By William Gan
MIRI — The St Joseph’s Miri Parish Council organised an all-day Christmas Family Festival in the compound of the Church of Mater Dei, Lutong on Saturday 13 December 2025.
It’s a beautiful morning with the sun shining and a gentle breeze blowing, volunteers came early to set up their stalls and booths as families started gathering in the Church’s Madonna Hall for the opening. Rev Fr Justin Dan, the assistant parish priest kicked off the day at 8.30 am with the opening prayer, highlighting our spiritual preparations for Christmas right in the middle of the Advent season. As soon as Fr Justin declared the Christmas Family Festival open, carolers immediately burst into song, enthusiastically joined by the voices of all present.
The Parish Rector, Rt Rev Bishop Richard Ng, was in Bintulu parish to bless and inaugurate a new chapel. He sent a short video clip where he conveyed his greetings and blessings. He wished everyone fun, joy and laughter for the day and thanked all for their support in this parish event where activities for everyone have been organized.
There were indeed lots of activities throughout the day for all in the family. There were as many as 20 stalls under the tents set up at the car park compound and at the Church foyer, selling a wide variety of food and drinks, cookies, handicrafts, religious articles, beautiful potted plants and all things Christmassy. There were also half a dozen “health booths” manned by various organisations from within and outside the parish, providing services such as blood pressure and blood sugar tests, hearing screening, advice for differently abled children, corrective posture advice, etc.
As the adults mingled around, the Sunday School children were entertained in the colouring contest, singalongs and a children’s Christmas party including the appearance of an unusually thin and dark Santa Claus! The emcee moved around with a series of fun Bible quizzes and as many as 10 well-versed members in the crowd won token prizes on the spot.
The festival culminated in the Christmas Family Concert and Christmas Raffle Draws. With everyone satiated by the variety of food available from the stalls for lunch, they gathered in Madonna Hall where they were entertained by a number of acts presented by Sunday Schools from around the parish. There were a number of Christmas carol pieces, dances, choral speaking and a monologue.
Interspersed among the concert entertainment, the raffle draws took place to the excitement of all present. There were over a dozen attractive prizes including a microwave oven, multipurpose cooker, air fryer, halogen oven, Dutch oven, vacuum cleaner and other household appliances, with the grand prize of a motorbike – SM Sport 110E. Draws were made by Rev Fr Jack Nayak and Rev Fr Ronald Jimmy and representatives from the Parish Council.
The Christmas Family Festival closed right after the grand prize draw at 3.30 pm. Many volunteers stayed back to rearrange the furniture and clean up the Church compound in time for the sunset Mass that evening.
It was truly a blessed day where parishioners from the seven Churches of the Parish spread out over 30km could meet up, renew old acquaintances and experience the hope and joy of Christmas as one parish family. Maranatha!
