Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Seratau celebrates St. Francis Xavier's feast day

Kampung Seratau situated at Mile 15 of Kuching/Serian Road celebrated the feast day of its patron saint, St. Francis Xavier on December 3, 2009 with Eucharistic mass and fellowship. Friar Moses Yap OFM celebrated the mass.

Well over 500 Catholics from the village and several guests were present.
Mr. Joseph Ilbaes, the Chairman of the Church Committee thanked everyone for their presence and support. He was proud to announce the progress of the development of the church since commencement about 10 years ago. To date the committee had spent more than RM309,000 for the development of the Church.

The committee presented certificate of appreciation to 16 individuals for their past contribution in pastoral and development works.

The community concluded the event with fellowship meal.

Mr John Naming,
the first
elected Chairman
of St. Francis
Xavier's Church
received a
certificate of
appreciation from
Friar Moses Yap.









Mr. Joseph
Jantan,
the second
Chairman.










Mr. Joseph
Ilbaes,
the current
Chairman.










Mr. Marcus Mijar,
the longest serving
prayer leader,
53 years in total.









Mr. Martyn Patit,
former Church
Building Committee
Chairman.













Cutting the
anniversary
cake.
















General view
showing a full
capacity
congregation.

A visit to Sira

We visited kampung Sira on November 8, 2009 for a good reason.

Read more here.

Lost in translation

I am reproducing the article from Dr Ng Kam Weng (Sin Chew Daily) taken from Malaysia Today . The title of the article is, "Allah can't be substituted with Tuhan in Bible translation."

I am sure all are aware of why this issue is now the hottest topic in the country, but like the learned Minister from Sarawak said yesterday, it is best if this matter is not politicised. For now there is quiet from Sarawak's front. This shows our maturity. Let pray that common sense will prevail.

Read on..

Muslims in other parts of the world (Arabs, Persians, North Africans, Pakistanis and Indonesians) have no objection and are not worried about getting confused when Christians using the word “Allah”. In contrast, some Malaysian Muslims claim to be confused; a strange phenomenon indeed.
By Dr Ng Kam Weng (Sin Chew Daily)

This observation lends credence to the suggestion that the Allah issue is an artificial Malay issue and not a genuine Muslim issue. The truth is that the current orchestrated protests against the recent High Court decision to allow the Catholic Herald (and Christians) to use the word Allah must be seen to be as cynical manipulations by Malay politicians to gain votes from their community.

I am more interested in going beyond these political manoeuvres. Politicians (and that includes government bureaucrats) are happy just to stay at the level of vague suggestions since they have no competence nor care to address real issues of translation. In contrast, Christians must ensure their arguments for the right to use the word Allah are based on concrete evidence supported by a coherent linguistic philosophy of translation of Scripture.

One major demand from the Malay protestors is that Christians stop using the word Allah on grounds that Christians can find a simple alternative, that is, simply substitute the word Allah with the word Tuhan. Unfortunately, this demand only betrays the ignorance of the protestors.
I would have thought that any Malay would know that the meaning of the words Allah (God) and Tuhan (Lord, Rabb) are not the same. How can they suggest that Christians simply use the word Tuhan to substitute the word Allah? To express the issue linguistically, Allah and Tuhan have different senses even though they have the same reference.

Both the terms Allah and Tuhan are used in the Malay Bible. Following the precedent set by Arab Christians, Allah is used to translate el/elohim and Tuhan (or TUHAN in caps) is used to translate Yahweh (YHWH). The two words are sometimes paired together as Yahweh-Elohim in 372 places in the Old Testament (14 times in Genesis 2-3; 4 times in Exodus; 8 times in Joshua; 7 times in 2 Samuel; 22 times in Chronicles; 12 times in Psalms; 32 times in Isaiah; 16 times in Jeremiah and 210 times in Ezekiel, etc.).

More importantly, the word Tuhan is also applied to Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Thus we read of the LORD Jesus as Tuhan Yesus (The word LORD was used to translate the word kurios 8,400 times in the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament. It refers to human beings in only 400 times and refers to God 8,000 times. Of these 8,000 times, 6,700 are substitute for the word YHWH). The transference of the title kurios LORD/YHWH to Jesus Christ is testimony to the belief in the deity of Christ right at the beginning of Christianity.
This simple statistical survey shows clearly that the demand by Muslim demonstrators that Christians simply substitute the word Allah with Tuhan is unreasonable since it renders many Biblical references to God and Jesus Christ incoherent. First, the substitution is incorrect since the meaning of Allah and Tuhan are different.

Second, it creates an absurd situation when Christians try to translate the paired words Tuhan Allah (LORD God). Are Christians now required to call the LORD God, Tuhan Tuhan? This sounds like committing linguistic redundancy. Worse still, the repeated words Tuhan Tuhan come across to Malay readers as suggesting that Christians believe in a plurality of Lords/Gods (since the plural form in Malay is expressed by repeating the noun and setting them in apposition).

Finally, Christians are unable to express the Lordship of Jesus Christ as one who is distinct from the Father and yet shares with the God of the Old Testament, the name that is above every other name — kurios/Tuhan (Philippians 2:9, cf. Isaiah 45:23). In other words, Christians are rendered unable to affirm the deity of Jesus Christ and teach the doctrine of Trinity without the foundational words that maintain the semantic relationship between the words Allah and Tuhan as they are applied distinctively in the Malay Bible.

Christians in Malaysia would do their utmost to maintain religious harmony in Malaysia. Indeed, the Christianity community has made many concessions to accommodate the concerns of the Malay community.

However, it cannot accept the demand that it abandons the use of the word Allah and adopts the word Tuhan as the substitute simply because some ill-informed Malays take offence at their practice — an offence which would not have arisen if only these people set aside emotions and prejudices and examine the historical and linguistic evidence in a calm and rational manner. At the very least, Malays (or rather Muslims) should understand that believers are not at liberty to change the meaning of their Scriptures, the word of God, to satisfy the unfounded scruples of man.

Postscript
I refer readers to the accompanying post, “Translating the Names of God” published in the learned journal (The Bible Translator) that gives more concrete examples of how the names of God are translated in the Malay Bible.
The article also discusses the controversy among some scholars on how words Allah and Tuhan should be used in the revision of Shellabear’s version of the Malay Bible. In any case, all the scholars in the controversy agree that Christians need to use both the words Allah and Tuhan in the Malay Bible. Please note that the article is reproduced (partially) with permission from the author Dr D Soesilo.

Use your talents to serve










More than 90 Catholics received the Sacrament of Confirmation from Archbishop John Ha at Teng Bekap on Sunday, November 8, 2009. Friar Gerard Victor OFM, the Rector of St Ann’ Parish concelebrated the Mass.

Ringing loud and clear was the message from Friar Gerard to the village church committees to connect with the youths and utilise their talents in serving the various ministries at the village level. Likewise, he called the recipients of the Sacrament of Confirmation to serve in whatever capacity at their village chapels. In this way, they can deepen their faith and learn to cooperate for the good of the community.

Earlier in his homily, Archbishop John Ha congratulated the recipients and told them to give their all to God, like the poor widow who gave two small coins, all that she possessed into the treasury. Service to our neighbours, our community is the way to live our life. He prayed that the recipients would witness Christ in their life.

Mr. Anthony Aton, in his welcoming address thanked Archbishop John Ha, Friar Gerard and all who have contributed in one way or another to make the event a success.

Fellowship meal concluded the function.





Pope makes it easier for Anglicans to convert

From Reuters:-

VATICAN CITY, Oct 20 — Pope Benedict today took a major step to make it easier for disaffected Anglicans who feel their Church has become too liberal to convert to Roman Catholicism.

The move comes after years of discontent in some sectors of the 77-million-strong worldwide Anglican community over the ordination of women priests and homosexual bishops.

While both sides stressed the step would not affect dialogue between the two Churches, it was clear it was taken because of the growing number of Anglicans who want to leave their Church.
The Vatican said the Pope had approved a document known as an “Apostolic Constitution” to accept Anglicans who want to join Catholicism, either individually or in groups, while maintaining some of their own traditions.

It marks perhaps the clearest and boldest institutional step by the Vatican to welcome disaffected Anglicans into the fold since King Henry VIII broke with Rome and set himself up at the head of the new Church of England in 1534.

The new structure allows for the appointment of leaders, usually bishops who will come from the ranks of unmarried former Anglican priests, to oversee communities of former Anglicans who become Catholics and recognise the pope as their leader.

“In this way, the Apostolic Constitution seeks to balance on the one hand the concern to preserve the worthy Anglican liturgical and spiritual patrimony and, on the other hand, the concern that these groups and their clergy will be integrated into the Catholic Church,” the Vatican said.
It said the decision was taken to respond “to the many requests that have been submitted to the Holy See from groups of Anglican clergy and faithful in different parts of the world who wish to enter into full visible communion”.

The most prominent recent Anglican convert to Catholicism was former British prime minister Tony Blair, who joined after leaving office in 2007.

The new regulations, due to come into effect soon, will not affect the Catholic Church’s ban on its own priests marrying. But they will continue the age-old practice of allowing a married Anglican priest who converts to remain married.

Anglicans will find it easier than before to join the Catholic Church because they will be able to use a standard benchmark of rules and obligations for conversion.

Men who want to become priests and come from an Anglican background will study together with Catholic seminarians even if they are destined to eventually administer to former Anglicans.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican communion, told a news conference in London that he did not see the Vatican move as “an act of aggression” or vote of no confidence, but part of a routine relationship between the two Churches.

Both Vatican and Anglican officials stressed that both churches would continue dialogue aimed at eventual reunion.

“This is not a comment on the life of the Anglican Communion. This is a response to people who came forward,” said Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster and head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

Vatican and Anglican officials were coy when asked about the number of potential converts.
“We will have to wait and see how many people put their hands up and say they are interested,” said Nichols, describing the pope’s response as “courageous and generous”. — Reuters

Sunday, January 03, 2010

Joint Christmas Carol Service at Bumbok






The Catholic community of Kampung Bumbok proudly hosted the first joint Christmas Carol Service for Semaba zone at the Chapel of St. Maria on 20th December 2009. The members of the choir comprised youths from kampung Bumbok, Semeba, Sudad and Tematu performed superbly in the two and the half hour programme.

The organising Chairman, Mr. Sebastian Ramek, in his welcoming address informed that the community at kampung Bumbok had organised joint Inter-Denominational Christmas Carol Service for the past several years. He said that activity of this nature helped to promote togetherness and understanding.





Friar Gerard Victor OFM, the Rector of St. Ann’s Parish in his opening address said, “Christmas message is for all and not only for the Christians.” Touching on the theme of this year’s pastoral focus of the family, “Family of Love” he said, “Christmas is important because Jesus Christ came bringing peace, love and hope.” In conclusion, he said, “give thanks to God for the Gift of His Son and make God known to others.” Friar Moses Yap OFM reiterated these points in his homily when he explained the meaning of Christmas.

Present were community and church leaders from kampung Bumbok, Semeba, Sudad and Tematu as well as the representatives from the other denominations.





The service concluded with fellowship meal.