First Anglican Church in a Bidayuh Area
In 1865, a belian church, St James, was built in Kampung Kuap, about 10 miles from Kuching. Bishop Dr. Thomas McDougall consecrated it on 7 December 1865.
Even though a new church had been built next to St. James Church, the older parishioners still use the original church for special prayer seminars.
First Local Anglican Deacon
As a schoolboy, Chung Ah Luk was baptised at St. Thomas’s Cathedral on 2 February 1861. Bishop McDougall often asked Chung to accompany him on his journey in the ‘Sarawak Cross’, a small boat used by the Bishop.
Later, Chung settled in Kuap and learnt to play the violin and did part-singing for choral works. In 1864, he became a catechist and looked after the school in Kuap while ministering to the surrounding Bidayuh villages.
After his mother’s death in 1874, Chung was ordained as the first local deacon. However, it was not until 1904 that he was finally ordained priest – some 30 years later! Rev. Chung retired in 1923 and died two years later in 1925.
First Iban Bishop
Basil Temenggong was born on 11 October 1918 at Pasa, an Iban longhouse about a mile down river from Betong. A very good scholar who showed a keen interest in Christianity during his school days, he went to Bishop’s College, Calcutta, India, for theological training in 1939. On graduation, Bishop Tarafdar of Calcutta Cathedral ordained him as deacon on 16 November 1941 and licensed him to serve as assistant chaplain at St. Thomas’s Cathedral, Calcutta.
Basil was ordained into priesthood by the Bishop of Calcutta on 11 April 1943 and returned to Sarawak in 1946 to minister the parish of Betong for eight years. He then went for a year-long theological training in England and was posted to the Iban parish of Saratok on his return.
In 1960 he was made Canon and then Archdeacon in 1962. On the resignation of Bishop Allenby, Basil Temenggong was consecrated as Bishop on 6 December 1968 and enthroned as Bishop of the Diocese of Kuching two days later.
In recognition of his services, he was conferred the Panglima Negara Bintang Sarawak (PNBS) which carries the title “Datuk.”
His episcopacy of 16 years is the longest and he was the first bishop to die in office. While conducting a confirmation ceremony on 22 September 1984, he collapsed and passed away shortly after.
First Chinese Anglican Bishop
Datuk John Leong Chee Yun followed his Christian calling by becoming a lay reader in the parish of Seria in Brunei from 1950 to 1959 and went on to continue this work in Miri until 1974.
In recognition of his dedicated service he was made deacon on 9 March 1975 and subsequently priest on 14 December the same year. He worked as a non-stipendary priest at St. Columba’s Church, Miri, before becoming its vicar in 1984.
Leong was consecrated Bishop on 17 May 1985 and enthroned as the 11th Bishop of the Diocese of Kuching two days later. His episcopacy embraced a period of over 10 years during which he oversaw great developments in the Diocese of Kuching. Bishop John Leong Chee Yun retired on 15 August 1995.
First Bidayuh Bishop
Bishop Made Katib from Senah Negeri (Anna Rais), Kuching Division, was installed as the 12th Anglican Bishop of the Diocese of Kuching on 30 November 1995.
The only son of Katib anak Nanja and Nyang anak Janggok, he was born on 23 January 1942. He studied at the Mission School in Anna Rais in 1950 before joining St. Thomas’s School, Kuching. He attended Leeds University in England to read History and English on a mission scholarship and graduated in July 1966. He continued his studies at Mirfield Theological College in 1966 before returning to Sarawak where he became a deacon of St. Thomas’s in 1968.
Largest Anglican Celebration
The largest Anglican celebration took place in 1998 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Anglican Church in Borneo.
The ‘Celebration of Praise’ held at the Sarawak Indoor Stadium, Kuching on 27 June 1998 was attended by more than 9,000 worshippers. On the following day, which was the actual anniversary a thanksgiving service was held at St. Thomas’s Cathedral where 10,000 people congregated, immediately followed by a procession of faith around Kuching City. The procession ended at the Bishop’s Garden with a garden party, where another Praise and Worship was held. The celebrations were graced with the presence of The Most Revd Dr. Moses Tay, the Archbishop of the Province of the Anglican in South East Asia and Canon Michael Green, the Adviser in Evangelism to the Archbishop of Canterbury and York, England.
In conjunction with that occasion, a book entitled 150 Years of the Anglican Church in Borneo 1848-1998 documenting the development of the Anglican Church in Borneo was published.
First Roman Catholic Priest
On the Feast of St. Joseph, 19 March 1881, Reverend Fathers Edmund Dunn, Aloysius Gossens and Daniel Kilty left St. Joseph’s College, Mill Hill, in London for Sarawak via Singapore where they met their superior, the Very Reverend Father Thomas Jackson. They were joined by a French priest, Father C. Saleilles.
However, only Fathers Dunn, Gossens and Saleilles sailed to Kuching, becoming the first Roman Catholic priests to set foot on Sarawak soil. They were met on arrival at 4pm on 10 July 1881 by Rajah Charles Brooke, who offered them temporary accommodation in an empty house behind the District Courthouse. Reverend Jackson joined them about six weeks later on 24 August.
First Roman Catholic Nuns
The first Roman Catholic nuns came to Sarawak on 5 July 1885 after Reverend Father Thomas Jackson went back to London in an effort to find nuns to educate girls in Sarawak. The recruits were located through the Sisters at Mill Hill in London.
On arrival, the five pioneer Sisters, Sr. Helen Downs, Sr. Teresa Cheetham, Sr. Mary of the Cross, Sr. Aloysius Dwyer and Sr. Josephine Morris, faced many hardships because of heat, lack of clean water, cholera and local cultural taboos. The sisters belonged to St. Joseph’s Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, which was later called the Franciscan Missionaries of St. Joseph.
An area of landing extending 22 acres opposite the existing mission site was bought by the mission in 1886 at a cost of $1,775 to provide facilities for the nuns to establish their quarters, a school and convent known as St Teresa’s School and St Teresa’s Convent respectively.
(To be continued)
