(ANS - Kota Kinabalu) - From 26 to 31 January a group of three Salesians - Fr Guillermo Basañes, Councillor for the Salesian Missions, Fr Noel Villafuerte, Counsellor of the Delegation of Indonesia, and Fr Edwin Ulanday, Provincial Economer of the Northern Province of the Philippines – paid a visit to Kota Kinabalu in Eastern Malaysia, to study the feasibility of creating a new Salesian missionary outpost there.

by Gian Francesco Romano

On 27 January, the three Salesians met priests of the House of Clergy of Kota Kinabalu. They were brought to see some local attractions and in the evening they met Archbishop Emeritus John Lee Hiong Fun-Yit Yaw, who was celebrating 50 years of priesthood that very day.

The following day they had a cordial meeting with Archbishop John Wong Soo Kau, the local archbishop.  They brought him many very welcome gifts including a statue of Mary Help of Christians. This was followed by visits to congregations and religious institutions already present in the region to enable the visitors to get to know and understand the local situation.

Fr Basañes and his team were then escorted to the Generalate of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, where the Mother General gave them a general overview on the religious and educational state of the archdiocese. They then visited the "YouthPREP Center", an educational centre of first contact for young people looking for professional support. Run by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, it is located in the centre of Alamesra, surrounded by many schools and universities. It supports many young people in need of help.

The programme of events was similar the following day with a visit in the morning to the Montfort technical training centre 20 km from Kota Kinabalu - a major centre of education and training for children in need in the region - and in the afternoon to a Lasallian school, where the three Salesians were able to converse with the famous missionary Charles O'Leary, who arrived in the Malaysian city in 1958.

On the Friday they visited Maktab Nasional, the only private Catholic secondary school in the city. In conversation with the leaders of the institute, Fr Basañes, Fr Villafuerte and Fr Ulanday came to understand the benefits and the difficulties of the situation, and shared their vision of young people not as a problem for society but rather as a hope.

On 31 January, the feast of Don Bosco and the last day of their exploratory visit, Fr Basañes distributed medals of Don Bosco and Mary Help of Christians to the faithful present at the morning Mass. Then, after a visit to a monastery of Carmelite nuns, they made a resume’ of their trip in a final conversation with Archbishop Wong Soo Kau.

A future visit to Kota Kinabalu is very likely, though not necessarily in the immediate future.

Published 16/02/2015