Church needs to do more to achieve cathedral status

Penang Centennial Heritage Excellence Award was conferred on St George’s Anglican Church in Farquhar Street. — KT GOH/The Star

AFTER receiving the Penang Centennial Heritage Excellence Award, the St George’s Anglican Church is looking forward to becoming a cathedral.

The church’s Suffragan Bishop Rt Rev Dr Stephen Soe said although the Diocesan Bishop Rt Rev Dr Steven Abbarow had announced that the church was to serve as a cathedral, many goals had to be achieved to reach that status.

“The award is truly encouraging and will spur us to do more to assist those in need,” Soe told state publisher Buletin Mutiara.

Anglican worship services began shortly after the arrival of Francis Light in Penang in 1786.

The church building was completed in 1818 and consecrated by the Bishop of Calcutta on May 11, 1819.

Soe said the church in Farquhar Street had undergone two major renovations.

One happened after the Japanese dropped bombs during the Second World War, damaging the church which was subsequently heavily looted.

Restoration works were completed in 1948.

Another upgrade took place after the church received a heritage grant in 2008.

Soe said they were thankful for the recognition as it showed the state government was appreciative of the church’s contribution to the community over the past 204 years.

“We are pleased that our doors are still open, and we remain a living church.

“Our congregation has expanded over the years.

“We have established Chinese churches, namely St Paul’s Church in Macalister Road as well as Christchurch in Ayer Itam.

“Our Tamil congregation has the Good Shepherd Church in Jelutong.

“We have worship services conducted in different languages in our church grounds along with sufficient worship leaders and support teams.

“We need to build new buildings to house these additional services.

“The added space will also be utilised for a host of activities,” he said, adding that they were in the midst of discussions with George Town World Heritage Incorporated on this.

There are now several ministries in the church, including Sunday School for children as well as ones for youth, young adults, women, golden circle, church guides and heritage.

Sunday worship services are available in English, Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil languages.

Soe expressed hope that the Captain Francis Light memorial could be repaired as the ceiling did not look safe.

“We need the assistance of heritage advisers on conducting repairs that meet our heritage status,”he added.