The
celebration commenced with the Thanksgiving Eucharistic Celebration at 7.30 pm,
presided over by Fr Thomas Makajil, the rector of St Mary’s Cathedral Parish. The
Church with a sitting capacity of some 400 people was filled to the brim. In
his homily, he touched on the power of the media, be it printed or electronic,
used to the optimum especially to the run up of the 13th General
Election. The media could be used either to promote goodness and well being or
to the detriment of society.
The
media has long been established even in the days of Jesus Christ. Mark
fulfilled in his life what every member of the Church is called to do ~ to
proclaim the Good News, the source of salvation to all nations. Mark chose to
write the Gospel for he wants to share the teaching of Christ rather than to
keep it.
Inspired by the Spirit, he
worked hard to get the book written, a midst his limitations. We would have
missed much without his work being recorded and published. Acknowledging the power
of the media, he urged parishioners to maximize the use of modern media, the
digital media to spread the Good News.
Demeh
Koyopo, the Chairman of the Pastoral Committee, in his welcoming speech has this
to say, ‘We are grateful to the pioneers who built this Church twenty years
ago. It was then a very big Church building catering to a very small number of
parishioners. Today, it is considered small as it is not able to accommodate
the ever increasing number especially the Bahasa Malaysia speaking communities
and the migrants.’
Bishop
Julius who attended the function thanked and praised God for the blessing showered
upon the local community. Festive celebration is an opportune occasion to bring
people together through organized fellowship. The prelate expressed his
pleasure on the cooperation of all the communities; the Chinese, the KadazanDusun
and the Timorese in making the celebration a success. He urged the communities especially
the BECs and the various ministries to put together their effort in building
the local Church, passing their faith to the younger generation so that the
Church will forever flourish.
Also
present were Sr Lidwina RGS, Sr Veronica FSIC, John Pang, Chairman of the then Building Committee, John Koh, former administrator of the Church, Anthony Wong Chairman of the Chinese Pastoral Community, Petrus Beam, Chairman of the Indonesian Pastoral Community and Arbah of the St Benedict (Merak) BEC.