdogs of morality. Some of them are very quick to point out to others or to the priest how so-and-so is living in an irregular marriage, how this person should not be receiving communion, how we should bar other sinners from coming forward for communion etc. The Pharisees and scribes in the gospels were like these. In today’s gospel, we hear Jesus reprimanding this group of people. He called them ‘hypocrites’ while describing them as this: “This people honours me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me.”

In order to be good Christians, it is not enough to just follow the laws. Sometimes we follow laws blindly. We do it only because we fear punishment. That’s not how we should follow these laws. The laws of God are based on the law of love. If we do something out of love, there is never any compulsion. In order that we might be good Christians, we must follow God’s law out of love and not because we fear punishment.

We are able to act out of love when there is a real conversion from within. We must remember the words of Jesus in today’s gospel that “nothing that goes into a man from outside can make him unclean; it is the things that come out of a man that make him unclean.” Let us then pray that God will cleanse our hearts from all evil intentions so that we may not only listen to his word but also do what he tells us to do.

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