Lean Horse. Bell Rings 瘦马摇铃

Kuala Lumpur Archdiocesan Chinese Language Apostolate Commission (ACLAC) celebrated its 20^th Anniversary on Nov 6 at the Church of the Holy Family, Kajang.

A book “Lean Horse . Bell Rings – The history and story of Catechists in Malaysia” was launched in conjunction with the anniversary celebrations.

The Thanksgiving Mass was celebrated at 5:00pm with Fr. Clement Lim as the main celebrant, and con-celebrated by 12 other priests, including Fr. Philip Tan, the Superior of CDD in Malaysia, Fr. George, the Parish Priest of Holy Family Church. Present were many religions Sisters and Brothers, and about 500 laity and well-wishers from 3 dioceses in Peninsular Malaysia.

Fr.Kang, former Monsignor of Penang Diocese and former principle of the Batu Gajah Catechist Training Center, flew from Hong Kong to attend this conspicuous occasion. He officiated the launching ceremony of the book after the Mass.

About 18 aged Catechists also attended the Mass and ceremony.

The book was initiated about 10 years ago by Fr. Joseph Ng, a Jesuit who once served as one of the spiritual advisor to ACLAC. The project took off about one and a half year ago with the support and active participation of Rev. Sr. Theresa Chew, Rev. Fr. Lawrence Ng, by forming a committee filled by many talented and enthuciastic youths. Ye Ning, an experienced media worker and writer, agreed to author of the book, is the single most important factor ensuring the success of the project.

The Foreword in the book by His Grace Paul Tan, Bishop of Melaka-Johor Diocese summed up the importance and historical values of the book:

 “Undeniably, the church general history tends to centered on the consecrated religious clergy. In the process of evangelization, the Catechists are although an integral part of the medium bridging the laity and missionary, but are being ignored simply because they are not the consecrated ones. Now, I am delighted that, with the publication of the book  [Lean Horse.Bell Rings – The history and story of the Catechists in Malaysia ], we have finally discovered a segment of precious history of our local church, and allow the “catechists, a lost piece of the beautiful patchwork”, be united and merged into the history of local church as a whole.” (Translation by the blogger)

The title of the book “Lean Horse.Bell Rings” literally means "Lean horse ringing bell".

According to the author, the catechists lived a frugal and simple lives and are best be described as “lean horse”. However, their footsteps of evangelization brought them to the byways and highways, remotest and poorest areas of the country, thus ringing the bells of Good News along the way, bringing the love of Christ to everyone they met.  

The 20^th Anniversary of ACLAC also marked an important milestone of the organization. 

It is the continuation of the objective and spirit of the organisatioon named “Chinese Apostolate”. It was formed about 40 years ago by a group of Chinese speaking priests ( Many had been called to rest by the Lord) to look after the Chinese speaking laity.

Our local church, by nature, is an English speaking church, thus it requires extra effort to care for these vernacular communities and for effective evangelisation.

I do not have statistic of Chinese speaking population in our country, but by looking at the number of Chinese schools, newspapers and publications, it would not be a small figure.

Ignoring this segment of the society is ignoring the spirit of evangelization.

Many non-Chinese and non-Chinese educated priests had taken up Mandarin is a good sign of the work of the Spirit. (And my great respect and admiration for their effort and sacrifices)

On this special occasion, may I pray that the Spirit guides our local church, continues in its understanding and dialoguing with different language communities, the marginalized, the poor and migrants, discovering the humble presence of Christ in the richness of each community, seeing the beauty of God’s creation of diversity in traditions, cultures and languages, thus bring about the genuine spirit of communion of communities.  It will be then a truly beautiful piece of patchwork pleasing to God!

May ACLAC and all its members continue to be the effective "witnesses and promoters of communion with God, with one another and the creation." (FABC 10th plenary statement No.4)

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吉隆坡总教区华文促进会，在十一月六日，假加影圣家教堂庆祝了成立二十周年，于此同时，也推介了该促进会出版的《瘦马摇铃 -- 大马传道员的历史与故事》一书。

周年感恩弥撒于傍晚五点正举行，由促进会指导神师林进发神父主祭，十二位神父共祭。其中有主徒会马来西亚省会长陈聪敏神父及多位会士，加影本堂赫佐治神父，与来自槟城与甲柔教区的神父。参加这盛典的还有多位修女及修士，及大约五百名来自各教区的平信徒及道贺者。

曾任华都亚也传道员培训中心院长的康福堂神父，特地从香港远道而来，感恩祭结束后，主持了简单但隆重的《瘦马摇铃》推介礼。

大约十八位传道员也出席了这典礼，每个人也从康神父手上，亲领了这部记载着他们充满着血泪的传导生涯历史故事。

这本书是在耶稣会会士黄瑞俊神父的主导下，得到周莉娜修女，黄大华神父及多位神师的支援，组成了一个团队，其成员包括许多有才华及愿意苦干及牺牲的青年，并得到资深媒体工作者/作者叶宁女士为主笔，花耗了超过一年半的时间，才把这个孕育了十年的工程，付梓成书。

甲柔教区陈志英主教在该书的序词中，道出了传道员历史及故事的重要：

“无可否认，教会一般史料的重心，都专注在圣统的圣职人员身上。虽然，传道员在教会福传过程中，是不可或缺的平民及传教士之间的媒介桥梁，却因未有圣职而长受到了忽略。如今，我深感欣慰，随着《瘦马摇铃 -- 大马传道员的历史与故事》一书的出版，我们终于有机会寻回本地区域地方教会发展过程中一段珍贵的历史，让”传道员“这一块曾经一度失落的美丽拼图，得以重新纳入整体的地方教会史料中。”

这也是华文教务在马来西亚奋斗历史的一个重要部分。

吉隆坡总教区华文教务促进会欢庆成立二十周年，同样的也是本地教会，特别是华文教务史料中，一个令人骄傲的里程碑。

过去的二十年，是承传先辈为照顾华文教友，而争取成立的“华裔教务促进会”的精神及宗旨的延续。

在一个以英语为主的教会环境里，为被忽略的华语教友，及向华社传福音的使命而成立的促进会，走过了许多的风雨路，经历了无数充满血泪的时刻，到今天的依然屹立，二十周年的庆典，是对上主的感恩的回应。

我不知道马来西亚受华文教育的华人人口有多少，但从华文学校，华文报章及刊物的数量，肯定不是一个小数目。所以，向华社传福音，是本地教会的优先目标之一。

祈望天主圣神，带领本地教会，善用各种工具，资源及组织，如华文教务促进会，把基督福音传的更广，更深。

祝愿吉隆坡华文教务促进会周年快乐，主恩满盈；百尺竿头，更进一步！

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