Malaysia : Glass panel with 'Virgin Mary' image removed, handed to local church

Updated 20th November 2012

The glass panel at the Sime Darby Medical Centre (SDMC) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with an image said to resemble the Virgin Mary has been removed and handed over to the Catholic church.

In a statement, Sime Darby Group said two glass panels from the North Tower of the hospital complex were removed Tuesday morning, 20th November 2012.

"SDMC has removed and handed over the two window panes. One of the panes has on it marks that some claim resemble artistic depictions of Mary, the Mother of Jesus," it said.

The glass panels were delivered to the Marian Church of Our Lady Lourdes in Klang.

The image had drawn huge crowds to the hospital since pictures of it went viral online.

A large group of people, mostly Catholics, gathered below the area at the new wing of the hospital since 10 November 2012, lighting candles, singing hymns and reciting prayers.

Traffic was heavy around the vicinity, with even tourist buses pulling up by the roadside. This happened daily since the image was posted online including Facebook.

Secretary Janet Tong, 45, described the apparition as “amazing”.

“It is so wonderful that our Mother has come to us in a hospital, where many of the sick are crying out for her help,” she said.

Several claimed the colour and position of the image also changed.

Businessman Sheree Rao, 21, who went up inside to get a close look at the window, said the image was only visible from the outside.

“I touched the glass, thinking it could be paint or something else. But there was nothing,’’ he added.

Student Nicole Jo Pereira, 20, said she believed the image was a call for people to do good deeds.

Teacher Kenneth Fong, 27, said he was sure of an image on the window. “But whether it’s from God, I don’t know.”

Photographs of the image, believed to have appeared several days ago, have gone viral on Facebook.

Access to the window from inside the building has been restricted by the hospital.

Catholic newsletter The Herald editor Rev Father Lawrence Andrew said the Catholic Church would withhold official comment until the image had been tested and verified by theologians and church authorities.

Catholics believe that Mary, as mother of Jesus Christ, is the Mother of God.

Well-known Sabah Catholic priest Father Joseph Dapoz passes away at 91

God bless you.. Rest in Peace Father Joseph Dapoz. He was well known because of his ability to remember names and places and he was very fluent in the Kadazan-Dusun language, the Sabahan native language despite being an Austrian.




As reported by the Star on 24th February, 2011

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s last foreign missionary priest, Father Joseph Dapoz (pic) has died at the Holy Family Senior Citizens Residence in Kg Purak, Papar, at the age of 91.

A nun at the residence, Sister Clara Orou, said Dapoz had been complaining about having diarrhoea since Sunday.

He died at about 7am on Monday, 21st February 2011.

“Despite his discomfort, he seemed his normal self and had even finished a bowl of porridge.

“But he had told me he wouldn’t be able to perform mass at the residence on Tuesday,’’ said Orou.

Dapoz will lie at the St Michael’s Church in Penampang until the funeral mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral at 8.30am on Saturday.

He will be buried at the Catholic cemetery at Mile 4.5 Penampang Road here.

Dapoz was well-known among both Catholics and non-Catholics especially for his ability to remember names and faces.


He was born in a mountain village in Tyrol, Austria, in 1920 and arrived in Sabah in 1948.

Dapoz was posted to various parishes over the decades and was fluent in Kadazandusun.


After retiring from active ministry, he took up residence at the Holy Family Residence in Kg Purak.



Picture published by Catholic Sabah, shows the celebration of Father Dapoz's 90th Birthday at the Holy Family Residence in Kg Purak, Papar.

“However, he continued to perform religious duties until he became wheelchair-bound about six years ago,” said Orou.


Dapoz is the last in a long line of Catholic foreign missionary priests who were posted to Sabah in the last 100 years.

In a book titled Portrait of the Last Dinosaur about Dapoz, he told co-authors Rita Lasimbang and Leonard Alanza that all his life had been devoted to answering God’s call, and that he was looking forward to God’s final call to him.

“When the phone rings, I’ll pick it up.

“He (God) has my number,” the authors wrote.

And that call came on Monday morning.

God bless Father Joseph Dapoz.

Rest in Peace.

Rude shock for Priests

I read with great interest this article published in Catholic Sabah. Catholic Sabah is the official monthly Catholic newspaper of the Diocese of Kota Kinabalu and the Diocese of Keningau.

10 vehicles which belong to a Bishop, 8 Priests and a Deacon were damaged by one deranged mentally unstable person, at the Bundu Tuhan Retreat Centre, situated near the foot of the famed Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.

The internet version is here http://www.kkdiocese.net/home/latestnews.cnt?c=ll

BUNDU TUHAN (CS) - Certainly when the clergy, deacons and seminarians of the three arch/dioceses went to the Bundu Tuhan Retreat Centre (BTRC) for their annual fellowship on Jan 5-6, they were not expecting anything unusual to happen to them.

On the morning of Jan 6, Fr Paul Lo happened to look out of his window and saw someone breaking the windscreen of one of the vehicles parked at the carpark between the retreat centre and the Franciscan Sisters' convent.

He notified the others who were having their breakfast.

When they went out to see for themselves, they saw the culprit breaking the windscreen of Fr Aloysius Fidelis' vehicle with a large stone.

According to a reliable source, the culprit, a local, has suicidal tendencies ever since he returned from Semenanjung Malaysia.

He was later caught by a RELA member. When questioned by the police, the culprit said he "hated to see tall buildings and beautiful cars."

The clergy lodged a police report.

The following is the list of those whose vehicles were damaged:

1. Fr Nicholas Stephen SAA 2907D (Tuaran)

2. Fr Michael Modoit SAA 2539A (IY)

3. Fr Aloysius Fidelis SD 366C (Papar)

4. Fr Edward Raymond SA 6993X (Kudat)

5. Fr Alex Jimsy SA3257 (Papar)

6. Bishop Julius Gitom SAA 1746T (Sandakan)

7. Fr Simon Kontou SS4545L (Lahad Datu)

8. Fr Charles Chiew SU3922A (Keningau)

9. Fr Boniface Kimsin SA 6375H (Toboh) and

10. Deacon Rayner Bisius SA 2372T (KK).

However, the car used by Bisius was slightly damaged and there was no broken glass.

Both Gitom and Kontou had to have their vehicles towed back to Sandakan after the fellowship.

While the clergy were dismayed by the event, they were able to take it into stride.

Thankfully it was only the vehicles that were damaged and not the clergy themselves.

According to the source, Archbishop John Lee told the clergy that the Lord must have a message for them through this event.

Never in its history since its opening on 12 Sept 1984 by the late Bishop Simon Fung has such a thing happened at the Bundu Tuhan Retreat Centre.

Throughout its 24 years of existence, many groups - both local and international - have come to make their retreat or attend a seminar there, enjoying the serenity and coolness of the atmosphere and its relative isolation from busy towns has made it an ideal place for one to get away from the rat race.

But this incident serves to show that no one place is really safe nowadays and it is time to beef up the security of the place.

More importantly, it serves as a reminder to always place oneself and all places under the protection of the Lord and never take one's safety and that of our properties for granted, even in fairly sleepy places like BTRC.

The damage incurred was estimated to be around RM10,000.