THE conferment of the Penang Centennial Heritage Excellence Award to St George’s Anglican Church at Farquhar Street for its outstanding contributions to the state’s development has been well received.
In an interview with Buletin Mutiara recently, the church’s Suffragan Bishop Rt Rev Dr Stephen Soe welcomed the state’s recognition of the church, which is located at the iconic heritage enclave.
He lauded the award given to St George’s Anglican Church and looked forward to collaborating with the state to enliven the church.
“We’re indeed very blessed and thankful to receive this award knowing that our Penang state is appreciative of our contribution to the community and to the people of Penang for the past 204 years.
“This award is truly encouraging and will help spur us on to do more to assist those in need and we look forward to a fruitful partnership, especially in the days to come as we work towards being a Cathedral.
“Now that our Diocesan Bishop, Rt Rev Dr Steven Abbarow has announced that our church is to serve as a cathedral (Pro-Cathedral), we have many goals to achieve to reach that status,” Rt Rev Soe said.
The Anglican worship services began shortly after the arrival of Francis Light in Penang in 1786 while the church building was constructed in 1817.
It was completed in 1818 and was consecrated by the Bishop of Calcutta on May 11, 1819.
According to Rt Rev Soe, the church had undergone two major renovation works.
One happened after the Japanese dropped bombs during the Second World War in 1941, damaging the church which was subsequently heavily looted in the process. The restoration work was completed in 1948.
Another took place after the church received a heritage grant in 2008 for its church building where they were recommissioned on Feb 27 in 2011.
“We are pleased that our doors are still open, and we remain a living church till today.
“Our congregation has expanded over the years, and we have successfully established Chinese churches, namely St Paul’s Church in Macalister Road that has gone on to plant the Christchurch in Air Itam.
“Our Tamil congregation has done likewise too and has planted the Good Shepherd Church in Jelutong.
“We have various worship services conducted in different languages in our church grounds along with sufficient worship leaders and supporting team.
“Needless to say, we need to build new buildings to house these additional services as the added space will be utilised for a host of activities,” he said, adding that they were in the midst of a discussion with the George Town World Heritage Incorporated (GTWHI).
There are currently several ministries in the church, including Sunday School for children, Youth, Young Adults, Women Fellowship, Golden Circle, Church Guides and Heritage.
Rt Rev Soe expressed his hopes that the Captain Francis Light’s memorial, which has been a victim of the weather and birds, could be repaired.
He said the ceiling of the memorial does not appear safe for anyone to enter and they need the assistance of heritage advisers on how to conduct repairs within the stipulations that meet our heritage status.
Presently the Sunday worship services are available in English, Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil languages.
Rt Rev Soe also urged those good Samaritans to contribute to the church.
Also present during the interview session were the church’s guide Petra Oon and the church’s Land & Building chairman Lucas Benjamin.
Story by Edmund Lee
Pix by Siew Chia En