St. Anthony's Church, Teluk Intan

The Church of St. Anthony of Padua is a Roman Catholic parish church under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Penang located in the town of Teluk Intan, Perak, Malaysia.

History

The origin of the church dates back to 1894 when the French missionary priest Rev. Father René-Michel-Marie Fée, MEP, acquired a piece of land and built an attap roofed wooden chapel as part of the larger Parish of South Perak which included Tapah. The chapel was dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua.

The Rev. Father Fée was elevated to become the Bishop of Malacca in 1896 and was succeeded by the Rev. Father Louis Perrichon who ministered to the scattered Roman Catholic communities along the Tapah – Kuala Kubu Baru road. In 1910, a presbytery was built in the compound of the chapel during the watch of the sixth parish priest, the Rev. Father Donat Perrissoud who also extended his pastoral ministry to the townships of Lumut and Sitiawan.

In 1914, the original wood and attap chapel was destroyed by fire. Funds amounting to 70,000 Straits dollars was successfully raised and work begun on the building of a new church with the foundation stone laid on 7 May 1922. The new church building was consecrated on 6 May 1923 by Bishop Jean-Marie Mérel, Vicar-Apostolic Emeritus of Canton.

Today, weekly masses are held in Tamil and English while masses in Mandarin and Malaysian are held once a month.

Pastors

The following have served as pastors of the parish since its formation in 1894:

FromUntilPastorNotes 1894 1896 René-Michel-Marie Fée, MEP Later Bishop of Malacca (1896) 1896 1900 Pierre-Louis Perrichon, MEP Later Coadjutor Bishop of Malacca (1920) 1900 1901 Louis Duvelle, MEP Established the Church of St. Anthony, Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur in 1913 1901 1905 Emile Marie Henri Sausseau, MEP Established the parish of the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, Ipoh in 1905 1906 1909 Jean Passail, MEP 1909 1914 Donat Perrissoud, MEP 1914 1920 Emile Marie Henri Sausseau, MEP 1929 1931 Jean Paul Baloche, MEP 1931 1933 Michel Bonamy, MEP Established St. Anthony's School in 1931 1934 1936 Ignatius John Aloysius An alumnus of St. John's Institution and the first local Malayan parish priest. Later first Vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Penang (1955). 1936 1947 John Edmond Oversaw the transfer of St. Anthony's School to the De La Salle Brothers. 1947 1949 Arokianathan 1949 1950 Finian De Silva 1950 1951 Dominic Vendargon First Bishop (1955) and Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur (1972) 1951 1953 Arokianathan 1953 1959 R. Brossard, MEP 1959 1970 Mathias Ki Established St. Anthony's Branch Primary School in Langkap in 1968 to provide education opportunities for the Orang Asli community 1970 1978 Maurice Surmon, MEP 1978 1980 Felix Michael 1980 1990 Anthony Chong 1990 1996 Pierre Gauthier, MEP 1996 2005 Arulnathan Joseph 2005 2008 Vincent Paul 2008 2012 Francis Andrew 2012 2018 Francis Xavier Selvarajoo 2018 present David Lourdes

St. Anthony's School

The tenth parish priest, the Rev. Father Michel Bonamy, established a school known as St. Anthony's School in a wooden hut adjacent to the church. His successor, the Rev. Father John Edmond, acquired a piece of land opposite the church for the school and the first block of six classrooms was built on this land and officially opened by the British Resident of Perak, Marcus Rex, on 27 January 1941.

St. Anthony's Church, Teluk Intan

Bron en licentie