5. You have a particular concern for the youth in the Church. Can you describe your concern in some detail, and explain what you intend to do about it?

Technically, our Archdiocese defines “youth” as falling within the margins of ages 19 and 35, so I am extremely concerned for the development of our young falling within this category.

At the same time, there is also a host of young people preceding this age group in the catechetical classes. And most often, there is hardly a sense of continuity in their ecclesial life once the post-confirmation classes end. This is why we see many of them embodying a sense of “disconnectedness” with the Church once that catechetical phase is over, and some even dropping out of the Church all together.

To begin with, what do I not intend to do – I do not intend to develop a youth ministry that attempts to mimic other youth ministries which may seem very actively engaged in what they call “youth culture” and attracting crowds of young people.

In the understanding of the Church, the Church itself is a culture, over and beyond any other cultures present in our world. Whilst the two dimensions interact with each other in differing degrees and intensity, there are certain aspects of our Church culture which must be cultivated into the “spiritual DNA” of our young people.

In saying this, I am particularly referring to the liturgical life of the Church.

The liturgy is the greatest act of the Church. I desire to see the young people finding themselves so much a part of the liturgical life of the community that it becomes the nucleus of their life journey for the rest of their spiritual pilgrimage on earth.

I am hoping that we can work towards seeing them so assimilated into the liturgical life of the Church by the time of their confirmation that they would no longer see the termination of their catechetical classes as an “end”, but rather, the beginning of a vibrant life with the wider parish community in service to God and neighbour.

The Eucharist is mission; just as the Body of our Lord is given to us for our nourishment, there is also subsequently the sending out so that we too – like broken bread – might be sent out to be the sacramental presence of Christ in the world. I desire that this be a way of life for the youth of our Church.

If we can somehow journey with them towards this understanding and way of life, perhaps issues of being like other more “influential” youth ministries would not be of great concern. To this end, as far as concerns the young people, my goal is to cultivate a community of youth which knows its identity, each individual knowing who he/she is in the Christ who gave the Apostle Peter the mandate for the establishment of the One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church.

--- End of Interview ---

Posted by SK at 12:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

4. Does this intensifying difficulty in the ecumenical efforts of the Church worry you?

What is more worrying to me is how a number of Catholics are taking on certain characteristics of these new forms of Protestant communities, wanting to mimic the way they worship and the way they regulate their ecclesial life. It is starkly a problem of deficient understanding pertaining to their own Catholic identity.

The liturgical life of the church is the nucleus of our Christian life, and we must be unmistakably clear about that. Nothing should erode the central feature of the liturgy and the Eucharist as the source and summit of our life and mission as a people of God. It is when we have forgotten this gift of God to us that we begin to seek other seemingly fascinating replacements to bring “excitement” and “meaning” back into our ecclesial life all in the name of relevance. It is deeply saddening and a grave cause for concern.

One important requisite of our ecumenical effort is that of standing firm in our Catholic identity. Any attempt to erode our Catholic identity for the sake of unity would merely lead to a false union. An authentic union is possible only when there is a true agreement of our code, creed, and cult. One thing we must never pander to is upholding unity at the expense of truth.

Further to that, I believe that true ecumenism finds its richness only when various partners enter into a conversation being able to freely embody their unique identities without having to suppress or erode them, and still being able to call one another “friends”.

Posted by SK at 12:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

2. Why the Catholic Church? Wouldn't Orthodoxy have been a possible alternative?

Undoubtedly, the Orthodox Church is a possible alternative to my Protestant faith rather than the Catholic Church. I do not deny that this was one of the alternatives that presented itself before me, given that I do have a fascination with Eastern theology.

However, I had three reasons for choosing to become Catholic:

i) my thorough belief in the doctrine of original sin as taught by St Augustine, which is absent in Eastern theology;

ii) my thorough belief in the primacy of the Petrine ministry exercised by the Catholic Church; and

iii) my deep agreement with the catholicity / universality of the Catholic Church as opposed to the ethnic-specific configuration of the Orthodox Churches with which I could not identify.

3. There are so many denominational churches today in Malaysia (and more are forming). Would you comment on this growing trend to “form a new church”? While we strive towards ecumenical closeness, there is a lot more ground to cover with this mushrooming.

The Protestant communities consist of some 40,000 denominations worldwide and continue to grow in that direction. One major development in these Reformation-based communities in the recent decades is the swift emergence of independent congregations which do not place themselves under the leadership of any denominational structure. They often see the historical denominations as a thing of the past, whereas the Holy Spirit is developing a “new wineskin” now in the form of independent ecclesial communities.

It is true that the growth of these newer forms of Christian communities poses a greater challenge to the ecumenical priority of the Catholic Church. But to begin with, the current ethos of Protestantism itself already makes the ecumenical priority difficult enough.

To cite a case in point, the Catholic Church reached a consensus in 1999 with the Lutheran World Federation on the doctrine of Justification by Faith. To be sure, this consensus represented an agreement on the part of the Catholic Church. But how binding was it upon all the Lutheran denominations around the globe? There was not an embrace of that consensus in unison as far as concerns the Lutheran denominations, let alone on the part of other denominations which are offshoots of Lutheran Protestantism.

What I am saying is, this is not a new problem; it is an intensification of an old problem.

Posted by SK at 12:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Most people know that I've recently been received into the Catholic Church.

I was most recently interviewed by a Catholic journalist on my reception into the Catholic Church together with several other concerns. I will post up my answers to the interview in a series of several short posts.

1. What attracted you to the Catholic Church? What may have prompted you to make this move?

In the course of my scholarly labours as a theological student and researcher, I gradually developed a conviction (especially through my study of the Church Fathers) that the Catholic Church is the Church most fully and rightly ordered through time. When I was sent to the Vatican for a meeting in January 2005, three months prior to the passing on of the Holy Father John Paul II, that conviction was further impressed and ratified in my conscience.

Of course, another aspect of the Catholic Church that attracted me was the liturgy as the source and summit of the Christian life. I had prior to that been increasingly journeying towards a more liturgical and sacramental understanding of Christian spirituality.

At some point, I found it extremely painful and difficult to remain a Protestant whilst still trying to be “catholic” (without having to be Catholic). It is hard to be sacramental in an environment that does not promote the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist, as the source and summit of the Christian journey.

Of course, subsequently, the issue of the validity of the Holy Orders of other forms of ecclesial Christianity (and by extension, the sacraments) also became a disturbing struggle for me.

2. How have the responses been from people who know you?

My friends and acquaintances have exhibited various types of responses and in varying degrees. Those who have never been open to the Catholic Christians as fellow brethren consequently held that I had lost my Christian faith (I had apostatised). After all, to certain segments of Protestantism, the Catholic Church is the “Harlot of Babylon”.

Those who were open to the Catholic Church as being Christian held that I had “changed my denomination”, so it was no big deal to them. But when I refrained from participating in the Holy Communion whilst being in their company, that invoked some response too.

Of course, in the self-understanding of the Catholic Church, we are no denomination! With humility but unwavering conviction, we hold ourselves to be the Church most rightly and fully ordered through time, this being a fact we hardly need to defend because it just is.

Posted by SK at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)