The procession into the Holy Mass
By Catherine Wan
Sep 27 2022
KOTA KINABALU – The catechists of RCIA, Sunday Faith Formation and Deaf Ministry from Sacred Heart Cathedral (SHC), Church of Mary Immaculate and St Paul Dontozidon gathered at a Thanksgiving Mass to celebrate the feast of St Robert Bellarmine, the patron saint of catechists Sep 17.
The Mass, which was presided by parish priest Fr Paul Lo at the Cathedral, was also attended by volunteers serving in the parish catechetical ministry for the first time.
The parish priest was grateful to God for the parishioners who are dedicated to serving the catechetical ministry.
He expressed his gratitude to the catechists for their willingness to sacrifice their time and energy on Sundays and public holidays to assist the parish in giving faith formation and preparing students for various sacraments.
He offered the feast day Mass for them as a way of appreciation to all volunteers serving in the catechetical ministry.
Catechetical ministry is an important service of the Church to provide systematic faith formation and activities to students aged 4-16, which normally takes place on Sunday.
The catechetical lessons prepare the students to receive the sacraments of baptism, confession, first Holy Communion or Confirmation.
During the feast day Mass, the first reading and responsorial psalm were proclaimed in BM, while the homily was delivered in three languages (English, BM and Mandarin) by the parish priest.
The choir, who sang English and BM hymns, was mainly formed by children of the catechists from the SHC English Faith Formation.
St Robert Bellarmine, a Doctor of the Church, systematized Church doctrine against the attacks of Protestant Reformers, the presider informed during the homily. The catechism of the Catholic Church is much structured by his writings. The saint devoted his life to the study of Scripture and Catholic doctrine. His writings help us understand that the real source of our faith is not merely a set of doctrines, but rather the person of Jesus still living in the Church today. A short video clip of the saint was shown partially after Mass due to time constraint.
During offertory, representatives of various languages and sub-parishes offered their gifts of love.
After Mass, the various groups grabbed the opportunity to take photo with Fr Paul at the sanctuary.
A lunch fellowship was catered for 210 participants by the parish, which was enjoyed thoroughly by the catechists.
Shortly after lunch, some members from various groups enjoyed the fun of playing during ice-breaker time – passing on the ping-pong ball game whereby members from SHC, CMI and St Paul subparish were mingled to form five teams of five members in each team. The rector involved himself in the excitement of the competition too! Finally, all teams were given different prizes according to their team efforts in passing the balls in the shortest time(as shown in picture below).
