For photos of events from 2019 onwards, kindly refer to our parish's official Facebook page.

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS AT ST MICHAEL'S CHURCH - YEAR 2019

We thank the dedicated and very talented volunteers from the Flower group, BECs and Gardening Group for making Christmas at SMC so beautifully festive.

START OF ADVENT SEASON - 30TH NOV. TO 1ST DEC. 2019

The season of Advent began with the switching on of SMC's festive lights by parish priest Fr Anthony Liew, during the sunset mass on the first Sunday of Advent. The church has also been beautifully decorated with Christmas decorations by SMC's dedicated volunteers.
The Filipino group were invited by Fr Liew to sing for the Sunday morning mass on 1st December 2019. Parishioners were treated to a lively repertoire of Tagalog and English hymns beautifully sung by the group with various members of the Filipino community also serving as wardens and lector.

SAHABAT ORANG ASLI - 30TH NOVEMBER 2019

SOA team delivered a second batch of emergency food aid to Orang Asli villagers at another drop-off point near Pos Simpor, Kelantan. Heavy rains and flooding have made the roads very muddy and dangerous causing many areas to be cut-off. The team even suffered a vehicle breakdown on the way back after delivering the aid. May God bless the SOA team and all parishioners and well-wishers who donated generously in terms of cash and kind.

SAHABAT ORANG ASLI - 23RD NOVEMBER 2019

SOA team delivered fortified rice, white rice, milk powder, biscuits and noodles to Gua Musang, Kelantan on 23rd November 2019, in response to the SOS call by the orang asli in Pos Simpor which had also been highlighted in local newspapers and news portals. Rising flood waters and rampaging wild animals had destroyed whatever food crops they had. Parishioners are encouraged to donate 5kg rice, sugar, biscuits, dried anchovies (ikan bilis) and noodles for this emergency response.

CONFIRMATION MASS - 9TH NOVEMBER 2019

Congratulations to the 27 SMC youth who were confirmed during the confirmation mass in the evening of 9th November 2019.

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SAHABAT ORANG ASLI - 26TH OCTOBER 2019

Medical camp to Kg Sekam, Cameron Highlands with medical team headed by Dr Calvin from Taiping Catholic church and Fatimah Hospital's team of volunteers.

SMC FEAST DAY - 29TH SEPTEMBER 2019

SMC celebrated its 129th feast day on 29th September 2019 with a packed bilingual mass at 10am on 29th September 2019. This was preceeded by three days of Triduum masses in English, Mandarin and Tamil (on second Triduum) which saw guest priests Fr Patrick Massang, C.Ss.R and Fr John Chia, CDD celebrating for the English and Chinese masses respectively. Fr Simon Anand celebrated the Tamil mass on 2nd day of the Triduum. SMC's Feast Day mass was celebrated by parish priest Fr Anthony Liew and concelebrated by SMC In-residence priest, Fr Robin Andrews and Fr John Chia CDD. Fr Anthony Liew launched the start of SMC's 130 years anniversary celebration at the end of the Feast day mass by unfurling the banner and affixing a picture of Fr Robin and himself, together with SMC staff in a special frame in the shape of the church, which was set up for the duration of the 130th anniversary celebrations (from 29/9/2019 to 5/10/2020). The theme is "SMC families within SMC Family in Christ". All families in the parish are encouraged to submit to the parish office, their non-returnable family photos (4R size) complete with details of their name, address and contact numbers written at the back. The SMC anniversary committee will then paste these family photos onto the frame.

Our church has also been selected as one of the historical landmarks in Perak which will be highlighted by newly appointed Perak Tourism Ambassador (up to 31st July 2021) Michael Wong, the international Mandopop artist originally from Ipoh and a former member of the church choir here in St Michael's church. The Perak Tourism board has installed a tourist information board containing a QR Code next to the church, which on scanning, will lead users to Michael Wong's audio take on St Michael's church and a write-up about our beloved church. For more details and photos on this and other news on this year's Triduum masses and Feast Day, please refer to our official Facebook page.

SAHABAT ORANG ASLI - 21ST SEPTEMBER 2019

Medical camp to Kg Suak Padi, Bota with medical team headed by Dr Calvin from Taiping Catholic church and Fatimah Hospital's team of volunteers.

SMC FAMILY DAY AND MERDEKA DAY MASS - 31ST AUGUST 2019

SMC parishioners celebrated Merdeka Day with a bilingual mass on the morning of 31st August 2019. Parish priest Fr Anthony Liew celebrated the mass together with Fr Robin Andrews. Fr Liew emphasised the need for us to celebrate our families and our country and that we should all work together towards building our families, our communities and the nation. This parish event, has brought the various families of our church together as they worked together to plan for their respective stalls and programmes for the Family Day. Fr Liew also asked for God to bless our families, parish and our country. At the end of the mass, everyone stood up and sang the national anthem. Fr Anthony Liew then officially launched the opening of SMC's Family Day.

The Parish Family day kicked off with the qualifying heats for Limbo rock, followed by the Dog and Owner Look-Alike Competition. Ten lucky parishioners who displayed the "SMC Our Home of Unity" sticker were presented with bespoke SMC 130 years theme prizes during the Spot and Win Lucky Draw. Various attractive prizes including a smartphone were also up for grabs in the various games. The whole atmosphere was festive and a total of 34 stalls were set up, with plenty of fun games in the parish hall and food stalls erected outside the hall. Families were also encouraged to take family photos at the SMC PhotoBooth which was then uploaded to the church's official Facebook page.

For more photos of the SMC Family Day, please refer to our Facebook page.

SAHABAT ORANG ASLI - 24TH AUGUST 2019

Medical camp to Kg Sinju, Simpang Pulai with medical team headed by Fatimah Hospital's Dr Lee.

SAHABAT ORANG ASLI - 17TH AUGUST 2019

Delivery of food aid to feeding centre at Orang Asli village in Kg Sg Ralak and Kg Pensek, Gerik. SOA has received generous donations of milk powder and other rations from OLOL church, Taiping Catholic church, Quest university and OMPH church. Volunteers from OMPH and Taiping Catholic church also went into the villages with SOA's survey and mobilisation team. Volunteer Dr Calvin from Taiping, now heading the SOA Medical team after the transfer of Dr Albert Yong, conducted an examination of the children at Sg Ralak.

FRIENDS OF JESUS PASSOVER CONCERT- 4TH AUGUST 2019

SMC had the priveledge of hosting Fr Giovanni Giampietro, an Italian priest from in Hong Kong and his team of overseas Catholic Chinese who travel the globe holding musical evangelisation programmes. Fr Giovanni and his team stayed in SMC from 1st to 4th August and entertained the elderly and other churches in Perak during their visit. A youth musical evangelisation programme was held at Sam Tet school hall on 3rd August, specially for non-Catholics. Fr Giovanni also celebrated a full Cantonese mass at SMC on the morning of 4th August, together with SMC parish priest Fr Anthony Liew. The musical evangelisation concert in Sam Tet school hall from 2.00 to 4.30p.m. was jam-packed with SMC parishioners and their non-Catholic family and friends. Fr Giovanni shared his personal life story in perfect Cantonese, and the songs,prayers and sketches were interspersed with personal testimonies from lay people present as well. Also in attendance were Fr Peter Chin C.SsR, Monsignor Stephen Liew and Fr Anthony Liew. Catholic and their non-Catholic members in attendance were invited on stage for everyone to pray over them. The four priests in attendance laid hands and prayed over each non-Catholic. An RCIA booth was also set up and members interested to know more about the Catholic faith were encouraged to sign up. Flyers for the FOJP Online School of Evangelisation, which runs online courses to prepare the catechumenate on how to evangelise more effectively, were also handed out to the people.

SAHABAT ORANG ASLI - 26TH JULY 2019

SOA took delivery of 280 boxes of fortified rice, formulated by Rise Against Hunger organisation, and generously sponsored by Forever Living Products (M) Sdn Bhd. This is equivalent to approximately 60,000 meals. Thank you to Forever Living Products for their generous contribution to the SOA cause.

SAHABAT ORANG ASLI - 20TH JULY 2019

Medical camp at Kg Sg Karah and Kg Lubok Chupak, Gerik.

SAHABAT ORANG ASLI - 29 JUNE 2019

Medical camp at Kg Air Bah Lawin and Lawin Selatan,Gerik.

BLOOD DONATION CAMPAIGN - 16 JUNE 2019

63 pints of blood was collected. Total registration was 81 with 18 rejected. Thank you to all who participated in this campaign.

SHARING CHRIST EVANGELIZATION PROGRAMME - 2ND MAR 2019

Sharing Christ is a 7-week evangelization formation programme organised by the Penang diocese at SMC which began on 2nd Mar 2019. This programme drew almost 190 people from parishes all over Perak, and some parishioners from Penang and Bukit Mertajam churches. Click on our official Facebook page to read all about this.

LENTEN CAMPAIGN 2019

Members of the PHDC would like to thank all parishioners and friends who have generously contributed to the Penang Diocesan Lenten Campaign 2019. The amount collected was RM38,812.15.

SAHABAT ORANG ASLI - 21ST FEB TO 23RD FEB 2019

Delivery of regular food aid to orang asli community in Kg Suak Padi by SOA's team member.

Medical camp at Kg Sg Karah and Kg Lubok Chupak by SOA medical team, dedicated doctors and volunteers from Perak including Fatimah hospital, Ipoh and HRPB Ipoh.

LIGHTING OF CHINESE NEW YEAR TREE - 1ST FEB 2019

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The metal Christmas tree installed last Advent has been repurposed into our parish's very first Chinese New Year tree by creative members of the parish's Chinese Apostolate, led by Lili and William Fong. The tree had been beautifully redecorated with red satin cloth and peony flowers at its trunk and 288 lanterns. It took the volunteers three days to finish decorating this masterpiece. The official lighting of the Chinese New Year tree was done after the first Friday mass and Devotion to the Sacred Heart on 1st February 2019. Before the lighting, Fr Anthony Liew led the sizeable crowd gathered round the tree in prayer and thanksgiving for all the people who had used their God-given talents and gifts to serve the church and build the kingdom of God in our parish. We the parishioners, would like to say a big "Thank you" to the decorating team for gifting our parish with this lovely Chinese New Year tree in time for the Lunar New Year.

COMMISSIONING OF FAITH FORMATORS - 27TH JAN 2019

The rite of commissioning of faith formators i.e. catechists for children's liturgy, Sunday school and RCIA facilitators took place during the 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. masses for English-speaking and Chinese-speaking respectively on 27th Jan 2019.

SAHABAT ORANG ASLI FOOD AID DELIVERIES - 26TH JAN 2019

Two SOA teams headed out on 26th Jan 2019, to deliver food aid to Kampung Sekam,Cameron Highlands and Kampung Balang (Ulu Bekor), Kuala Kangsar.

CHINESE NEW YEAR PREPARATIONS - 20TH JAN 2019

Thank you to all the volunteers from Chinese Apostolate who decorated the church so beautifully, in preparation for Chinese New Year. May God bless you all!

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PONGGAL CELEBRATION - 20TH JAN 2019

The Indian group of SMC celebrated the festival of Ponggal on the morning of 20th Jan 2019. The traditional boiling over of milk in the earthen pot was done before the English-language morning mass, witnessed by parish priest Fr Anthony Liew. The Indian group also kindly prepared sweet rice boiled with milk, chickpeas, nuts and among others for parishioners to enjoy after the morning mass.

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PARISH ASSEMBLY - 13TH JAN 2019

The parish assembly kicked off with a lively praise and worship session and opening prayer by Parish Animating team (PAT) chairman, Mr Jude Quah. It was heartening to see a marked increase in attendance this year, of about 210 people. The enthronement of the bible followed with readings done in both English and Mandarin. SMC parish priest Fr Anthony Liew started the assembly by outlining the theme for this year "SMC as our home". He felt a need to bring the people closer together, like a family and that the church as the house of God should not just be a place of worship but also a place where people feel at home. Fr Liew emphasised that it is only when we feel a sense of belonging and family, that we will acquire a sense of responsibility and be happy to do God's work in church, instead of merely volunteering our services when we can spare the time. Church as a house of God should be a home and not a mere hotel. In view of this, Fr Liew asked all present to keep the following dates of 1st May 2019 and 16th September 2019 free for two planned parish events, to enhance our spirituality and strengthen the bonds of Christian fellowship to make SMC a home for all.

Fr Liew also spoke of the Penang Diocese's theme for the Extraordinary Missionary 2019 i.e. "Baptised and sent." The diocese in all its wisdom, has laid out a plan for us to achieve the mission. From January to June 2019, there will be spiritual formation sessions throughout the diocese in Penang and Ipoh. The months of 9th June to 20th October 2019 will be the months for "pilgrimage" where the faithful may journey to the Church of the Assumption in Penang, to be inspired by relics and stories of extraordinary Catholic missionaries and lay people which will be displayed there.

Fr Liew then talked more about mission, which he divided into two categories, Ecclesia Ad Intra (mission inside the church) and Ecclesia Ad Extra (mission outside the church). Fr Liew asked us to ponder especially for missions outside the church, whether we do make known Jesus to the people we help. In SMC, we have been blessed with the opportunity to do outreach works through the Sahabat Orang Asli ministry, Soup Kitchena and Ministry to the Poor. However, as Christians, it is not enough for us to just do good works but to distinguish ourselves from secular NGOs, we must bring Jesus to others. To be good missionaries for Christ, Fr Liew reiterated that we ourselves need to have a personal relationship with God. It is only if we ourselves truly know Jesus that we can share him with others. Hence the need for us to attend spiritual formations.

Attendees where also asked to fill up a simple questionaire about whether they regard SMC as home and their reasons for it. A majority of the respondents did feel a sense of belonging to SMC. The later half session saw all participants being asked to split into their respective parish ministries or BECs to discuss and come up with a plan as to how they (as a ministry or BEC) can help to make SMC our home. Forms were distributed to the groups and all groups are required to submit back the forms by 28th Feb 2019 for compilation and further planning by the PAT.

LAUNCHING OF EXTRAORDINARY MISSIONARY YEAR - 5TH & 6TH JAN 2019

Pope Francis has declared October 2019 as the Extraordinary Missionary Month. Our Roman Catholic diocese of Penang has adopted this theme for the year 2019 and the Extraordinary Missionary Year 2019 was launched at SMC during the solemnity of the Epiphany masses. Bishop Sebastian's video message was projected in church in place of the homily. Click here to view the full video.

SAHABAT ORANG ASLI - 5TH JAN 2019

SOA medical team conducted a medical camp and delivered gifts of towels,toothbrushes and tumblers containing sweets from City Parish,Penang to the Orang Asli community in Gerik villages. Prior to this, the gifts from City Parish had also been distributed to Orang Asli communities in Tapah, Simpang Pulai and Kuala Kangsar.