Parish Priest Fr Wilfred Atin and assistant Fr Gilbert Marcus together with church elders, displaying the Chinese New Year message after the lion dance performance soon after the CNY Eucharistic Celebration morning Mass at St Michael’s Church compound (photo by JJ/Soccom Penampang)
By JJ/Soccom Penampang
Feb 8 2022
PENAMPANG – The annual Lunar New Year Eucharistic celebration is not so much about the significance of the zodiac cycles interpretation but for Christians not to forget our history.
It has been a tradition of wonderful heritage here in Penampang parish since decades ago, said parish priest Fr Wilfred Atin in his sermon during this special occasion morning Mass on Feb 1, assisted by Fr Gilbert Marcus here at St Michael’s church.
‘Being Christians, we must not forget from where we come…some of you may have ‘siang’ (Chinese roots); for example, some with the surname ‘Chin’, some are from the Yapp family, some from Wong … we are all from the ancestors (that) made our heritage,” Fr Atin elaborated.
The first day of the Lunar New Year has, for many years, been celebrated by the Church with Mass as a recognition of the faithful of Chinese descendancy, which is mostly attended by the Chinese faithful whose families have been residing in the district long before the colonial times, but now fully localized with histories of generations through marriages and assimilation as a result of permanent migration.
Fr Wilfred is distributing CNY oranges to the congregation after the Mass (photo by JJ/Soccom Penampang)
Before the Mass dismissal, Fr Atin blessed the mandarin oranges before distributing to the congregation, assisted by Fr Gilbert.
A lion dance performance at the compound outside the church, followed by light breakfast at the adjacent parish hall, concluded the celebration.
