IN 1957, the late Archbishop Tan Sri Dominic Vendargon gave his approval to Fr Edouard Giraud, the then parish priest of Holy Rosary, Brickfields, to take on the massive task of raising funds to build a church in Petaling Jaya.
RB Pereira, the architect, and the late Datuk Sir Francis McWilliams, city engineer, formed a church building committee.
On Aug 15, 1959, the foundation stone of the church was laid by the archbishop, with the first Mass celebrated on Dec 24, 1959 – a Christmas Eve Mass – in an almost completed church.
On Jan 24, 1960, the church was blessed and dedicated, with the name Church of the Assumption.
Over the last 63 years, parishioners have experienced the joys of baptisms, weddings, Christmases, feast days, and Easters, community events like sports days, walkathons and coffee mornings, as well as the mourning of cherished priests and parishioners who have died.
In the present day, the church building has experienced significant deterioration and is in need of major renovations, including complete rewiring, repair of the leaking roof, replacement of 30-year-old audio equipment, retiling of the floors, and fixing the air conditioning system.
Since May 21 this year, the church building has been closed for renovations and repairs.
All masses and events are now held in Assumption Family House, behind the main church building.
The parish priest, Fr Leonard Lexson, said, “A church is a place of hope, comfort, joy and renewal for our parishioners and their families and friends.
“Being a son of the parish, this church is meaningful to me, as it is to all our parishioners.
“We hope to make the church even more inspiring and uplifting for many to encourage our parishioners to unite and continue to do good work around our community at large.”
To defray the cost of renovations and repairs, the parish community has been organising fundraising events such as Coffee Mornings every Sunday, a Youth Talent Contest and a Flea Market.
However, another RM1.5mil is needed to pay for the repairs.
The next fundraising event is a Golf Tournament at Kelab Golf Rahman Putra on Oct 27 at 1pm.
Anyone can support by registering as player, becoming a sponsor, or offering a donation.
Donations can be made to Church of the Assumption Petaling Jaya (United Overseas Bank account number: 1743034177).
You can also email assumption@archkl.org or contact Ralph Gomez (012-298 5036) or Cilia Rasasegram (016-333 7810) for more information.
