Kota Kinabalu: The newly-completed Parish Hall of the Church of Mary Immaculate (CMI) at Bukit Padang near here was officially opened and blessed on Saturday.
It was officiated by His Grace Archbishop Datuk John Wong. Present were the Rector of the Sacred Heart Parish, Rev Fr Paul Lo and five other Catholic priests from Kota Kinabalu.
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Also present were the Chairperson of the Parish Pastoral Council, Puan Catherine Engsun and her committee.
The open hall, connected to the main church building, is part of the CMI extension project which began in February 2019. The construction period was for one year. However, in view of the Covid pandemic, a slight delay was only to be expected.
It has been in use since last year but the official opening postponed to only now.
Costing more than RM3 million, a sum of half RM1 million is still to be raised to top up for the contractor.
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Apart from the hall itself, which is connected to an open-air canteen, there are also many function rooms plus the Rectory and the church office.
At the ceremony, Catherine presented tokens of appreciation to those involved in the project including the architect, Patrick Vun, the engineer, Silvia Voon, and the quantity surveyor, Bernard Lo. Mention was also made of Ir. Fung Yin Khun who was absent.
The Holy Mass and opening ceremony was followed by lunch. Apart from the cake-cutting ceremony to mark the opening led by the Archbishop, a special cake-cutting ceremony was also held for Rev Fr Paul Lo who celebrated his 17th Sacerdotal Ordination Anniversary. Fr Paul has been Rector of the Sacred Heart Parish since 2018.
