ALUMNI | LUMEN
21 in Victoria , to begin his intellectual and spiritual formation for the priesthood . But the fear of damnation was not sufficient to sustain him in his vocation . It was the Scriptural and Theological studies , and above all , the wisdom of a Spiritual Director who helped him to contemplate the love of God in the Crucified Jesus that inspired him to follow Jesus as a Redemptorist .
“ If you are wondering why I became a Redemptorist and a priest , I would best refer your question to God . “ You did not choose me but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide .” ( John 15:16 ). “ But why did God choose me ? He chose me not because I had all the necessary gifts to carry out His work . Rather because He chose me , He gave me the necessary gifts , limited though they are , to minister to His people ’ s salvation . But coming back to that nagging question , “ Why did he choose me ? It is not my choice but God ’ s choice : I say it is a nagging question because there is no humanly adequate answer to the question . Jesus in His mysterious merciful love chose me and sustained me by the free gift of grace we can never answer adequately the reason why He chose me .”
Fr Paul mused : “ I am called to preach the Good News to the poor and most abandoned . If I have not experienced the Good News of God ’ s redeeming merciful love , I can only carry on ministering to others with a sour face . To preach the Good News without contemplating God ’ s love in prayer is like trying to serve champagne from an empty bottle .”
As a Redemptorist priest , Fr Paul was able to reach out to others and it is always a joy to listen to his homilies . Celebrating his Golden Jubilee this year , Fr Paul has spent almost his entire life
living his Redemptorist Mission . For 50 years he has been committed to his priesthood and was involved in many Catholic ministries . He held the post of Novice Master for 10 years .
He conducted the
Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults ( RCIA ), a process of initiation into the Catholic Church for adults , for 14 years . In keeping with his own need for Faith in God ’ s love
But why did God choose me ? He chose me not because I had all the necessary gifts to carry out His work . Rather because He chose me , He gave me the necessary gifts , limited though they are , to minister to His people ’ s salvation
Facing page : Fr Paul celebrating his 50th Anniversary of Ordination and 80th Birthday on 28 August 2016 at SJI Junior
This page ( centre ): Fr Paul being ordained on 28 August 1966 at Novena church by Bishop Michael Olcomendy
This page ( bottom ): With his classmates in Standard 7A , 1952 , SJI , Bras Basah to enable him to persevere in the way of the Cross , he gave the Catechumens a motto : “ Inspiration , before Perspiration .” His inspiration through prayer enabled him to perspire . It was his constant connection to God and filial dependence that sustained his passion to serve . He urges people to “ pray with humility ”, “ trust ” and “ perseverance ”, so that they may realise their need for God ’ s merciful love .
Faithful to the Mission of the Redemptorist to preach the Good News to the poor and most abandoned , he served in the Roman Catholic Prison Ministry for 14 years and he is still serving in this Ministry today .
Sharing his concerns for the young people today , Fr Paul asserts that it is vital that our Catholic youth always give the utmost importance to their Faith . He warns that in today ’ s secularised world , increasingly more youth are beginning to neglect their Faith due to the pressure to conform to society . “ We should never compromise our faith . He added , “ Some of us take our faith as something secondary ; if our faith suits us then we accept it , if not , we can always cast it aside ”. He encourages Josephians and Catholic youth alike not to feel pressured to conform by merging anonymously into the secularised world and in doing so , forget their religion . He stresses that Catholics should not be afraid to be different and must be willing to contradict the unacceptable norms of modern society which contradict the teachings of Jesus and His Church .
He also emphasized the importance for the youth today to give witness to their faith proudly , and to stand up against evils which have sadly become the fashionable norm . Especially in today ’ s world where there is a growing scepticism regarding the authenticity of religion and where secularism seems to be slowly creeping into the Catholic community , Fr Paul urges our Catholic youth to contradict and not conform . “ We have to be a sign of contradiction ,” he says . “ There is much in our society that is good . But if we conform to what is evil , we undermine the good we find in our society . The great Catholic writer G . K . Chesterton said that each generation is saved by the saint who contradicts it most .”