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The Kudat parishioners entered the church on 30th June 2002, a day that will live down history as the day, Kudat celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Diocese of Kota Kinabalu at parish level and also that of their patron saint, St. Peter and St. Paul's Day. The church was fully packed that morning.
That Sunday morning, Kudat saw some over 500 parishioners from the three churches in Kudat; St. Peter Kudat, Our lady Immaculate Taipa, and Sacred Heart Tajau, at St' Peter's Church, Kudat to attend the Holy Mass at 8.30 am and there after to take part in the Jubilee celebrations They first assembled in the Rev. Fr. de Wit Memorial Hall and walked to the church in procession, preceded by the traditionally
clad young boys and girls dancing the sumazau for the entrance to the church.
Before this important day, Kudat parishioners had meetings after meetings to plan , discuss ,distribute work so as to make this occasion a success ! Then everybody involved , worked hard for a few months on their allocated project so as to be on their best for this red letter day.
The souvenir book group had to discuss, write, collect data from various sources; compile,
collect advertisements etc before they finally saw their books printed on 28th June; when they had a launching ceremony for the Souvenir book.
The exhibition group, headed by Sr. Marysia, held the most meetings of all. Finally by 26th morning, all schools, church groups from the three parishes put up their charts on the exhibition boards, all colourful and gay.
The Kadazandusun Society led by Sr. Matilda practised Sumazau and the Chinese dance was taught by Susan Liew.
Needless to say, the church members cleaned up the compound and helped with the decorations before the red letter day.
On 23rd June was carried out a 3-step Formation Programme before the parish level Celebration;
step one : Reconcilation and thanks giving , step two : Mary , Star of the new Evangelisation.
Step three : The building up of the local Church through the Eucharist.
Further more there were two rehearsals, one on 22nd June and one on 28th June for this Silver Jubilee Celebrations.
It can be said that the preparations take a long, long time; but the celebrations itself is like the rainbow that lasts only a while, in all its glory !
The first part of this two-in-one event began with the 8.30 am Holy Mass, presided by Bishop John Lee and assisted by Fr. Tobias Chi at St. Peter's Church, Kudat. The Holy Mass was made lively by a Chinese dance for the entrance hymn.
Bishop John Lee began his homily by congratulating the Kudat parisioners for the success in the preparations of this important two-in one occasion . He saw a lot of hard work being done for this event. He also said that it is time for us to look back to the history of the parish; seeing its failure and success while keeping in mind the future of the parish .
The faithful have to be aware that they have to meet the challenge of the ever changing world and at the same time bear in mind the theme of this Jubilee celebration, " To put to the Deep ." The Bishop continued to quote from the message of the Pope , who called all the faithful to keep their
baptismal vows and to be holy and help others to be holy.
Any work or activity done for the church is a vocation and to participate in any church activity is a way to make us holy. St Peter, our patron saint, is an example we should all follow for his devotion and commitment to Christ.
After the Holy Mass, Fr. Tobias Chi, Bishop John Lee, the chairman of Parish Council and the faithful proceeded to the old SRK St. Peter to launch the Exhibition. After that, every one toured round the Exhibition room to see all the exhibits; among them were the History, historical events, the activites of the three churches and of the Catholic schools; namely SMK St. Peter's, SRJK St. Peter, SRK St. Peter, SRJK Our Lady Immaculate Taipa and SRJK Sacred Heart Tajau.
Around 10.30 am, light refreshments were served at the hall for everybody present that morning.
At around 11 a.m., started the Drawing, colouring and jigsaw puzzles Competitions. It was then followed by a singing competition and a treasure hunt.
At night all the parishioners entered the hall and filled up the chairs. They listened to speeches from the chairman of the Jubilee Celebration the chairman of the parish council, Fr.Tobias Chi and Bishop John Lee.
After that began the ceremony of cutting the big Jubilee cake and the sounding of gongs by the chairman of Youth , Women's League, Parish Council, Jubilee Celebration, the parish priest and the Bishop.
It was then followed by a souvenir presentation to the Bishop by the district officer, Mr . Sebastian Lim and other souvenir presentations.
After blessing of the food, everybody present took their dinner at the same time enjoyed watching the stage show.
The day will live down in our memory as a day of God.
This is the day the Lord hath made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it."
~Psalms 118:24~
By
Agatha Lai
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