A briefing session to the participants of IFFA

Sylvester Ho  

Sandakan : On the 10th day of the IFFA Mission Project, Thursday 10th February 2011, participants attended a briefing session on the history and background of the Church, the general statistical summary, pastoral plan and direction and the various outreach programs in the Paitan Missionary Area under its care.

The session started with Sylvester Ho, the Office in Charge giving an insight into the beginning of the Catholic mission in Sandakan with the arrival of the Mill Hill Missionary priests in 1881 till the present moment. He gave a clear overview of all the buildings encompassed in the Cathedral compound, the sub parishes, chapels  outstations, schools and hostel..He summed up by giving a detail statistical summary of the Catholic population, number of baptisms, confirmation, number of Sunday school goers, catechists and other related information.

Daniel Fan helping out with the pp projection

John Baptis 2nd from left

John Baptis, the PPC Chairman spoke on the structure of the PPC, its various portfolios and the people involved as well as the parish pastoral plan. He shared that the parish is moving very much in line with the 'dream' of the diocese which is building communities through BECs. As of date, there are 12 established BECs in the Cathedral Parish.

Fr Thomas on the left

Fr Thomas Makajil, rector of the Cathedral briefed the attendees regarding pastoral care and evangelical mission in the outstation especially in the only missionary area of the diocese - the Paitan Missionary Area established some 25 years ago.He highlighted the progress of the mission work in Paitan covering 12 kampongs with a total Catholic population of over 1,000 people. He shared on the many challenges and encounters of the mission work with the indigenous people. The sharing created an ideal background for young people, on which to project the changing emphasis and approaches of missionary work and efforts.

The attendees - IFFA participants and local parishioners

After the briefing session, the participants were hosted to a dinner fellowship, arranged and prepared by the Cathedral. The fellowship helped to get the young IFFA participants to get more acquainted with the local parishioners and enhanced the already established relationship.

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