Holy Family history
Church of the Holy Family located along East Coast Road at 6 Chapel Road is nestled amongst many new and old buildings. This area called Katong is home to many well-known eateries and shops best known for its Eurasian and Peranakan rich cultual heritage.
It was in 1902 when the Eurasian families who were landowners joined the La Salle Brothers for mass at their timber houses that the idea of building a church in the area was mooted. As Katong grew in popularity as a residential area, the Catholic population also multiplyed so much so that there was a growing need to find new premises. One of the Eurasian families was Mr. Sheerder who donated land in the present location to build a chapel in 1923 which later became the first Church of the Holy Family when it was designated as a parish in 1936.
The Parish community of Holy Family entered the new millennium in the newly built church building. The old church structure was demolished when Rev. Fr. Anthony Ho was the parish priest. After the new church building was blessed by Archbishop Nicholas Chia in Dec1999, Fr. Ho relinquished his office as parish priest and Fr. John Baptist Tou became the new parish priest.
In 2002, Rev Fr Patrick Goh was appointed the parish priest. The New Way of Being Church and Small Christian Communities became the vision of the parish. One of the parish's project was the Timor Leste Christmas Project , jointly organised by the parish and the Jesuit Refugee Service, Singapore in the year 2006. Parishioners responded most generously, enabling us to provide dire assistance to the Internally Displaced Persons or refugees of the newly founded nation of Timor Leste. We also provided a new Dental Clinic for the community and scholorship for school children of the refugees. Nearer home, the parish community through another Advent Project provided financial support to the Marine Parade Family Service Centre, for needy families and aged members of the community.
As part of the New Way of Being Church promoting participation and co-responsibility, elections were held and the Parish Pastoral Council(PPC) was formed from 2005. The PPC assist the parish priest in investigating the needs of the parish and setting up the vision and direction for the pastoral work of the parish, including the various ministry groups and SCCs. The PPC and its Office Bearers are elected every two years.
Today, Church of the Holy Family is a vibrant community of 8500 truly blessed with many ministries and services. It is served by two priests and since February 2010 Singapore's first Permanent Deacon is part of the team. The church building has a seating capacity of 2000 people, car park facilities, columbarium, kindergarten, function and meeting rooms, priest residence. The Parish Book Shop serve the needs of the Catholics in the east district. The World Christian Meditation, Singapore has its centre at Church of the Holy Family .