Dear People of God,
Our Holy Father has already launched the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy on the 8th of December 2015 with the call for us to emulate the mercy of the Heavenly Father which is enfleshed in the person of Jesus Christ. The theme of mercy coincides with the pastoral theme which we have chosen for this coming year of 2015, where we are invited to reflect on the third mark of the Church, “The Church is Catholic.”
What does it mean to be Catholic? This may seem to be a silly question, just like the question, 'what does it mean to be merciful,' yet when we truly apply ourselves to it, the answer seems to elude us and we are beset with a variety of possibilities. It is a label that is often taken for granted without further reflection on its real significance. For many, the word “Catholic” has become an empty label, a badge we wear without fully comprehending its demands. Perhaps, the ambivalence of the concept is to be found in the very nature of what the word “Catholic” implies, it refers to that which is universal or all-embracing.
But there is nothing ambivalent about the Church’s understanding of its Catholicity. We understand that the Church is Catholic and universal in two ways. First, the Church is universal because of her association with Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is present in her. But because the Church is forever grafted to Christ, she is also a universal sacrament of salvation. Therefore, the second reason why the Church is Catholic is because she has been sent out by Christ on a mission to the entire human race to proclaim the good news that “all men are called to belong to the People of God.” The Church is essentially missionary and evangelisation and the salvation of souls is her main work. It is in the area of evangelisation that we see the convergence of both themes of mercy and Catholicity. Mercy becomes both the rationale as well as the medium for the new evangelisation.
It is therefore opportune that our Chapel parish community of Kristus Aman is launching this new parish website. This new medium of spreading information and knowledge is giving birth to a new way of communicating the faith. New horizons are now open that were until recently unimaginable. The new technology allows people to meet each other beyond the confines of space and of their own culture, creating in this way an entirely new world of potential relationships.
The launch of this new website is a recognition that the web is contributing to the development of new and more complex intellectual and spiritual horizons, new forms of shared awareness. In this field too we are called to proclaim our faith that Christ is God, the Saviour of humanity and of history, the one in whom all things find their fulfilment (cf. Eph 1:10).
I invite all parishioners to make good use of this new platform which serves not only to disseminate information but provide substantive catecheses and formation. Through the intercession of Saint Francis de Sales, the patron saint of media, I pray that this web page will be a source of blessing and faith formation for our community and beyond.
God bless all of you.
Your servant in Christ,
Father Michael Chua
Parish Administrator
Chapel of Kristus Aman
Archidioecesis Kuala Lumpurensis