The demise of Monsignor Anthony Thomas on
24 September 2017 has brought great sadness and grieving to those who have
known him personally and to those who have worked with him closely in various
parishes in the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur.
I have very little experience working with
the late Monsignor Anthony Thomas. In January 2002 I was assigned to do
pastoral work for a month at the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Peel
Road, Kuala Lumpur. It was an assignment just before my final year in the
seminary. I stayed with him and I worked with the youth ministry and altar
servers. He hardly spoke to me and he seldom invited me to have meals together.
I noticed he was a poor eater and he always skipped his meals. He was a very
observant man. On my last day of my mission in his parish, he commented on some
of my good qualities and appreciated very much the enthusiasm that I had in
carrying out my task with the youths and altar servers and his congregation.
During my early years priesthood, I didn’t
interact and converse much with him. When I was posted to Seremban, I had an
opportunity to work with him at the Negeri Sembilan district level. He was then
Parish Priest of Church of St Aloysius, Mantin (2008-2013). During that time
his memory was slowly declining. We used to hold our priests’ district meetings
in Seremban. However, on two occasions he lost his way to the Church of
Visitation, Seremban. Once he drove around Seremban town for almost 2 hours
before getting to the Church. The second time he ended up in Port Dickson. From
then on I decided to send someone to fetch him from his parish.
During one of our district meetings he
shared with our district priests about his joy of ministering in his parish. He
told us that he had only 70 families and majority of them are Chinese. He
expressed his wonderful time visiting all the families in Mantin. It was a very
small community but he brought life to his parish. He too shared with us about
his intention to refurbish the Carmelite Monastery, which was situated at the
back of his Church. The monastery was abandoned for few years after the
Carmelite Sisters moved to their new premise at Seremban. He wanted to turn it
into a pastoral center for the state of Negeri Sembilan. I was so impressed
with his ideas and his visions for the churches in Negeri Sembilan even though
his mental health was gradually deteriorating.
I was able to work together with the late
Monsignor Thomas for two years in the same district before pursuing my post-graduate
studies in overseas from 2010 to 2012. In 2013, I went to pay him a courtesy
visit as well as made my confession with him at Mantin. After that we sat
together but we hardly spoke to each other. Each time when I said something he
just ignored me. For almost an hour he just didn't pay attention to me. That
made me bored. Finally, I asked him, “Father, shall we go for a drive?” He was
so agreeable and I took him for a drive towards Nilai town and we visited
Church of St Theresa, Nilai. He was so high-spirited after that. I realised he
liked driving around by car.
Lately, a few months before his passing,
Cardinal Soter Fernandez insisted that I come and visit Monsignor Thomas at the
Little Sister of the Poor, Cheras so that we could take him for a drive in the
town. Today, I felt sad that I didn’t make an attempt to take him for a drive
together with Cardinal Soter.
The late Monsignor Thomas was a man of
prayer and a very good priest and counselor. He built beautiful Church
community centers and grew faithful communities in all the parishes that he was
sent to. He left a very significant legacy in each parish that he served and
ministered to. Today, these parishioners really miss him dearly and expressed
their sympathy that comes from their hearts. “Monsignor Thomas, our thoughts
and prayers are with you!”
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