Humble Beginnings
The Saint Ignatius Church (SIC) story began in 1959 when the Jesuit Fathers of Saint Francis Xavier Church initiated pastorship of the Catholics residing in Sungai Way village. The trail-blazer was Fr Edmund Sullivan, who became known as the Walking Saint for covering his rounds on foot and for his tireless work among the villagers, particularly the poor.
Fr Sullivan, the first SIC Parish Priest, obtained a wooden house in the village which was converted into a Chapel. As many as 600 gathered at the Chapel for Mass and it was soon evident that the Chapel would not be able to accommodate the growing community for long. In May 1972, Fr Sullivan set up the SIC Building Fund Committee which began to collect funds for a new church with bigger premises.
In February of the following year, the then Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, Tan Sri Dominic Vendargon, informed the Building Fund Committee that the CDD (Congregatio Discipulorum Domini or Congregation of the Disciples of the Lord) Fathers had agreed to donate a parcel of their land in Taman Plaza for a new church. CDD Priest, Rev Fr Francis Ng, was assigned to assist Fr Sullivan in pastoring the new community. When Fr Sullivan's health took a turn for the worse, Fr Francis took charge of the Chapel in August 1975 and spearheaded the drive to raise funds. Fr Francis was the first CDD Parish Priest of SIC.
Approval for construction was given by the local authorities July 1986, and work began onsite in June 1987. Built through funds raised by the goodwill and generosity of benefactors as well as through the grant of an interest free loan from the CDD, the church and surrounding infrastructure was completed in August 1988. The opening and dedication of the new SIC to the Lord was officiated by then Archbishop Soter Fernandez on 3 November 1988.
Training & Community Centre
Along with the church, a Training Centre consisting of a two-storey building was built, with facilities for a multi-purpose hall on the ground floor, classrooms on the first floor and eight bedrooms with attached bathrooms on the second floor. The Training Centre was built mainly to serve the CDD priests as a probable vocation centre. The parish of St Ignatius has used the Training Centre for all its programmes and activities since 1988, until the parish felt the need for a bigger facility to cater to the needs of parishioners.
Thus in 1994, then Parish Priest Fr Joseph Chang launched the project for a multi-purpose hall annexe to the Training Centre. The expanded facility comprising the annexe and Training Centre, now called the Costantini Community Centre, was blessed and opened on 20 April 2003.
Growth & Outreach
Over the years, SIC’s church organisations and ministries which had been initiated in the Chapel expanded in number and in its pastoral outreach. Significantly, the Sunday School and RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) opened their doors on home ground and the Society of St Vincent de Paul set up Rumah Kanak-Kanak Impian.
At the grassroots level, the number of BECs (Basic Ecclesial Communities) gradually increased as more areas came under SIC pastorship. SIC’s first BECs were formed in the 1980s: BEC SS3 (1980), BEC SS2 (1981) and BEC SS5 (1982). With the opening of the new Church in Taman Plaza, BECs sprang up in SS1, SS4, Taman Megah (SS24), SS7, SS8, SS25, Damansara Utama and Damansara Jaya. Recently, the new areas of Tropicana, SS9, Kelana Putri, SS23, SS26, Kota Damansara and Ara Damansara have started BECs. The first Mandarin language BECs were launched in January 1997.
SIC is also a conducive place for Mandarin-speaking pastorship to flourish. In the Sungai Way Chapel days, catechism was conducted by the resident catechist. With the shift to Taman Plaza, religious education developed further with the establishment of Sunday School and RCIA classes in Mandarin. Similarly, the bigger premises attracted greater numbers to the Mandarin language Mass on Sunday mornings.
