A COMMUNITY UNITED IN FAITH

On Tuesday, 12 August 2025, our PPC and PCC met to review our Parish activities and performance for the first half of 2025. As the discussion progressed, we realised that only a few events and formation sessions had been organised for our own parishioners. However, most weekends have seen many pilgrims from the West Coast and the southern part of Peninsular Malaysia, visiting our Parish - which has been designated as a Jubilee Parish for this special pilgrimage year.

This Jubilee Year of Hope has truly been a wonderful time, filled with welcoming pilgrims and sharing Christ’s love and hope. Many pilgrims have expressed heartfelt thanks for the warmth and care they experienced during their visits.

We recognise that caring for our parish-family’s faith and needs is vital to our mission. As we look ahead to the coming months, we are eager to continue the spirit of good-work in building the Parish community through various events, activities and formations that will benefit both parishioners and pilgrims.

This month, Pope Leo XIV urges us to pray for societies to avoid conflicts due to ethnic, political, religious or ideological differences. His words are pertinent as Malaysia celebrates its 68th Merdeka Day, reminding us to respond to differences with kindness, respect and fraternity. Even locally, misunderstandings can occur among neighbours or across cultures. Peace begins with us – through forgiveness, listening and kindness. Small acts - such as offering greetings, showing patience and lending a helping hand - foster connections that unite rather than divide.

Together with building peace, we are also called to care for creation. This year marks the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si’ - Pope Francis’ encyclical on the care of our common home - reminding us that protecting our common home is both a moral and spiritual responsibility. As a parish, we have already taken small steps by placing recycling bins within our premises and reducing waste. However, the real challenge is an ecological conversion – a change of heart that shapes the way we live. We now pledge to carry these efforts forward by avoiding single-use plastic, conserving water and electricity, and teaching our children to love and respect nature. Even small changes at home can make a difference in our wider community.

Our Parish Pastoral Mission - guided by the Holy Spirit - calls us to cherish our faith, strengthen families and youth, build the Church from the grassroots, live synodality daily, root all service in prayer, respond to God’s call, celebrate the sacraments, be a welcoming Church, and live in ongoing repentance.

As we journey through the rest of the year, may we commit ourselves to peace, care for creation, and the mission that God has entrusted to us. Guided by the Holy Spirit, may we hear God’s Word - understand it, and live it out - so that our parish may shine as a community united in faith, active in love, and joyful in hope.

GOSPEL VALUES THROUGH ECOLOGICAL AWARENESS

On Saturday, 9 August 2025, our Parish hosted a special formation session on ecology and the environment. It was led by Rev Fr Andrew Manickam, the Ecclesiastical Assistant for Justice and Creation of the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur, along with his team. We truly appreciated their presence, and we are grateful for their guidance as we came together to reflect on our important role as stewards of God’s beautiful creation.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the encyclical Laudato Si’, by Pope Francis, which calls the entire Church and all people of goodwill to care for our common home. It is a timely reminder for us at the Church of St. Thomas, Kuantan, to examine the ecological challenges around us, and to take meaningful and practical action as a community of faith.

As a parish, we have already started taking small but meaningful steps. A few months ago, we introduced recycling bins within our church grounds. Through ongoing efforts, such as catechesis and friendly reminders in our bulletins, we have begun educating our Parishioners about waste reduction and responsible disposal – and this is only the beginning!

This weekend, as we commit to ecological initiatives through the Parish Pledge, we invite everyone to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle. Recycling or avoiding plastic bags is simply not enough. Instead, we are called to an ecological conversion – a change of heart that enables us to live in harmony with God’s creation. Let us be more responsible in our consumption habits, reduce waste, promote sustainable transport such as carpooling, and be mindful of our resource use.

We encourage everyone in our Parish community to think about ways as to how we can reduce single-use plastic, improve recycling for paper, glass, plastics and metals, and lessen energy and water waste at home as well as in our Parish buildings. These may seem like small steps, but when everyone does their part, it creates an effective ripple effect. 

Let this formation be more than just an event, let it be the beginning of a new Parish lifestyle. We are called to become a community that cares – one that teaches our children the value of creation, supports each other in green initiatives, and influences our wider society by living out Gospel values through ecological awareness.

Each of us can take a moment to reflect on the daily choices we make: what are the choices that I am making daily that either harm or help God’s creation? Think about small changes you might initiate at home, at the workplace, or at school that make a real difference. As a parish family, let’s find ways to support and encourage one another through this meaningful journey. Together, let us embrace this call as a joyful mission, filled with love for the earth, for generations to come.

BUILD PEACE FROM WITHIN

In his prayer intention for August 2025, Pope Leo XIV invites us to pray, “that societies avoid internal conflicts due to ethnic, political, religious or ideological reasons.” His call is simple yet profoundly challenging: that we become people of peace, especially as we prepare to celebrate our 68th Merdeka Day on 31 August.

The Pope reminds us that we live in a world filled with fear and division. “We build walls instead of bridges and forget that we are brothers and sisters.” He urges us to respond to conflict not with anger or suspicion, but with kindness, attention and gestures of fraternity.

We don’t have to look far to see how these divisions are forming. Even in a peaceful area like the East Coast of the Peninsula - with its coastal beauty and multicultural harmony - minor tensions can arise, such as misunderstandings between neighbours, religious or ideological differences, or mistrust among ethnic groups, or political influences that sometimes stir unrest rather than offer solutions. 

In recent times, we have witnessed a rise in political tensions and disunity across the nation. Some leaders, despite having been discredited or removed, continue to push personal agendas in an attempt to regain power. Often, in the name of “protecting or fighting for the rights of the rakyat,” they prioritise their own interests. It is clear that political ambition, family legacy, and personal gain seem to matter more than truth, justice, and the well-being of the people.

Worse still, these conflicts can deeply affect our multi-racial and multi-religious society. When ethnic or religious sentiments are used for political gain, the consequences can be long-lasting. We begin to see each other with distrust. This often leads us to view each other suspiciously - building walls of prejudice and shutting out dialogue. Consequently, peace can easily fall apart.

Yet, the Holy Father’s intention invites us to walk a different path — a path of hope, healing, and unity. During this Jubilee Year of Hope - and as we approach Merdeka - let’s wholeheartedly answer the call to become peacemakers in our home, society, community, and nation. Remember, peace starts from within — in the way we choose to forgive, the way we treat those different from us, and the way we listen with respect.

Small acts of kindness, words, actions and understanding are more powerful than we realise. Every dialogue and gesture of goodwill can become a bridge that brings us closer together, rather than a wall that divides us. Let us set aside pride and prejudice and recognise others with the same dignity, compassion and love that God shows us. 

As Malaysians, our strength is in our unity. Let us not allow narrow interests to divide us. Instead, may this August be a time when we choose to live the Pope’s intention, build peace from within, and become instruments of harmony in our family, church, and society. Peace is not a faraway dream. It begins with us – here and now.