I Joined The Altar Servers To Play Football – Then Became A Priest For 45 Years – Fr Joseph Stephens

 

Fr Joseph Stephen on his 45th Anniversary of Ordination

Fr Joseph Stephens 45th anniversary was a grand affair. All his Redemptorist brothers were there concelebrating with fellow priests from the Penang Diocese.  There were parishoners from Singapore, Johore, Seremban and Kuala Lumpur and his home town who came to celebrate his anniversary. It had all the elements of a joyful affair.

..the visitors from Singapore, Johore, Negeri Sembilan .......

In his sermon Fr Joe said he had no inclination to become a priest. In 1968 he only wanted to play football for the altar servers. His friend told him he would have to join the altar servers first.

He did and every Saturday onwards he would have to sit through 5 Novena sessions, 2 in the morning and 3 in the evening at the Redemptorist Monastery at 31 Tambun Road.

He discovered that Redemptorist priest were very good at repeating themselves. However he found their sermons were inspirational preachings and this point in time had considered becoming a redemptorist.

 After 2 years he applied to join the priesthood and was accepted in March 1970. Over for the next 10 years he lived in Singapore, India and Penang learning the structured life of a Redemptorist coming home only on vacations. "My training was lot of changes and challenges to what God was asking of me".

On August 3, 1980 at the 8.30am mass at OMPH Church he was ordained by Bishop Soter Fernandez.

Fr Joe started working in OMPH Parish in 1984. The parish was growing with a lot of young people were moving into the new housing estates eg Ipoh garden south and east. The parish was alive and growing with different ministries. It was a challenging time.I am grateful for the lay ministries. Without them I could do 10% of the work, with them I achieved 99%. There was much to do.. cathechism, RCIA, preparation for marriage, baptism, visiting the elderly all are done by the laity. 

As such I am grateful and blessed for these talented parishioners who are able to work with the priest. "There isn’t a perfect parish anywhere in the world. God only asked us to build parishes and parishioners and the bishop entrusted us to run it."...Fr Joe.

45th anniversary cake 

(l/r) Fr Francis Xavier, Our Lady of Fatima, Kangar, Perlis, Fr Konstend Gnanapragasam [Asst PP Church of St Joseph, Batu Gajah],  Fr Michael Raymond, Church of Divine Mercy, Penang, Fr Eugene Fernandez CSsR, Fr Surain Durai Raj [College General Penang],Fr Cyril Manayagam [College General Penang],Fr Esmond Chua, OFM [PP Gereja Katolik Risen Christ, Penang],Fr Antony Prabhu, CSsR, Fr Joseph Stephen CSsR, Fr Dominic Santhiyagu [PP Church of the Nativity of the BVM, Butterworth, Penang],Fr Ryan Innas Muthu.[College General, Penang], Fr Victor Louis [PP Church of Christ the King, Sg Petani, Kedah], Fr Paul Kee CSsR, Fr Michael Dass [PP Church of St Joseph, Batu Gajah],Fr Patrick Massang CSsR. Missing Fr Phillip Lai, CSsR.

the dinner after mass

..and fellowship

the Lay Ministry ...with them i manage more .....

....God only asked us to build parishes and parishioners......good job Fr Joe.

JAG

The Forgotten Railway of Kinta Valley by Ansell Tan

Ansell Tan, Producer and an early photo of 'The Forgotten Railway'

I finally saw it ‘The Forgotten Railway of Kinta Valley’ produced by Ansell Tan. The screening was organised by the Perak Academy and held at 1 Jalan Lasam. 

Its a very well produced documentary with a glimpse of the towns on the way to Tronoh and the placement of community services eg post office, police station and market in close proximity to the railway stations. It was arranged that way by the British colonialist. A lovely glimpse into the past history of the 6 mining towns... all to transport people and take out the ‘Black Gold’ ie Tin.

..some early insights to .....

....a time gone by ......

(l/r) Dato' Abdul Rahim, Ansell Tan, Dato' Dr Ramanathan Ramiah and Adib Vincent Tung 

 JAG

My mid-morning ride ....And A Perfect Jalur Gemilang

My Jalur Gemilang .......

 I changed my cycling time from evening to mid morning to get my Vitamin D and was pleasantly surprised there was more activity. 

A current topic now was our Jalur Gemilang. I saw a young lady putting the flag and asked if i could take a pix and she said it was ok. She even held on to JG for a clear shot. Thank you Miss.

..houses looked bright and crisp ...

....the flowers too looked cheery ..... 

...so too with the gardens ......

It was a nice morning

KC

Sybil Kartigasu 'The Forgotten Heroine' Gets More Exposure

Sybil Karthigasu the Eurasian nurse and the only Malayan woman to have received the George Medal for Gallantry will now receive more exposure with a TikTok video of her heroism.

Title: The Forgotten Heroine

I received this forwarded video ten days ago about the time when the BM version ‘No Dram of Mercy’ was launched. The video explains the situation at the time though it missed several important facts. It also does not state the producer. But it does provide a wider exposure to enable Sybil to gain a wider audience.  

A year ago Cardinal Sebastian Francis, bishop of Penang, had called for the beatification and canonization of Sybil Kathigasu describing her as a heroine who protected and nursed local anti-Japanese resistance fighters during the war. 

This year her memoirs “No Dram of Mercy” has been translated into a Bahasa Malaysia by translator Fahmi Mustaffa again gaining her greater exposure. Ipohites were invited to the BM launch with Cardinal Francis in late July at St Michael’s Church, Ipoh.

(l/r) Translator Fahmi Mustaffa receives a token of appreciation from Cardinal Francis, Kenangan Luka the BM book and Sybil's book No Dram of Mercy. 

Sybil’s memoirs are now in four languages English, Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil and soon in French.

Hopefully it will get the attention of the state authorities as her incarceration and torture was at Papan, Perak. Tourism Perak any takers?

JAG

#Fahmi Mustaffa, # Kenangan Luka, # Sybil Karthigasu, 

 

Ipoh's Old Post Office - from my own archives

This was the old General Post Office located behind the Town Hall. The road on left was called Post Office Road. Pix taken in 2020

 

The old Ipoh General Post Office (GPO) was located along Post Office Road now renamed Jalan Dato’ Sagor. Those years we didn’t have internet or social media so all communications was by post. We would get the mail 2 days latest after it was mailed. Call it snail mail but we received our mail in a determined time. Now it could be up from 2 days to a week. So much for good ol’ snail mail….but it WORKED.

The bicycle yard had alot of bicycles. Wonder what was the amount of delivery staff then.

..all the postal counters looked the same i thought except this counter was the customs counter located at the left side of the building  

The postal personel ..delivery staff, counter staff, collecting the evening letters for sorting .....

..the customs staff, the officers sitting behind ....quite a staright forward process

..the postal bicycle yard ...at the open yard between the town hall and the post offce

JAG

Walking in Hope with Mary - OMPH Church’ 53rd Feastday

Our Mother of Perpetual Help...the 53rd Feastday of OMPH Church 

International Redemtorists ..(l/r) Fr Christopher, Fr Ino, Fr Johnson and Fr Eugene Lee

It was warm and hazy evening when the Our Mother of Perpetual Help church held its 53^rd Feast Day celebration. The choir was warming up, the senior parishoners were seated early and Fr Massang serenaded us with his splendid composition ‘Icon of Love’ which everyone enjoyed.

The chief celebratant was Fr Victorino from the Phillippines, with Fr Eugene Lee, Singapore and Fr’s Christopher and Johnson, from India - quite an international line up. 

..the start ..the participants led by the youth flags ..it was new this year ... 

..it was a most interesting entrance ....

...a beautiful arrangement ...never get tired of this scene ....

Ten minutes after starting there appeared a rainbow in the sky directly above the church . Was it a sign that we would not have rain or was it a sign of approval for having this feast day celebration.

..'the RAINBOW Appearence' ...was it 'a sign from above"

..looking east ..so many parishoners ....

..looking south ....

There was 2500 chairs laid out in the car park and they were all taken up. So the turnout was very good.

...looking west ...2500 chairs were laid out .....

Fr Ino delivering his Homily .....

..the communion ...afterwards ...

All was proceeding smoothly until the communion when it drizzeled intermittently and the congregation began moving to the church after receiving communion.

Thereafter the Consecration of Families, the Crowning of Mother Mary was held inside the church. 

moved into the church leaving the outdoor shrine unattended ....

.Fr Ino receives the 'Consecration of Families' book ...... 

the number of families this year was 7,397........

.. flower children led the procession to bring Mother Mary to be crowned ....

..the crown is passed to Fr Ino .....

..who places the crown on Mother Mary ....

The only casualty this year was the prosession to carry Mother Mary around the neighborhood which was cancelled due to the possibility of rain. It would have  been nice if all had been carried out to plan but alas it was not to be.

..last of the agenda was the sumptous fellowship ......

Fr Massang sings the 'Icon of Love'

Servers after the event 

Nevertheless it was splendid feast day and a fulfilling 9 days of Novena.

...after the Feast Day ...the float is kept at Mother Mary's shrine ...

Happy Feastday everyone