Bishop Julius inspects on-going projects in Lahad Datu and Tawau

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Tawau : Bishop Julius took every opportunity to drop by to meet up with parishioners and to see for himself, firsthand about the ongoing projects taking place in the most eastern part of the Diocese of Sandakan while on his journey to Tawau, yesterday Monday 21st May 2012 to attend the Diocesan priests' meeting and the dialogue session between Sandakan and Tanjung Selur, Kalimantan on 22nd May and 23rd May respectively.

St Angeline's Church, Kampung Madai

His first stop was at Kampung Madai, an outstation of the Parish of Lahad Datu, some 230 km from Sandakan. The first church, St Angeline's Catholic Church measuring 30' x 50' was built in 1988 on a one acre plot of land donated by Angeline Bangad. She arrived from Penampang in the mid-70's and has been staying there ever since. 

Angeline Bangad

According to her, there were not many families then and migrants were few thus the church was considered big back in those days. 'Today, the Church is small. It is not able to accommodate the over 100 parishioners who attend weekly mass. It needs to be extended.'

Marcus Maidin, the Chairman of the Pastoral Committee shared that the Church is to be extended to 30' x 80' which when completed can sit about 160 parishioners.The parishioners come from the surrounding estates.The upgrading work is in progress. The roof, the ceiling and part of the walls have been put in place. The project is expected to be completed before year end. The total cost of the said job is within the range of  RM50,000.00

Bishop Julius next stop was at Kunak, some 243 km from Sandakan. He visited St Peter's Church to inspect the about to complete hall. The hall measures 45' x 80' with a seating capacity of about 200 people. It houses an office for the priest, an administration office, a utility room, a fitting room and a stage. On hand to brief the prelate and Fr Simon Kontou, the Parish Priest of Lahad Datu, about the progress of the building was Jeffery Pang, the coordinator of the project.

L-R : Jeffrey Pang, Bishop Julius and Fr Simon

Jeffrey Pang said that the project is more than 80% completed. The remaining part of the job would be tiling work, fixing the suspended ceiling and painting. The expected date of completion is sometime in September, 2012. The cost is kept within the range of RM150,000.00. 

The L-shaped three-storey Catechetical Centre concrete building in Tawau is 70% completed and is due to complete some five months from now. When completed, there will be 18 classrooms, a mini-hall, a resource room, a music room and an added storey of covered open space floor. The total cost of the building is some RM1.7 million  and the amount raised thus far is some RM1.1 million. The balance of RM600,000 is to be raised among the parishioners through the monthly 3rd bag collection and pledge card system. Thaddeus Sibir, the Chairman of the Parish Property Committee is confident that through God's providence and grace, the balance could be raised.