A New Diocese and a New Bishop   

Oct 15,  Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio, Apostolic Delegate to Malaysia solemnly proclaimed Sandakan a New Diocese and ordained its first Bishop, Rt. Rev Bishop Julius Dusin Gitom in a ceremony this morning at the St. Mary's Catholic Church, Now St. Mary's Cathedral, attended by about 4000 people including State and Federal ministers, leaders and representatives from other Christian churches; the new bishop's family members and parishioners from throughout Sabah.

Though the celebration was scheduled to begin at 9.00am, all the seats in the church and additional seats at the structures erected outside the church were all occupied as early as 7.30am.

To avoid traffic congestion, drivers were advised to park their cars at various locations and several mini buses were deployed to ferry passengers and drivers to the church and back to their vehicles after the celebrations.

His Grace Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio, the Principal Consecrator together with 12 bishops from Penang, KL, JB, Kuching, Miri, Sibu, Brunei Darusalam, K.Kinabalu, Keningau, Singapore, Kalimantan and 62 priests began the procession from the parish hall. More than 1000 faithful who could not secure any seats lined the route cheering the processions. It was a scene of jubilation.

Bishop John Lee and Bishop Cornelius Piong, both from the existing dioceses in the state of Sabah concelebrated.

Rev. Fr. Nicholas Ong read out the Bull of Erection of the Diocese of Sandakan from the Holy See. He also read out the apostolic letter from the Holy Father during the Presentation of the Bishop-Elect.

The celebration lasted more than 3 hours and was partly delayed by the heavy downpour during the distributions of Holy Communion.

During the photo session immediately after the celebrations, it was like a war zone as everyone was eager to have a photograph taken with the new bishop. A group of Indonesian visitors, still with their pre-Vatican II veils on, kissed the bishop's ring with immense expression of reverence and love.

Fr. Simon Kontou, parish priest of St. Mary thanked Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio for his presence and presiding at the celebration; the committee who had work hard in the preparation of this grand event. He stressed that the erection of the diocese of Sandakan and the Episcopal ordination of Bishop Julius marked an important milestone in the development of Sandakan and he exhorted everyone to work hard.

Speaking at the end of the Eucharistic Celebration, Bishop John Lee of Kota Kinabalu, thanked the support and presence of his brother Bishops who turned out in full force and Bishop Voo, chairman of the conference of Churches of Sabah. He was delighted to unload the baggage of parishes in the East Coast. Reading from his message in the souvenir magazine, he said, "I feel relieved; parishes in the east coast have always felt Kota Kinabalu is too far to be able to appreciate their local problems and needs".  He reminded the parishes that they must not simply put their bishop on the throne and leave him there. " You must work with him", he added.

When it was his turn to speak, newly ordained Bishop Julius Gitom thanked the list of people who came to give him their support. He especially thanked his former boss, Bishop John Lee; "Because of his pastoral leadership, the diocese of Kota Kinabalu has to be divided for the second time". He thanked the pastoral council chairman, Michael Pang who was not present due to illness and asked the congregation to pray for his early recovery.

Bishop Julius Gitom was born to Gitom Tinggagau and Sodingkok Sulat in kampung Lokos, Tampuruli on 14 October 1957, the second child in a family of six.

He began his priesthood journey by attending a two-month preparatory course from January-March 1982 in Kota Kinabalu. From April 1982, he entered the St. Peter's College in Kuching, Sarawak

He was ordained by Bishop John Lee on 19 November 1989 at St. Pius X Bundu Tuhan. After his ordination, he served in parishes in Penampang, sook, Keningau, Lahad Datu and Tuaran until 1995.

He was sent to further his studies at Pontifical Lateran University in Rome where he obtained a licentiate in moral theology.He went on to obtain a master's degree in spiritual theology at Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Upon his return, he lectured on spirituality at St. Peter's College in Kuching from 2000-2003. He went on a three year licentiate course on canon law at University Santo Tomas in Manila and returned early this year.