St Joseph’s Hall: Reflecting the Growing Catholic Community at St Mary’s Chapel

A grand opening for St Josephs Hall 

The official opening of St Joseph’s Hall at St Mary’s Chapel, recently marked another milestone in the growth of the chapel.

The hall which is linked to the Chapel was officiated by Vice Provincial of OMPH Church Rev Fr Eugene Fernandez CssR after the 10am Sunday mass on October 9^th 2016.

Rev Fr Eugene Fernandez officiated at the opening of St Josephs hall.

St Mary's Chapel with St Joseph's Hall on the left. At the hilllock behind is 

...the Grotto at St Mary's 

 In his homily Fr Eugene said that the opening of St Joseph’s Hall was a testimony of the faith of the catholic community at Tg Rambutan.

“St Joseph’s Hall is a reflection of a community that is walking with Jesus and a show of their strong faith throughout the years” said Fr Eugene.

Clockwise. The chapel built by three local youth in 1979 and subsequently enlarged during the time of Fr David Anthony.

..after which activities such as mass, baptism's and wedding was held there.

Indeed the Catholic community at the 8^th milestone, Kg Tersusun, Ulu Kinta has grown from a community of five families in the 60’s it now boasts of having over 100 families, a chapel and hall and a grotto atop the adjoining hill.

A slide presentation of the history about the community stated that during the 60’s and 70’s the community was served by the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, 16 Km away.

The community initially held their Mass at the nearby Methodist School. It was not until 1979 that three local youth from within the community built the chapel at the present location.

The community subsequently enlarged the chapel during the period with Fr David Anthony after which various activities such as mass, feast day, baptism and weddings was held. 

The chapel then was built on government land. In 1987 their application for the land was approved.

The chapel received approval for the land in 1987 and the current St Mary's Chapel was blessed in 1992

The Catholic community at St Mary's. From 5 initially to well over 100 families now.

 It was not until 1992, with a grant of RM70,000 from the Penang Diocesan Fund and together with donations from the parishioners, the present chapel was built and officially blessed and opened by Bishop Antony Selvanayagam.

According to Peter James, Chairman of St Mary’s Project and Upgrading Committee, the project to build a hall was mooted since 2007.

“The initial plan was to have an open hall which was completed in 2010.

“However as there was bouts of theft and vandalism by monkeys from the adjoining hill despite having iron grilles the committee decided to build a closed hall”

A fundraising was started in 2013 and resulted with the opening of St Josephs Hall.

The mass and opening ceremony saw an attendance of over 350 who also attended the lunch. While St Joseph’s hall accommodated over 200 diners the rest spilled over to the tents outside.

St Mary's Chapel 2016 a far cry from 1979, thirty seven years ago.

The Offertory on October 9, building materials, sweets and a souvenir.

The morning mass was held smoothly amidst a melodic choir and a responsive congregation.

A view of St Mary's from the top of the Grotto. 

A full house luncheon at St Joseph's Hall paying attention and ....

...listening to Rev Fr Eugene Fernandez, Project Chairperson Peter James and viewing the slide presentation of St Mary's brief history.

Fr Joseph Stephen with members of the Project committee. 

Lunch is served ....

...with ample seating comfort to enjoy ones meal

Fr Joseph Stephen and Peter James presented souvenirs to thank the benefactors (l-r) Lawrence and Kathy Tham, Francis and Irene Ng, Dato Simon and Datin Miki Chan and Michael and Phyllis Goh

 In contrast to the images of a young and growing chapel some thirty years ago the progress that St Mary’s Chapel displays now is a clear testimony of the faith of a community that has helped it grow and progress.

The multiple members from the Redemptorist Congregation who have worked with the residents to grow the community over the last 40 years. 

Communion (video) at St Mary's Chapel, October 2016.

JAG 

OMPH Church Ipoh Celebrates The Mid-Autumn Festival

OMPH Church parishioners before the start of the lantern walk.

The Mid-Autumn Festival has been celebrated all throughout Ipoh town recently and OMPH Church not wanting to be left out held their own festival celebration at Parish level.

The event was organised by the Chinese Apostolate group. (above pix) Richard Choo from the Chinese group addressing the guests. (below) The MC's addressing the guest in English,Chinese and Bahasa Malaysia

The Parish event was organized by the Chinese Apostolate group and held at the Church premises last Sunday evening September 11.

Rev Fr Joseph Stephen welcoming the parishioners.

It was an elaborate affair with Parish Priest Rev Fr Joseph Stephens officiating at the event.

The evening started with dinner being served before the commencing of the activities.

A slide presentation explaining the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival during dinner. 

While the parishioners dined a video explained how the Mid-Autumn celebration came about.

Dance presentation by the Chinese Apostolate group. 

The activities after dinner included dances by the Chinese section and games where both young and senior could participate in.

Games. Passing the hula hoop without breaking the human chain

The winners of the Treasure Hunt (above) and the participants(below)

A section of the parishioners viewing the activities

The final event of the night was the lantern walk held at the parking lot within the church.

The final event, the Lantern walk was what all the children were waiting for.

Some of the families that participated in the walk.

It was an evening of fun for the families in the Parish that concluded by 10pm.

JAG

The Bronson Chronicles: Hash House Harriers Hike from Gopeng to Cameron Highlands, 1970.

The HHH group in 1970 that hiked to Cameron Highlands from Gopeng.

'Bronson'..thanks for the photos

This report is a flashback based on photographs taken by an Ipohite named Bronson (not his real name)

The name Bronson was taken from a TV drama at the time called ‘Then Came Bronson’ about an American motorcyclist astride a Harley Davidson riding around the country.

Bronson too rode a motorbike, a British model single cylinder AJS 500. Bronson liked to take photographs and used an 35mm viewfinder camera.

HHH 2016 (left pix 5th from left) Foo Wan Shoon, Liew Chee Tuck and Foo Wan Thot after dinner and their Friday run. (right pix) Liew and Wan Thot identifying the 1970 team.

Photographs those days were printed and recently when he had returned to Ipoh passed me a stack of photographs with captions of what was the occasion and where it took place.

Bronson’s prints’ was still in good condition and I had selected this report of his hike with the Hash House Harriers from Gopeng to Cameron Highlands. The year was 1970.

As Branson could not recall all the names of the Harriers on the hike he referred me to fellow runner Foo Wan Shoon who in turn referred me again to his brother Foo Wan Thot and fellow runner Liew Chee Tuck.

I recently met the trio at dinner after their Friday run at Falim but was asked to meet again the next day. The trio were in their 60’s and 70’s now but with the aid of the photographs still remembered the hike fondly.

The late Jackett Simpson (centre, left pix) with Dato Bill Davidson. (right pix) Dato Davidson

According to Liew the hike took place in 1970, a year after the 1969 May 13 riots. It was organized by then Osborne and Chapel Gopeng Manager the late Jackett Simpson.

“Simpson worked in Gopeng and he made arrangements for the transport and orang asli guides.

“At the time before we went into the jungle we had to register ourselves at the Gopeng Police station.

“All the hikers met at 6am at the Station before boarding a lorry that took us along the Gopeng  pipeline until the point of entry at Sg Itek. From there we began our track up to Cameron Highlands.

“We had orang asli’s to guide us uphill. Our journey was a mix of jungle tracks and streams and despite the hike being grueling all of the way we managed to exit at the Bharat Tea Estate before Tanah Rata at around 4.30 pm.

The track was uphill

(left pix) Foo Wan Thot and King Lee Hoo Keat, (centre) Charlie Loh, (right pix) Wan Sai Phan and Aziz.

and gruelling 

...but we came out at Bharat Tea Estate (above pix) at 4.30pm.

According to Liew the group stayed the night at the Foo Yat Kai villa located at Tanah Rata and returned home the next day.

He added that during that period in the 60’s the HHH was the only group that did the climb from Gopeng to Cameron Highland and the 1970 hike was the groups 3^rd since 1966.

Liew recalled that the HHH Perak Chapter started in 1966 stating that some of the early pioneer members besides himself was Foo Wan Thot, one time a Grandmaster, his brother Foo Wan Shoon, Phillip Leong who for a time the secretary who wrote the raunchy newsletters and then there was Bronson.

Liew was introduced to the club in 1968 by fellow runner Phillip Leong.

“At the time HHH was mainly a club made up of of 90% expatriates. However when we joined it was for the exercise and it was fun as at the end of the run there was a beer wagon waiting”.

Liew described Wan Shoon and Bronson as the young members of the group that was always ahead of the rest,

(l-r) Bronson and Wan Shoon, the 'young' runners that was always ahead of the group.

“Especially for Bronson. He would wear jungle boots and run ahead of the rest which was possibly the reason he could capture all the photographs”.

A visit to former secretary Phillip Leong brought back memories describing those days as so much fun and camaraderie.

(l-r) Bronson, King Lee, Charlie Loh and Phillip Leong (5th from left and inset) 

As he looked at his old photograph the his main mention was that he was so slim and had more hair then.

Apparently the photographs of Bronson rekindled a spark in the lives of these former young men all of whom recalled their adventurous times four decades ago.

(l-r front row) Foo Wan Shoon and Bronson. (Bottom row from left) Liew Chee Tuck. (l-r back row) Foo Wan Thot and Jacket Simpson (4th from left)

As for this report it portrayed a time when young men of those days found the jungle as a fun place and a challenge.

JAG

One Big Happy Family - OMPH Family Day

OMPH Parish which currently has over 5000 families consisting of close to 40 BEC’s and stretching from Tg Rambutan and Bercham to Taman Cempaka held their Family Day Food and Fun Fair last weekend and it was great fun for all throughout the morning.

the Family Day at OMPH Church.

The event started at 9am and saw a steady stream of parishioners walking through the 41stalls offering food, games and activities.

A wide variety of food was on sale by the various BEC's 

...nuggets and burgers

.. "Spaghetti Joe" guess who...

...(l) Sarawak Laksa and (r) Pancake Shang Mee...

the large dining area 

(l) Muscleman Freddy's soft drink stall  (r) the ladies group from KL selling cakes and cookies.

There was a whole variety of foods available from designer ‘Spaghetti Joe’ meals to nasi kunyit, genuine Sarawak Laksa specially made by none other than true blue Sarawakians themselves, delicious Tom Yam bee hoon, satay and delicious cakes and bisquits made by a generous group who came all the way from Kuala Lumpur.

Banana Leaf lunch

There even was a banana leaf stall set up for lunch which was well patronized.

A team of DJ’s provided by Melvin and his brother Justin contributed a steady flow of requests throughout the event.

(l) Dishing out the song requests Melvin and Justin while Fr Masang looks on (r) RELA on duty

For the children there were game stalls and face painting, henna art and an inflatable jungle gym while a large number of the children participated in the coloring competition.

the games stalls....

...prize giving for the childrens coloring competition

...face painting and clowning around...

inflatable jungle gym....

With a wide variety of activities to occupy the time it was no wonder that whole families from young to old supported the morning.

Fr Joseph Stephen and Fr Eugene Fernandez networking with the parishioners

(l) Edwin William and family (c) Jennifer Yoon with Jonalyn and Kingsley Ho (r) Michael Duorado and JAG

Strong turnout from the families in the parish

Families and parishioners of all ages 

Mother and daughter and sisters

..families and friends

Body art is for all ages....

Pumkin and Patch (below), pets of Sr Lourdes, were helping at fund raising at the Good Shepherds stall.

Many were seen having a light meal and chatting under the huge dining tents (below) enjoying the day and listening to the DJ’s selection of music.

A note of appreciation to the participants of the cooking competition for preparing a quality menu consisting of a starter,main course and dessert.

Judges busy food tasting (l-r) Peter Bucher, Peter Chong and Elaine Wong 

...the Starters

the Main Course...Blue sea chicken rice, roast pork and Acar Fish

...Desserts

(l-r) the winners... Kelly Siew, Anna Chow and Ashley Wong

The last event before calling it a day was the “Guess the weight of the cake” (below)which took its last ‘guess’ at 2.15pm.

The weight of the cake was 7.8kgs and had two winners Jacinta Emmanuel and Socoro Sibatun.

(l) the Chinese group and (r) the group from St Mary's Chapel Tg Rambutan

 Overall the event was a wonderful day of friendly networking amongst family and friends from throughout the parish which prompted Fr Joseph Stephen to convey his thanks to all those for making the day a wonderful success.

JAG