Our Catechetical Year 2024 is scheduled to commence on 14 January 2024, and we would like to take this opportunity to invite all parents to actively participate in nurturing the faith of their children studying in our Catechism classes. We appreciate that you were sending them regularly for their faith education, and we have seen their performance and attendance reach up to 95%. We encourage you to continue doing the same this year, so that they will grow in faith and morality. You are responsible for ensuring that your children attend their faith education program on Sundays, just as you make every effort to send them to school and tuition classes.

Registration for Catechism classes are open, and while many have already signed-up, some have not. We are expecting at least 108 students to attend this year’s Catechism classes, so if you have yet to register your child, please do so as soon as possible. On the reopening day of Catechism, we will begin with a spiritual orientation program. It will include the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, and a short briefing for both parents and children.

 

The Holy Father has declared that 2024 will be celebrated as the Year of Prayer. This is a promise and a preparation for the grand celebration of faith that will take place in the Jubilee Year of 2025. The Year of Prayer provides us with an opportunity to prepare ourselves spiritually and emotionally for the holy journey that we will embark on, as a prelude to the grand jubilee 2025 theme of “Pilgrims of Hope”. 

 

As we journey through this year of prayer, the Lord will certainly strengthen our faith and enkindle in us the fire of His love. Let us prepare our hearts to receive the abundant blessings that await us as we journey inwardly. Let us strive for fruitful spiritual growth, and courageously walking towards the golden gate of 2025. I wish you a new year filled with steadfast prayer; always stay on your knees and pray for one another.

 

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is traditionally observed from 18 January to 25 January. The Holy Father chose a theme - “You shall love the Lord your God… and your neighbour as yourself,” (Luke 10:27). The Holy Father’s intention for the month of January 2024 is to pray to the Holy Spirit to recognise and appreciate “the diverse gifts of charisms” in the Christian Churches and “to discover the richness of the different ritual traditions” that are present within the Catholic Church. When we allow “the Holy Spirit to guide us - abundance, variety and diversity will not cause conflict.”

On 25 January 2024 - on the closing of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity - we will host a liturgical celebration and fellowship at our Church by inviting pastors, elders and leaders from the ecumenical churches. May this gathering inspire us to work towards Christian unity, deepen relationships and promote reconciliation among ecumenical churches, enabling us to  love our neighbour as we love ourselves.