Testimonial From Herman Khoo of St Mary's Cathedral, Sandakan

Compiled by Suzanna Hon

334 new members were accepted into the Catholic Church during Easter Vigil, 26th March 2016 in the Diocese of Sandakan of which 135 were baptized in St Mary's Cathedral Parish. A few neophytes will share on their journey of faith.

I am Herman Khoo, born and brought up in a Buddhist family.

My wife is a Catholic and we were married in the Catholic Church. My 3 children were baptized in the Catholic Church.


I knew there's a Catholic religion long before I joined RCIA because I went to a Catholic school. Even though my wife and children are Catholics, but if you ask me what is Catholic Church about I can only tell you that all I know is; there's Jesus, they go to church every Saturday or Sunday, they celebrate Easter and Christmas.

One day, my wife invited me to join the RCIA. I asked her what is RCIA? She said, 'just go and experience for one session and if you don't like, you can simply stop.'

I decided to go because I wanted to know what actually is the Catholic faith. I was interested to know what I can learn from the church's teaching and most important of all, is what are my children learning about the faith.

After being with RCIA for over 9 months, I learnt and understood that basically RCIA is more about sharing in the experiences of God in our midst, learning the teaching, culture and the faith of Catholic Church. Now I know and understand why the church have masses, why we need to attend mass, why and how Jesus died for us, why we have sin, what is the seven sacraments and many others about Jesus Christ and the part of Mother Mary in the life of Jesus.

In my opinion, through the RCIA process, my faith is discovered, beginning to set root and grow. I believe in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, though I still have not experienced the Holy Spirit yet but I believe the Holy Spirit is in our midst. I believe this is the beginning of my faith. I still need our Lord Jesus Christ to guide me, and there is still a long way for me to learn and understand from the bible. Amen.

Blessed Easter and may God bless us.