The celebrant receiving the candidates at the entrance of the church
By Dr Lawrence Mah
Sep 20 2022
Fr Paul Lo, parish priest of Sacred Heart Kota Kinabalu, celebrated the Rite of Acceptance into the order of Catechumens on Sunday Sep 4 for the second batch of nine Church of Mary Immaculate (CMI) RCIA candidates.
It was a historic occasion for the 600-strong congregation to welcome the candidates into the community of faithful.
The whole parish witnessed the following: receiving the candidates at the entrance of the church, affirmation by the sponsors, signing of the candidates with the cross followed by the sponsors handing over of the cross to their respective candidates after which the latter joined in the entrance procession and took their seats in the front pews.
In his homily, Fr Paul urged the congregation to give thanks to God for He continues to add to their numbers.
He called them on to welcome the catechumens by putting aside hierarchy and not creating any division so that we can live as one big family of brothers and sisters in the Lord.
He commended the catechumens for choosing to pick up their crosses for it was a brave decision likened to the early Christians who risked rejection from their families when they renounced their old life in order to follow Jesus.
After the homily, the priest presented the Book of Gospel to the catechumens, who were accompanied by their sponsors.
Fr Paul also recalled a brief history of RCIA in CMI, which started in 2021 with seven candidates who completed their journey and received their sacraments during Easter Day on 17 April 2022.
Group photo after the Eucharistic celebration with Father Paul Lo, the catechumens and sponsors
This present group of nine candidates, who started their faith enquiry on 24 April 2022, are the second batch of RCIA catechumens.
However, the 2021 pioneer group of catechumens celebrated their rites at the Sacred Heart Cathedral, specially arranged in compliance with the existing COVID-19 SOP at that time.
