Sylvester Ho |
Sandakan : On the 10th day of the IFFA Mission Project, Thursday 10th February 2011, participants attended a briefing session on the history and background of the Church, the general statistical summary, pastoral plan and direction and the various outreach programs in the Paitan Missionary Area under its care.
The session started with Sylvester Ho, the Office in Charge giving an insight into the beginning of the Catholic mission in Sandakan with the arrival of the Mill Hill Missionary priests in 1881 till the present moment. He gave a clear overview of all the buildings encompassed in the Cathedral compound, the sub parishes, chapels outstations, schools and hostel..He summed up by giving a detail statistical summary of the Catholic population, number of baptisms, confirmation, number of Sunday school goers, catechists and other related information.
Daniel Fan helping out with the pp projection |
Fr Thomas on the left
Fr Thomas Makajil, rector of the Cathedral briefed the attendees regarding pastoral care and evangelical mission in the outstation especially in the only missionary area of the diocese – the Paitan Missionary Area established some 25 years ago.He highlighted the progress of the mission work in Paitan covering 12 kampongs with a total Catholic population of over 1,000 people. He shared on the many challenges and encounters of the mission work with the indigenous people. The sharing created an ideal background for young people, on which to project the changing emphasis and approaches of missionary work and efforts.