By Catholic Sabah
CS: Thank you for joining us for our series, Living Faith Stories from Sabah. To begin, could you please introduce yourself?
Petronella: Certainly. My name is Petronella Munting. I was born in Bingkor, Keningau, but I have resided in Papar since the early 1970s. I married a wonderful man from Papar, Gary Wong, and we were blessed with three children. Our family has since grown to include three in-laws and five grandchildren, and we recently celebrated our Sapphire wedding anniversary.
CS: That’s a beautiful family. Now, let’s talk about your spiritual journey. What is your involvement in the Secular Franciscan Order (OFS)?
Petronella: Oh yes, my involvement is very dear to me. I am one of the pioneers of the OFS St Joseph Fraternity here in Papar. My journey began as an inquirer in 1991, and I made my profession along with nine others in 1993. Many were called, but only a few were chosen, and that was the beginning of my true calling. While I was involved in many church activities like the CWL and Family Life, I felt like just a Sunday goer with nothingness in my head and heart. Now, my passion is fully with the OFS. I was elected as the National Formator for the Emerging National Councillors from 2017 to 2025. I have committed myself fully to it, though we will be having our Elective Chapter at the end of this month. As they say, I’ve learned to accept that ‘nothing is permanent’. My passion for the OFS is immeasurable, but I have no choice but to step down due to my age.
CS: What was your first contact with the OFS, and what made you decide to join?
Petronella: In the beginning, I was just curious. I wanted to know, “What’s next? What’s next?” But I stayed for an unusual reason. The more our formators talked, the more blurry and confused I became! I didn’t understand. Because I didn’t understand, and because I hadn’t yet filled that curious and doubtful heart of mine, time just passed. Before I knew it, over a year had gone by, and then the next thing I remember was becoming a candidate. I was even more blurry then, but I still agreed to take the admission rite, and it was done.
CS: So, in the earlier part of your journey as a member, how did you find it?
Petronella: In the earlier part, I didn’t think of many things. I didn’t expect anything. Yet, I stayed until profession, and by then I had already been in the OFS for almost five years. There are many factors why I stayed until now. I came to love the way of life, following in the footsteps of St Francis of Assisi. The simplicity, the humility, the poverty, the prayerfulness, and the care for ecology, it all just spoke to my heart.
CS: Can you explain the life of the OFS and its spirituality to someone who might not know it?
Petronella: You see, I was baptised during my primary school years. My parents and family were pagan, so I studied Catechism on a very minimal basis. My religious knowledge was very, very shallow. When I became an OFS, we were given formation, so much formation by many of the FSIC sisters who were our Spiritual Assistants. It caught my heart. I said to myself, “This is what I want. I like this upbringing in the spiritual aspect.” Without realising it, I have now been journeying in the OFS for over 30 years.
CS: With any journey, there are bound to be challenges. What are some of the challenges you’ve faced?
Petronella: Challenges are everywhere, in every corner of the journey to perfection in the OFS. But challenges make us wiser. As the saying goes, today is better than yesterday, and tomorrow is better than today.
CS: And what about your family? Do they share this journey with you?
Petronella: Yes! My husband and daughter saw my journey for nearly 20 years before they finally decided to join and make their profession themselves. That was a long wait, but a true blessing.
CS: As a former National Formator, how difficult is it to get people to join the OFS?
Petronella: To be honest, I didn’t find it difficult at all to encourage people to join. During my two terms as National Formator, I managed to help establish six new emerging fraternities: four in the Diocese of Kota Kinabalu and two in the Diocese of Keningau. Three of these fraternities have been officially established, and three are still emerging. It was our policy that new inquirers needed to attend 70-100 percents of the formation sessions before they could be professed. As a former school teacher, I never found any hindrance to being actively involved in the OFS. The OFS is an ordo, a way of life, it’s not an organisation with activities for simplicity or humility. It doesn’t require a specific date, time, or venue. You simply carry the values of Franciscan Spirituality with you to your workplace, to any gathering, wherever you are.
CS: That’s a wonderful perspective. But what about the younger generation? How can we best promote the OFS to them?
Petronella: In my opinion, getting the younger generation involved requires more than just promotions. I see it like this: vocation promotions are often not effective, and even movies like “Brother Sun, Sister Moon” aren’t so relevant to them. What truly works is:
• Christian Witnessing: They need to see Christ in us.
• The changes in attitude of their own parents.
• Feeling the love and warmth from OFS members.
• Seeing Christ in the way we gesture and personally approach people we meet, especially in church.
• They need to feel our authenticity. It’s about how we live, not just what we said.
CS: As you prepare to step down from your role as National Formator, what is your wish for the OFS community?
Petronella: As I said, I will be declining any proposal during our coming election. I wish to remind the next councillors to be more committed and to give priority to the OFS. I ask them to improvise on what I have started and to re-do what I have failed in. I have done what needed to be done, and now it’s time for them to do theirs.
CS: You mentioned earlier that the OFS “moulded” you. In your life as a Catholic, was there a greatest challenge that contributed to that?
Petronella: You know, there was no single, big incident. In the OFS, we are only asked to be a better Catholic. It’s all yours to decide. We lay everything on the table; you take it or leave it. For me, I was very active in church, but I was not a good Catholic. Not until I became an OFS. After being formated, grinded, moulded, and shaped, following in the footsteps of St Francis of Assisi… then slowly, the one once known as the ‘Singa Betina’ (the Lioness) became more understanding, more loving, and more tolerant.
CS: That’s a powerful transformation. And in your lowest moments during that transformation, who was your greatest support?
Petronella: Ha ha ha, your question is a bonus question! I could choose not to answer it, but I will. At my lowest moment, I did have someone I could always confide in. He was my spiritual confidante. He would criticise me, he would condemn me, he would bulldoze me with his nasty vocabulary until I fell to the ground, torn to pieces. I shed more tears in silence than ever before. But he could also appreciate me and champion me up to the sky. Through his treatment, his advice, his support, and his encouragement in many ways, he silently made me into an iron lady again. He opened my eyes, my ears, and my heart because before, I used to be closed to the world in countless ways.
