A message from La Salle Br Anthony Rogers:
Before you forget 2024, recall just three of your most beautiful and joyful memories and try in 2025 to make it SIX.
A happier you is a better Malaysia and more loving world. Your self-care, a kind word, an act of caring and openness to others outside our walls are the bridges to change strangers into God’s friends.
As Malaysia assumes the chair of Asean on 1 January, the nation faces critical choices at home and abroad.
Global tensions, regional turmoil and domestic challenges demand serious attention.
Global challenges
China and Russia’s rivalry with the US has intensified, with Brics being set up to rival Western hegemony.
This message by Fr Fabian Dicom:
Tonight, we come together from many different places, each with our own story – some filled with joy and tradition, others seeking something deeper, and some perhaps simply searching for peace in a world that often feels uncertain.
Whether you are a visitor, here for the first time, returning for your annual mass, or not of the Catholic faith, know that you are warmly embraced and deeply welcomed.
Our guest writer today is La Salle Br Anthony Rogers, who wrote the following reflection for Christmas:
We cannot sing Joy to the World without tears in our eyes.
The Prince of Peace, the Lord of Life, was born in the Holy Land, but today, it is the graveyard of Death and horror of Sorrows.
When I was mulling over what to write this time, La Salle Bro Anthony Rogers texted to suggest I write about “Genocide at Christmas: Walking with the Palestinian Jesus into the 21st Century in the context of Jesus’ prayer for ‘Your Kingdom Come'”.
Really, how do we celebrate the birth of Jesus with joy and good tidings when a genocide is taking place in the Holy Land? Many of the Christmas celebrations in church and outside are taking place without even a mention of the massacres not far from Bethlehem.
This book by Jesuit priest Paul Dass has recently been published: Integral Human Development: History and Memory – A Local Church Chronicle
Read the foreword by Kuala Lumpur Archbishop Julian Leow:
Remembering our past makes our present strong. A strong present helps us build a strong future.
This book by Fr Paul Dass, SJ about the history of the practice of integral human development in the life of the local Church helps us to remember our past so as to build our future.
This was the scene at the Penang International Dragon Boat Regatta last Sunday.
Someone from the state government gushed over the “stunning waterfront” at Straits Quay. But this ‘moonscape’ photo reveals something else – the utter desolation which will soon make way for high-density property development.
Aliran has come out with a statement calling for real protection for the whistleblower in the eye of the storm:
A whistleblower’s allegation that multiple state assembly members were involved in a major corruption scandal is serious enough for the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate it urgently.
A primary schoolmate of mine from Penang reflects on precious moments from a generation past:
Do you remember those lazy Sunday mornings, when the air was thick with the scent of spices and the promise of a hearty meal? Where we’d sit at those rickety wooden tables, eagerly awaiting a steaming bowl of white curry mee.
Aliran’s latest media statement below:
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s outrageous response to criticisms of his “acceptance” of Najib Razak’s empty 1MDB apology is deeply troubling.
Anwar did not just dismiss public concerns; he showed contempt for those alarmed by latest developments. In bizarrely calling himself “father of the nation” – an accolade usually bestowed by others – he also revealed a feudal, patriarchal streak, similar to former Prime Minister Mahiaddin “Abah” Yasin’s.