Catholics in Sibu pay tribute to the late Thomas O’Connor
SIBU: Some 1,000 faithful attended a Requiem Mass for the late Revd Thomas O’Connor at Sacred Heart Cathedral on Monday.
In his homily, Bishop of Sibu, the Rt Revd Joseph Hii, said O’Connor – better known to Catholics in central Sarawak as Father Thomas Connors – was a good example of how everybody can evangelise and share the Good News.
“Tom Connors came here because he wanted to live up to his baptismal calling. It is also the reason why he became a priest.
“He is happy and he wants all of us to be happy. Let us live up our true vocation, our baptismal vocation, continue to remember him by living up to our baptismal calling,” Hii told the congregation.
Sacred Heart Cathedral Council chairman Michael Kiu said O’Connor spent much of his time in Sarawak travelling to Kapit, Song, Belaga, and areas around Baleh River to reach out to the people.
“For more than seven years when he was posted to Song area, he used to stay in a ‘langkau’ (hut), just opposite my rented house at that time. There was a water tank, he depended on rainwater for water supply.
“You could see the open walls. I invited him to stay with me, but he refused, even when other missionaries who visited him, they also stayed at the hut. He was a shy and humble priest. Sometimes, I invited him for a dinner, he did not want to come,” Kiu recalled.
He said O’Connor contributed a lot to the development of the Catholic Church in Kapit.
Kiu recalled when O’Connor was posted to Song, he used to travel to Kapit once a month to say mass as there was no church there then.
“I remember at that time in Kapit, we had our mass inside a courtroom.
“We borrowed the courtroom of the district office and it could only accommodate 75 people maximum.
“We started with 20 people, then in just two years, the place was packed and during Christmas and Easter, people always stood outside the courtroom,” he recalled.
Kiu said it was then O’Connor initiated a fundraising drive to build what is now the Church of Mary Immaculate Conception, Kapit.
Construction began in 1977 and was only completed in the 1980s.
“When we designed that church, we only designed it for 500 in the congregation. We thought it would take years for us to have a fully-packed church.
“Unexpectedly, in just about three years, our normal mass, we already had a congregation of about 700. When I left in 1990, we had a congregation of almost 2,000,” said Kiu, who was church council secretary from 1977.
Due to the growth of church members, Sibu Diocese extended the Kapit church to its current capacity.
In 1999, O’Connor was transferred to Sacred Heart Cathedral.
English Curia Legion of Mary president Catherine Ling said O’Connor was a very committed spiritual director for the movement.
“He was very Marian devoted, very caring, and very fatherly, and very concerned with all the members. He really contributed a lot to the development of the Legion of Mary.
“When he was appointed as the spiritual director for the English Curia, he really read through the handbook and made sure that he understood whatever was written in the handbook so he could guide us well,” he said.
Caritas Sibu director Eta Ting said she remembers O’Connor as dynamic, enthusiastic, and giving joy to the people, especially the youths.
“He had great devotion for Rosary, Holy Hour, daily mass, and drawing us closer to God,” she said.
Rose Santa, who used to attend St Herbert’s Catholic Church in Song, said O’Connor was very dear to her family.
“Our family misses him dearly. He always said to us ‘make your home my home’. I thank God for having Apai Connors with us,” she said.
Rose was baptised by O’Connor in 1974 and her marriage was also blessed by him.
“I remember, when I was in Form 4 and Form 5, around 1987 at that time, I used to follow Father to the longhouses during the weekend to teach, pray, and baptise the folks in the longhouses,” she said.
O’Connor, who served in Sarawak’s central region for 52 years, passed away on Feb 26 at St James’ University Hospital in Dublin at the age of 88.
Tom Connors came here because he wanted to live up to his baptismal calling. It is also the reason why he became a priest.
He is happy and he wants all of us to be happy. Let us live up our true vocation, our baptismal vocation, continue to remember him by living up to our baptismal calling.
Rt Revd Joseph Hii