R.I.P – fr. julien

the late rev. fr. datuk arthur julien
born: 25.02.1917; olsene, beligium
ordained priest: 19.06.1944; parish, france
called home: 11.09.2004; penang, malaysia
(above picture taken from jeff ooi’s blog)

i left my office at 9.15am with 2 of my colleagues for fr. julien’s funeral, who passed away on 11th sept. when we reached there, it was only 9.30am but the church’s car park was already full. had to park outside. luckily the walk was not too far.

when i first reached the church and wanted to go inside the dewan holy spirit, i spy this beautifully decorated vehicle parked outside the dewan. i wonder what it is for. i suppose for someone (don’t know who) to accompany the hearse on the procession.

inside the dewan holy spirit there were already a large crowd. i couldn’t even get in front. so i went to the side front door, which were meant for priests and VIPs. luckily the one who manned the door there was kind enough to let me in when i told him all i wanted was to take some photos. i was lucky. just as i went in, i saw our chief minister paying his respect. quickly i snapped two photos of him!

penang’s chief minister, tan sri dr koh tsu koon (second from right). on his right is datuk dr toh kin woon, the MP for macang bubuk, prai, also penang’s state economic, planning and education minister (hope i get it right). state EXCO member for economic, planning and education. he was recently baptised as a catholic last year.

to continue reading, please click on ‘jog over for more’.

the following photo show the crowd in the hall, seated, and many were standing behind and by the side. on the foreground left is where fr. julien is lying in state for people to pay their respects.

this is a picture of the coffin of fr. julien being carried out of the dewan holy spirit to the church for the mass.

the church was packed with people standing all around behind the church (inside), and some outside. there were many shots i wanted to take inside the church but i dare not walked up to the front. so at one stage, i try using the zoom function of my digicam from where i was seated (back near main door) but realised that after zooming, it was quite blur. not so sure how to take zoom pics yet. it doesn’t turn out clear so i decided to try again. this time i moved over to the left front side (peter, the same place i met you! that is a good spot for pics taking) where i can get a better view of all in the church.

it was a beautiful mass that was presided by the bishop of penang, rt. rev. antony selvanayagam, DD. the retired archbishop of KL, archbishop soter fernandez (who used to be my catechist teacher!) was co-presiding too. he happened to be in penang for the priets’ annual retreat. there were about 50 priests present. it was in english and mandarin and the mass hymns were sung in latin. toward the end, four persons who were close to fr. julien (2 priests and 2 lay people) gave an eulogy.

the mass was suppose to end at 11.45 but it dragged on until 12 noon. partly because of the eulogy and the final speech by the bishop. people, especially those non christians and those standing in line under the hot sun waiting for the procession were started to get irritated. when the bishop finally ended his speech at noon, those irritated people behind clapped so loud and shouted. finally! people heaved a sigh of relief!

the last picture i managed to snap was this, which shows the hearse carrying the coffin.

i did not follow the procession nor did i go to the burial site, as i had to get back to the office.

datuk fr. arthur julien had been laid to rest finally and like one of the eulogist said, god would have said to him “well done, my good and faithful servant. enter into the joy of the lord.” (matthew 25:21)

more pictures can be view here:
the funeral of fr. julien