I have been receiving a flurry of email forwards about the purported group of Muslim men who went to a Catholic church to spy on them. However, I have many doubts and will not wish to be pulled into the circle of email forwarders or blog about it in my personal blog.
Firstly, as I told an editor, I want to see the real magazine before I believe. Secondly, the magazine article mentioned that they went to a Catholic church near Puduraya. Where is the church and why isn’t the parish priest confirm it is the interior of their church? There are photos of the inside of the church and therefore, it is very easy to recognise which church is that.
Thirdly, is there really a service for Indonesians, East Malaysians and others taking place on a Sunday afternoon at 12? Fourthly, why isn’t the mass celebrated in Bahasa Malaysia? According to the article, the priest only used Lord and God which means it is an English mass.
So, fellow Catholics, before we start getting excited about this spying business, let’s get some of these facts first. Let’s hear it from the parish priest and the Archbishop (whom I believe is the Bishop of the KL diocese) instead of Penang folks.
I know both the guys who made the police report. I believe they are very sure they are doing the right thing to protect our Catholic church. But, let’s not get too defensive because Christ, the Lord is the King of Kings. He knows best.
July 10th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
1)I have the original May issue of the Al-Islam Megazine. We verified the information before acting on it. Anyone who wants to view it may contact me at 016 4100264.
2) The article says that the church is near Puduraya. This obviously refers to St. Anthony’s church. If you were to refer to the Catholic Directory (official listing of the all the Catholic Churches in Msia, Brunei and Singapore), it clearly states that there is a 12 noon mass and it is in BM. A quick call to the parish will easily verify that too.
3) If you read the article carefully, you will easily discover that the muslim men attended two masses. They attended the 12 noon one in St. Anthony’s Church (the only church in Puduraya with a BM mass at that time). They had also attended a 8.30am mass in another church.
So, this is not unverified information but facts that have been investigated and confirmed.
July 21st, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Assalamu’alaikum…
long time didnt come here
Here is our stand regarding the issue of majalah al islam.. it’s in bm
July 21st, 2009 at 6:48 pm
http://kelasperadabannabawi.bl.....holik.html