Kota Bharu,
Thursday 7th October 2021
Since the Pandemic and the onset of the Movement Control Order (MCO) from March this year, all parish activities ceased and parishioners could not come together even for the weekly Friday masses. The parish was forced to celebrate our Parish Feast Day, in a unique way for the first time in her history, by holding Rosary, Novena and Mass on-line. Using the ‘Zoom’ platform, Fr. Francis Andrew with assistance from the Parish Pastoral Council led by Mr. Gerard Yeo, and technical help from FMM Sisters, Sr. Angeline Poh and Sr. Winnie Vun, Agnes Lee and a number of volunteers, the celebration got underway for the last 5 days.
The overall Theme was: ‘Holy Mary, Mother of God’. Starting from Sunday, 3rd October,
the 5-day celebrations began at 8.00 pm with Recitation of the Rosary, followed
by Novena Prayers and Litany of the Blessed Virgin and ended with Prayers to
Our Lady of Fatima. Mass was then celebrated by Fr. Francis Andrew. The Gospel
was proclaimed by invited guest preachers who also preached the Homily for the
day.
On the first day, parishioners and participants were
pleasantly surprised by none other than His Grace, Rt. Rev. Julian Leow,
Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur. Archbishop Julian preached on the theme, “Mary,
Queen of Peace”
On the second day, the invited guest preacher was Fr.
Dominic Santhiyagu from Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
Butterworth who preached on the theme” ‘Mary, Refuge of sinners’.
The third day’s theme was ‘Mary, Comfort of the afflicted’.
The homily was delivered by Fr. Edmund Woon from St. Joseph’s Church, Batu
Gajah.
On the Fourth day, Fr. Moses Rayappan from the Church of St. Francis Xavier, Melaka gave the
homily on ‘Mary, Mother of Hope’
The 5-days’ celebration culminated on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on 7th October 2021 and the special invited speaker was none other than our own Bishop Sebastian Francis of Penang Diocese. In his introduction, Bishop Sebastian said he was impressed with the Kelantanese custom of dressing up even at the Market (referring to Pasar Besar Siti Khatijah, Kota Bharu ) and He was fully dressed in his vestments with his Mitre during his homily on the theme: ‘Mary, Mother Most Loveable’.
Throughout the 5-days’ celebration, more than 50 – 70 participants were on-line (parishioners and others from
Setiawan, KL, Melaka, and even Singapore, Sabah and Indonesia) to attend the
rosary, novena and mass.
“It was a beautifully well-coordinated event, despite being
the first time we are doing this on-line, with minimum technical know-how, we
managed to bring together the people of the parish even though we could not
physically be together” commented a participant.
By Joseph Wang
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| Beautifully decorated statue of Our Lady of Fatima |
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| Fr. Francis Andrew saying mass for the 5-Days celebration |
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| Archbishop Julian Liow speaking on First Day on' Mary, Queen of Peace' |
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| Fr. Dominic Santiago speaking on 2nd Day's theme: "Mary, Refuge of Sinners" |
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| Fr. Edmund Woon speaking on 3rd Day 'Mary, Comfort of the Afflicted' |
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| Fr. Moses Rayappan giving his homily on 'Mary, Mother of Hope' |
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| Bishop Sebastian Francis was with us on our actual Feastday, 7th October 2021 |
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| Bishop Sebastian Francis said he was impressed with the Kelantanese custom of dressing up even at the market. (Above: a photo of the colorful Pasar Beasr Siti Katijah , Kota Bharu) |
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| Bishop Sebastian Francis was with us on the actual Feast Day on 7th October 2021 with some of the participants on zoom |
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| More participants who followed the celebrations online |
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| Fr. Francis Andrew and all parishioners wishing Sr. Angeline Poh a Happy Birthday whose birthday falls on the 7th October! |
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