Faith Journey - East

After today I would have completed visits to 24 of the 31 Catholic churches in Singapore.  This morning (Mon 16 Sep 2013),  I started at 9.30 am  - with the bike on the rack, I drove to East Coast Park to cover 4 churches; Holy Family in Katong, Our Lady of Perpetual Succour in Siglap, St Stephen's Church in Aljunied and Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Tanjong Katong.  After leaving the car near the Road Safety Park, I rode to the underpass to emerge at the Chinese Swimming Club on Amber Road.

Church of the Holy Family

Holy Family Church

 After a short ride, I was at the Church of the Holy Family at around 10 am,  the office was locked and I wandered to the church proper to say my prayers for family and friends - the huge round stained glass at the altar was awesome. The Holy Family church was built in 1923 on land donated by a certain Mr Sheerder.  The present new church was built on the same grounds in 1999.

St Patrick's School

I rode along East Coast Road stopping at Martia Road- the Katong Convent and also the residence of the Infant Jesus ( IJ ) sisters where my daughter used to attend speech and drama classes.  Further along the road, I came across another famous Catholic Institution, St Patrick's School.

Residence of IJ Sisters Martia Road

Siglap PCN

 From here I crossed over to the Siglap PCN riding towards Kembangan on Upper Changi Road  -  then to the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour better known as OLPS.  On the walls were 15 mosaic panels depicting the 15 mysteries of the Rosary of the Catholic Church  - I thought they were very well done.  Then I stepped into the activity hall for seniors - the lady in charge told me there would be activities all week - mahjong, carrom, chess and card games - there was also a small library - lunch would also be served daily to all the senior visitors. - As usual I had to go inside the Church to say my prayers.  OLPS was built in 1961 when the Holy Family Church in Katong could not accommodate the growing Catholic congregation in Katong area.  Further extensions and renovation were made in 1999 for the congregation of over 8000.  I walked to the front of the church on Siglap Hill  - it was so peaceful and quiet - this will not be so on Sunday mornings - where the whole area becomes a headache for parking wardens.

OLPS

OLPS- Activities for Seniors

I left OLPS church at 11.30am riding along Upper Changi Road towards Paya Lebar - on the way I stopped at Lorong Sarina to drop by my brother's house - as no one was home I rode on - stopped a short while at the former Geylang Serai Vocational Training Centre, where my good friend, PH Tan, was the Principal for many years.  The buildings were a sorry sight - some had no roof and the grass and shrubs were overgrown.  Obviously the whole place was not maintained and would probably be demolished soon.
Being in Geylang Serai area at lunch time - I must not miss the new Food Centre where many good Malay food could be found.  My personal favourites are Nasi Padang and Nasi Bryani - I decided to go for the Nasi Padang stall that had the shortest line - I was fifth on line and waited patiently to be served.

OLPS

 After a satisfying meal of fried fish and sayur lodeh, I rode along Paya Lebar Road to Lorong Bengkok -  Circuit Road into Cannosian School for Hearing Impaired where my wife, Grace was a volunteer for half a day to help children in Oral English .  I spoke to her on the mobile and she said she was very busy and unable to get away from class.

Mosaic painting - Agony in the Garden - OLPS

Blk 59 Circuit Road

I pressed on to Blk 59 Circuit Road the apartment block that I had lived in the mid 60s.  I stopped to recall some of the memories in this area.  St Stephen's church was not too far away in Sallim Road. St Stephen's Church built in 1966, was quite deserted at 1.30pm, I was told by the lady in the office that the Parish priest was very busy so I climbed some steps to the church proper to say my prayers .  As I started to leave the car park, I met my friend Chay HK who said he was helping his neighbour in the photography business.  He was as much delighted to see me as I was him.  The next church on my list was not far, so I rode along Paya Lebar Road towards Geylang and within 10 minutes there it was the Church of Our Lady Queen of Peace on Tanjong Katong Road.

St Stephen's Church

St Stephen's Church

Queen of Peace church was built in1954 and renovated in 1985.  Further renovation to put in the air condition was done in 2010, and the extension David's House was built in 1996.  I went inside this beautiful church for some quiet moments before heading back to the East Coast Park where my vehicle was parked .  This car park at East coast Park is one of the last few places in Singapore where you need not pay for parking on a weekday.  Although it was a long day, the time on the saddle was not that long - most of the churches on this route was relatively close to each other - showing that the catholic population in the Eastern part of the island was quite large.

Our Lady Queen of Peace Church

Canteen area of Queen of Peace Church

Queen of Peace Church