32
JOSEPHIAN ANNUAL 2016 • LEARNING JOURNEYS
Church of the Divine Mercy
Church of the Risen Christ
Church of St Vincent De Paul
Church of the Sacred Heart
Church of the Holy Cross
Sec 2 RME Holy Doors Pilgrimage
In this Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy , the Secondary 2 Josephians celebrated the Jubilee by going on a community pilgrimage to the five Holy Doors in the Archdiocese of Singapore to spend some time through prayer and reflection and encountering God .
Accompanying them on this pilgrimage to the five parishes were the school chaplain Friar Michael D ’ Cruz , and seven Franciscans in formation - Friar Robin Toha , Friar Cosmas Yassun , Friar Gerald Tan , Friar Gerald Saimel , Friar Aiden Peter , Friar Sixtus Pitah , and Friar Crispus Mosinoh . At each parish , the boys were introduced to its history and the story behind its name .
The first stop at the Church of Divine Mercy saw Fr Johnson Fernandez sharing about St Peter . He is depicted as the rock of the Church and as having the keys to the doors of heaven . The Church was named after the patron saint of Divine Mercy St Faustina Kowalska , who died in 1938 . The friars led the boys through a paraliturgy based on the Parable of the Prodigal Son and his brother , and taught them to pray a decade of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy ; the remaining decades were prayed at each of the other parishes .
At the Church of the Sacred Heart , alumnus Fr Stephen Yim welcomed the boys at this parish that sits in the heart of the city . Here , the boys learnt about St Margaret Mary Alacoque and the image of the Sacred Heart , which the parish is named after . The pilgrimage then moved on to the Church of the Holy Cross in Clementi . The friars shared about the meaning of bearing the crosses in our lives through the story of a boy called Mattie J T Stepanek , who despite suffering from a rare and fatal neuromuscular disease , embraced life and lived in hope , peace and love during his short 13 years of life .
The boys then crossed over to the Church of St Vincent de Paul where they were welcomed by another SJI alumnus , parish priest Fr Michael Sitaram . The friars shared the story of St Vincent de Paul , a French priest who was known for helping the poor . They challenged all those present to think about their own actions and how they can better help the poor and needy in their own ways . In his reflection , Friar Michael D ’ Cruz said : “ Some people are ‘ in jail ’ ( though not physically ) because we have jailed them with our judgment ... Some are poor ( in character ) because they didn ’ t have a good foundation ... St Vincent de Paul asked us to show care and mercy to them .”
The pilgrimage concluded at the Church of the Risen Christ in time for the sunset Mass at 6pm . The boys presented a card to thank the Franciscan Friars for guiding them through the five Holy Doors .