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| Church of Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary |
I started at 7.40 am and mounted my bike and Lian Ping's on the bike rack and drove to the Church of the Nativity of the BVM in Upper Serangoon Road. Paul was already waiting inside the church, and Victor came shortly afterwards.
The four of us led by Paul rode through Punggol Park towards Halus bridge to meet my brother and together we rode towards St Anne's Church, through the Sengkang heartland. Soon we were inside the church compound, I noticed that CHIJ St Joseph's Convent was only next door to the church. St Anne's church was built in 1963 to meet the needs of growing catholic population who were farmers and small scale fishermen. Fr John Yu was the first parish priest. In 1970 the Punggol area was designated for farming and animal husbandry and soon the congregation grew smaller, it was said "there were more pigs than people in Punggol" and St Anne's church held only one mass on Sunday. However when the Government revealed the residential development plans for Punggol, the church was right in the centre of the development, and plans were made to build a new church on the same site.
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| Church of St Anne |
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| Church of St Anne |
The new church complex and columbarium built at a cost of $8.1 million was completed in 2001 and today served a catholic population of 6000. It is a fast growing parish with young parishioners. It looked likely to be renovated again to accommodate the needs of the growing parish.
The church doors were locked so we went to the Adoration room to spend some quiet time. There was also a well designed columbarium and also an aviary. We took a few pictures of the exterior and pushed on to the Church of St Vincent De Paul. Paul led us to the Punggol Waterways riding toward Gerald Drive and we stopped to divert our ride through the last of the kampong houses in Singapore -Kampong Buangkok. We pushed our bikes through the narrow paths of the kampong and a lady offered us fresh rambutans from the tree in front of her house. We just plucked several bunches of fresh yellow skinned rambutans - they were full of little black ants which we quickly brush off before consuming the juicy fruits. After a short ride we were in front of the Church of St Vincent De Paul and went inside the church to spend some quiet moments.
It was through the charitable work of Fr Henri Sassaud of the parish of St Francis Xavier that saw the beginnings of the Church of St Vincent De Paul. Fr Henri reached out to the poor and destitute in the Jalan Kayu area and when the number of Catholics grew, the Archdiocese decided to build a church in 1963. But it was not to be as there were other pressing needs to serve the community. A shop house was bought and the basement was used as the chapel. Soon the chapel became overcrowded for the expanding congregation and concrete plans were made to build the church which was completed in 1970. Fr Henri was the first Parish priest and was assisted by Fr Edgar D' Souza. By year 2000 the congregation has grown to 3900 and the church buildings need renovation to accommodate all the activities of the parish. The present church buildings and improved facilities owes much to the vision of Fr Michael Sitaram, the parish priest since 2002. I wanted to meet up with Fr Michael to recall an incident in 1991 at a school in Jurong. One of the students had come into a trance and was behaving as though he was a wild animal - the teacher had brought him to the general office where where I was the vice-principal. This young boy was crawling on the floor prancing around and growling and in between shouting that he was ready to kill anyone who came close. One of the Catholic teachers who knew the boy called the priest of the Church of St Francis of Assisi to assist. As soon as Fr Michael came through the office door, the boy backed up in fright while Fr Michael sprinkled holy water on him, the boy then passed out as more Holy water landed on him. This was witnessed by about 20 staff members in the general office. Many were amazed. We then telephoned the boy's mother to take him home.
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| Church of St Vincent De Paul |
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| Inside Church of St Vincent De Paul |
After a few pictures, Paul led us to the Punggol Waterways for a long ride to Punggol Point and then stopped for a deserved rest at a coffee shop. Paul bought us some dim sum and Victor bought the drinks . The weather had been kind and the trees guarding the Waterways provided the shade along the ride. We then took the Waterways back to the church where my vehicle was parked and Keng took his leave to find his way back to Pasir Ris.
We all had a good time riding through the Punggol Waterways - free from the motorised traffic and enjoying the peace and tranquility of the places visited. Lian Ping had his inaugural ride on his new mountain bike; we had great fellowship as there was a lot to catch up with Paul and Victor.
My faith journey on bicycle started on 17 July 2013 and ended today 5 Dec 2013 for a total of 9 different trips, each time to a few Catholic churches in Singapore. I had visited 31 churches during that period including the Chapel at Mt Carmel in Bukit Teresa. For most of the rides I did it alone and although feeling lonely at times - I also had the freedom to side track and got to know many parts of my homeland that I will not ever see. Along the journey I met and interacted with many people and on many occasions I reflected upon my own faith journey and where it will end.
