Bishop Julius makes a 2 day official working visit to SDC and HTC

Fr Simon Kontou, members of the Pastoral Committee of St Peter's Chapel with Bishop Julius

Sandakan : Bishop Julius and his entourage, Anthony J Wong, Chairman of the Property Commission, Henry Wong, Chairman of the Finance Council and Francis Tan, the Executive Secretary made a 2 day official working visit to the parishes of St Dominic, Lahad Datu and Holy Trinity Tawau on 22nd - 23rd March 2010.

Their first stop was at St Peter's Chapel Kunak, an out station of St Dominc's Church, Lahad Datu which is some 4 hour drive from Sandakan. On hand to welcome the prelate were Fr Simon Kontou the Parish Priest of St Dominic's Church, William Justin, Chairman of the Pastoral Committee and his committee members.

 Anthony J Wong chairing the meeting

They spend some two hours to discuss on land matters and  the future development of the Chapel to cater to the increasing Catholic population. The local Pastoral and Property Committee agreed to come out with a master plan which includes the chapel, rectory and the community hall for the 3 acre piece of land where the current chapel sits.

After a lunch fellowship, they proceeded to HTC Tawau where they held a meeting with Msgr Nicholas Ong, the rector of the said Church, Thaddeus Sabir, Chairman of the Parish Property Committee and his fellow team members.

 l-r: Anthony Tsen, Datuk James Pang, Msgr Ong, Bishop Julius, Datuk Joseph Lee, AJWong, Henry Wong & Francis Tan

After the meeting, they spend some time visiting the five pieces of vacant land situated at the vicinity of Tawau town together with Msgr Ong and the local property team where they agreed the Diocese will look into future development to the said land. Four local veteran parishioners had consented to lend a hand to look into the said matters.

 St Dominic's Church under renovation

The following day, 23rd March 2010,  Bishop Julius and his team left for Lahad Datu, where they had a meeting with Fr Simon Kontou and his property members. After luncheon, they inspected the Church which is under major renovation. He was happy to see for himself the progress of the renovation work, which when completed could accommodate close to 900 parishioners.

 Inspecting a site at Silam Road Lahad Datu

Accompanied by Fr Simon and his property team, Bishop Julius inspected two vacant pieces of land at Silam  Road and Dam Road respectively.

The visit was fruitful and the dialogue sessions had drawn one another to a closer rapport.

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