All is ready for St Anne’s finale

All is ready for St Anne’s finale

THE St Anne’s Church in Bukit Mertajam has built a second dormitory costing RM850,000 in time for the on-going St Anne’s Novena and Feast to provide accommodation for the festival’s volunteers.

Church priest Monsignor Stephen Liew said the St Anne’s Dorm, which is located next to the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto in the church compound, has separate rooms for men and women.

He said the fully air-conditioned rooms were equipped with 32 beds each as well as bathrooms and toilets respectively.

“There are also two separate common toilet-cum-bathroom units which are designed similar to the Rest and Recreation toilets along PLUS highways.

“Each unit has nine toilet seats and eight shower heads in separate concrete cubicles as well as long wash basins and a few industrial fans,” he said in an interview yesterday.

Liew said pilgrims attending the feast could take their baths there but advised them to maintain its cleanliness.

He said the church also recently spent about RM300,000 to repair the bell tower at the St Anne’s Sanctuary and replaced the steeple at the St Anne’s Shrine at a cost of RM30,000.

“We have also replaced the central statue inside the St Anne’s Shrine with a crucifix as there are already two big St Anne’s statues on both sides of the building,” he added.

Liew said between 80,000 and 100,000 pilgrims were expected to attend the feast, especially during the main candlelight procession at 10pm tomorrow after the 9pm mass.

He said after the procession, 250 youths and adults would stage a Tamil drama titled ‘The Search’ outside the sanctuary.

The 180-minute long drama, he said, was a joint effort by members from St Anthony’s Church Nibong Tebal, Mother of Good Health Church Parit Buntar and St Joseph’s Church Bagan Serai.

Liew also said the church hoped to raise RM500,000 for the St Anne’s Haemodialysis Welfare Association’s expansion plans which included the rental of two more shoplots in Pusat Perniagaan Maju Jaya nearby.

“The association plans to increase its dialysis machines from 11 units to 25 units to cater up to 80 renal patients from the present 30 patients,” he said.

Liew said a 2km-long stretch on Jalan Kulim (from the Taman Sentosa traffic lights till the Taman Bukit Indah traffic lights) would be closed to motorists between 2pm tomorrow till 2pm on Sunday for the festival.

-News courtesy of The Star-