Testimonial from Neophytes

Amanda Jane Segaran

My journey in RCIA has been full of wonderful things. Initially I wondered why I had to attend these classes, but as time went by, I have come to know a great deal more about Catholicism. I became a better person and I gained a lot of knowledge. For example, I learnt how to pray, about the Bible and how to read it, and about the Church and her teachings. I realized I made a great decision to join RCIA and I did not regret it at all. Although this journey took almost a year to complete, I am so happy that I am finally baptised and confirmed as a Catholic, knowing that I am a daughter of God. With the help of my sponsor, I hope to continue my Catholic journey faithfully. Overall, every moment of RCIA was worth it.

Samuel Mok

My name is Samuel. First of all I would like to thank my sponsor Albert, parish Fathers, Sister Martina and the facilitators of RCIA of Saint Mary's Cathedral, for guiding me through the journey to follow Jesus Christ. All this while I did not believe in any religion. I was always busy working and sometimes, when I was free I would follow my wife to Church to attend Mass. I thought that if I only do good and moral deeds, that would be enough.

Lately, I have often been working outstation alone, so I had some time to think about why I felt lost, and I kept asking myself how and why. Then, I started to ask God for help. However, I didn’t know where or how to start, so I decided to join RCIA to find the proper way to follow Jesus. There are many things that I learnt from RCIA – how to read the Bible, how to pray, to ask God to forgive our sins, and to share with and care for others. Faith is the word that I want to apply in my life. I want to have faith in Jesus. When we have faith in Jesus, we will be blessed!

On my Baptism day, I felt so great. All my friends congratulated and greeted me. It’s much better than my birthday party! Now when I receive my Holy Communion the feeling is even better. I feel Jesus is with me in my body. Now I have someone to talk to through my prayers whenever I am in doubt.

Alexander Chung

I’m Alexander Chung, aged 31 years old. Since I was very young, I had always heard about Christianity but without having any deeper understanding of this religion. Although I used to follow my mother attending Mass in the church when I was young, I would only follow the readings and responses as in the Mass book, without knowing the real intention and meaning of the prayers or the rituals during the Mass.

Sometimes I felt left out and I had felt I wanted to know more about Christianity, however due to lack of determination, faith and knowledge of where to start learning, I left the idea behind.

Things went on until I encountered one of the biggest trials of my life when my Mom was diagnosed with pancreas cancer. I was sad, depressed and felt hopeless during that period of time. There were dark days when I found that I had no place or no one to turn to. Her sickness was getting worse, and that’s when I started to pray to God and attending Mass again. Somehow, through prayer, it eased my pain and I found peace and began to accept what was happening. At my mother’s funeral, I met Uncle James Chow and he asked me to join RCIA if I would indeed be interested to learn more about Christianity.

Throughout the RCIA sessions, the facilitators had shared with us their experiences and guided us in knowing more about the Catholic Church’s teachings, ways to read the Bible, how to pray and sharing of knowledge about Christianity. I would like to thank all the facilitators for their time, patience, kindness and help throughout this year of RCIA sessions.

After spending 11 months in the RCIA sessions, I got to understand more of Jesus’ teachings through Bible reading. I learned to be more forgiving, to have patience and to provide help to those who are in need. Besides, I also learned to be more self-contented. I started to be more grateful with what I have now rather than be envious of what other people have or chase after material wealth and possession. I know this is just the beginning of the journey to learn about God and I will try my best to keep building up my faith.