“Change is the only constant in life,” said Heraclitus, and indeed the new year marked a change for many friars in our Custody. For example, there is a new parish team at St Mary of the Angels, and Friar Joseph Lee, the first in our Custody to reach 70 years of age, will be in Manila for a few months for a sabbatical programme.
I, however, continue as Custos, and I am hoping to deepen my intention for the Custody towards greater authenticity as Franciscans, as friars minor. Our Minister General, Friar Massimo Fusarelli, exhorted us during our Chapter last September to focus on strengthening fraternal life. As this is concretely expressed in having at least three friars in each community, we have had to suspend our presence in Penang because we do not have enough Malaysian friars for four communities in Malaysia.
This difficult decision has spurred my desire for our fraternal life to become more intentional. St Francis of Assisi espoused a fraternal life where brothers mutually care for one another and grow in their affective and spiritual maturity personally and communally. To encourage this in our communities, Friar Aiden Peter, as the new Moderator for Ongoing Formation, is considering fresh ideas to stimulate some change in the way we live out our community life.
This year, we are also grateful for our Custody’s spiritual heritage. On 26 January, we celebrated the 50th death anniversary of Blessed Gabriele Allegra, whom our Custody adopted as our co-patron together with St Anthony of Padua. Without Blessed Allegra, we Franciscan Friars might not be in this part of the world. It was his vision to set up the St Anthony Franciscan Sociological Centre in Singapore to offer a Catholic alternative to the Communist ideology that was gaining ground in the 1950s. Whilst tirelessly translating the Scriptures from the original Hebrew and Greek to Chinese and directing the Blessed Scotus Franciscan Biblical Institute in Hong Kong, Blessed Allegra still found time to come to Singapore in the early 1960s.
Turning back the clock several hundred years, we come to the time of St Francis of Assisi. This year we remember 800 years of his Transitus, his return to the Father by welcoming Sister Death. In Assisi, the Friars of the Basilica of St Francis will hold a month-long public display of the mortal remains of St Francis from 22 February 2026. I expound on this exciting event in the Feature article.
As I write this, I have just returned from a week-long meeting, from 5 to 8 January 2026, with the Religious Superiors from Malaysia and Singapore. We also had a joint meeting with the Bishops in our Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. Speaking about change, I can see the deepening of friendship and trust among us Superiors in my six years as Custos. The level of cooperation and collaboration has been taken up a notch. This kind of change is not revolutionary; rather it is secure and organic, the kind that I know comes from an authentic space which can be sustained and is life-giving. I find this truly heart-warming.
I pray that all of us may experience this sort of change this year, especially in our spiritual life. May our Lenten experience be a graced opportunity to ground ourselves further in our Lord. Please pray for us friars as we continue to grow and strengthen our Franciscan presence and service of God’s people. May the Lord bless you and your loved ones!
Parishioners of the Church of the Risen Christ marked New Year’s Eve with a prayerful celebration that included Eucharistic Adoration, a Thanksgiving Mass, and a farewell for their parish priest, Friar Esmond Chua, OFM, who has served the parish since 2023.
Friar Esmond receiving a souvenir from Nicholas Chin, the PPC chairman.
Parishioners of the Church of the Risen Christ marked New Year’s Eve with a prayerful celebration that included Eucharistic Adoration, a Thanksgiving Mass, and a farewell for their parish priest, Friar Esmond Chua, OFM, who has served the parish since 2023.
The evening began with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, led by Friar Esmond, featuring periods of silent reflection alongside Scripture readings and litanies of adoration, mercy, thanksgiving, trust and supplication. This was followed by a Thanksgiving Mass, with Friar Esmond as main celebrant, and Fr Michael Raymond, OFM Cap, Friar Crispus Mosinoh, OFM, and Friar Cosmas Francis, OFM, concelebrating.
In his homily, Friar Esmond reflected on the transition into the new year, calling on the faithful to “pause, praise and press on” as they move from 2025 into 2026. He encouraged parishioners to reflect on God’s presence and faithfulness before looking ahead.
Referencing the First Reading from 1 Kings 8:55–61, he highlighted King Solomon’s blessing of the people and his emphasis on God’s unfailing faithfulness. The Responsorial Psalm from 1 Chronicles 29:10–12 reinforced this theme, proclaiming God’s greatness and sovereignty over all creation. In the Gospel reading from Luke 17:11–19, Friar Esmond drew attention to the healing of the ten lepers, noting that only one returned to give thanks to Jesus, underscoring the importance of gratitude in the life of faith.
Following the Mass, Parish Pastoral Council chairperson Nicholas Chin paid tribute to Friar Esmond’s leadership, describing him as a warm and dedicated pastor who played a key role in reviving parish ministries. He noted Friar Esmond’s emphasis on serving with zeal and humility, often reminding parishioners that Church service is voluntary and rooted in faith, not obligation.
During his nearly three-year tenure, Friar Esmond was actively involved in several parish development projects, including the construction of Our Lady’s Grotto, St Joseph’s Centre, Fr Peter Shyu Hall, the installation of solar panels, and The Oak Tree, a special room for catechism children.
In his farewell remarks, Friar Esmond expressed gratitude for the strong support he received from parishioners and thanked his fellow friars for their prayers and assistance.
Friar Esmond will assume his new role as parish priest of St Mary of the Angels Church in Singapore. Friar Crispus Mosinoh will continue as parish priest of the Church of the Risen Christ, assisted by Friar Cosmas Francis, with Friar John Soh appointed as pastoral assistant.
The celebration concluded with a parish dinner and a countdown to welcome the New Year 2026.
The request Christ made from the crucifix to St Francis 800 years ago came up repeatedly at the 6th Asia-Oceania OFS-YouFra Congress in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. The simple phrase – Go and repair my Church – resonated with the Secular Franciscans (OFS) brothers and sisters of Asia and Oceania as they sought greater clarity and depth in their identity and mission.
In the Holy Mass that opened the congress, Kota Kinabalu Archbishop John Wong told all gathered that it is important to invert “Go and repair my Church”, to begin with “church” as a community of believers that needs constant conversion, then “repairing” oneself through repentance, and finally “go” and share what you have received from the Lord.
Over the six days, 23-29 October 2025, the 72 Franciscans (61 Seculars and 11 Clergy/Religious) spoke the common language of love and fraternity, despite hailing from several countries, including Australia, Korea, India, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, Timor Leste, Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
Fraternity is the fundamental call for all Franciscans – Secular and Religious. This is responding to Jesus’ call for all his disciples to be in communion, “that they may be one” (John 17:21) and this deep union is coming from Jesus’ acknowledgement that “the Father and I are one” (John 10:30).
Collective discernment saw the Congress members unanimously voting to conduct formation for leadership – local councils, ministers and formators – to help them understand what they have been called to do and to do it in a Christian and Franciscan way.
Whilst formation was a priority during the congress, other areas of importance discussed included Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) and vocation promotion. Much was said about engaging youths and YouFra in particular. The many entities seriously considering establishing a YouFra fraternity had the chance to learn from the rich experience of entities like Philippines and Vietnam which have YouFra numbering in the thousands.
With the Asia-Oceania delegates were Tibor Kauser OFS General Minister and Francis Park OFS Asia-Oceania Councillor, who helped steer the direction of the conversations and provided clarity on many matters. Tibor Kauser spoke of what it means to repair the Church, “Repair a fraternal life within self and others – but avoid repairing what is not even broken”. He also spoke about the role of the OFS fraternal animator for YouFra and the sense of belonging and responsibility in OFS and YouFra.
If you feel an inner prompting to explore the Secular Franciscan Order, do reach out to Singapore National Minister Janet Lim OFS (janetsfo@gmail.com) or Malaysia National Minister Marina Anjuman OFS (marinaanjuman7284@gmail.com).
From left to right Back row: Friar Francisco Basnayake, Friar Gerard Victor, Friar Kenny Anthonysamy Front row: Friar Jorgerson Japar, Friar Marvin Voo, Friar Vernon Chua
Named after Greccio in Italy’s Rieti Valley, Greccio Friary is a formation community that lives the Gospel daily through fraternity, prayer, work and study in simplicity. The friary stands within the grounds of the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus school in Upper Bukit Timah.
Our Greccio community is made up of six friars – Francisco Jude, Gerard Victor, Kenny Anthonysamy, Vernon Chua, Jorgerson Japar and myself – living together as one fraternity.
As Guardian, Friar Francisco cares for both the physical and spiritual well-being of the community. He presides at daily Mass in the chapel and used to work with the Archdiocesan Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants & Itinerant People (ACMI). He now works with the Prison Ministry.
Friar Gerard alternates with Friar Francisco in celebrating the daily Mass for the Franciscan brothers and IJ sisters. He also celebrates Mass in various parishes including St Joseph (Bukit Timah), St Anthony, and St Mary of the Angels, and gives spiritual direction.
Friar Kenny, a lay friar, is the heart of our community. Jovial and caring, he looks after the maintenance of the friary. He brings joy through his humour and is always ready to listen and support the fraternity in many ways.
Another lay friar, Friar Vernon, serves as the director for the post-novitiate. He is also known as the “Gardener Friar” because he cares deeply for creation and takes loving care of the friary’s beautiful gardens. Living St Francis’ exhortation to love “Sicut Mater” (like a mother), he also prepares meals especially lunch for the friars returning from studies or ministry.
Friar Jorgerson is in his second year of philosophy studies at St Francis Xavier Major Seminary. In addition to his classes, he participates in our in-house Franciscan formation programme, speech classes, and the weekly St Anthony Devotion at the Church of St Mary of the Angels. He also assists with the media ministry.
Friar Marvin made his solemn profession a year ago and is now completing his second year of theology at the seminary. On weekends, he travels to Malaysia for his ministry with the Bahasa Malaysia community at St Joseph Church, Plentong in Johor Bahru. There, he serves through the choir, gives formation sessions, participates in the Basic Ecclesial Community, conduct retreats, and accompanies the youth ministry.
Minister General Massimo Fusarelli, in his letter after the Lay Brothers’ Gathering, described fraternity as a “spiritual ecosystem” where lay and ordained friars live together in complementarity, each bringing their own gift to the community.
Life at Greccio reflects a “spiritual ecosystem” where each vocation has intrinsic value rooted in being rather than function, echoing today’s call to interconnectedness.
The Greccio Friary friars nurture their fraternity through monthly Chapters or Recollections, beginning with reflection on “We Are All Brothers”, deepening their communion and renewing their Franciscan commitment.
I write this while on a pilgrimage of Franciscan Italy. We are a group of 39, but we have a common desire of our hearts – to grow in intimacy with the Lord and be courageous in seeking God’s will for us. Although I have visited many of these shrines and hermitages multiple times, they are always fresh for me because I keep growing and evolving. However, the fundamental call remains the same – to know that I belong to God and to love him as I am, with my whole self.
The weeks before the pilgrimage were filled with back to back meetings beginning with our Custody Chapter in early September, followed in October by the JPIC Asian Network for Peace and Integral Ecology in Manila and the Secular Franciscans (OFS) Asia-Oceania Congress in Kota Kinabalu.
Our Chapter allowed our brothers to connect in person and share life, ideas and possibilities. This helped in shaping the resolutions and recommendations for the Custody for the three-year term beginning January 2026.
Some significant matters discussed were:
the building of a retreat space in Kota Kinabalu;
taking on Fraternitas (Franciscan Young Adults) as a Custody corporate ministry;
forming a Welfare Committee to look after the health and insurance needs of the friars;
taking ownership of Franciscan Evangelisation (especially through St Anthony Devotion, Liturgy of the Word, Animal Blessing, Transitus celebrations);
reviewing contracts between dioceses and the Order, especially concerning parish ministries; and
strengthening our fraternal presence, as exhorted by our Minister General, with the option to suspend a presence, should the need arise.
An essential aspect of Franciscan life and mission is Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC). Pope Francis understood this wonderfully and his encyclicals Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti addressed urgent issues concerning integral ecology and universal brotherhood. Among the topics discussed at the JPIC Asian Network meeting were promoting peace in areas like Myanmar, sharing resources regarding integral ecology, and using social media to advocate for the dignity of every human person.
The Secular Franciscans (OFS) congress was also a time of discernment, with formation and accompaniment emerging as priority among the resolutions, and JPIC and YouFra (Franciscan Youths) issues taking centre stage.
Being on this pilgrimage, seeing how many are thirsting for God and connecting to the spirituality of Francis, my dreams and hopes for the Custody are for the friars to ground themselves in the God of Life so that whatever we do, we do for God, with God, and in God. This will necessitate ongoing formation of both friars and communities so we can be life-giving channels of peace to all, especially those in dire need of connection and wholeness.
This is the shalom-peace that I wish for all of you, our readers, benefactors and friends, as you celebrate the graced season of Advent and the great feast of Christmas. May the Christ who did not disdain to be born in the messiness of the manger give us the enduring hope that he always abides with us, despite our broken and chaotic lives.
Finally, I will be handing over the role of Development and Communications Director to Friar Mike D’Cruz in the new year. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all of you for your amazing support all these years and the team, especially Ms Karen Goh and Mr Hilary Hoe for their expert advice and super hard work! My gratitude to my brothers for so readily saying yes to contributing stories and a piece of themselves.
Have a blessed 2026 and may the Lord give you peace!
If the Custody Assembly in July was the breath before the plunge, then our Custody Chapter, held from 1 to 5 September 2025 in Singapore, was the deep dive – a moment when prayer turned into purpose, reflection into resolution, and fraternity into forward movement. Over those five days, 33 friars of the Custody of St Anthony (Malaysia–Singapore–Brunei) gathered once again, this time to discern not merely what God has been doing among us, but what He calls us to become.
We began each day as Franciscans must with the rhythm of prayer. Lauds, Eucharist, and Vespers held the days together like the golden thread that binds a tapestry. Around these sacred hours, our discussions, discernments, and decisions unfolded.
A significant portion of our time was devoted to group dynamics and reflection on the quality of our fraternal life. We revisited questions raised in July: What nourishes our brotherhood? What strains it? How might we live more faithfully the simplicity, humility, and mutual care that St Francis envisioned?
We spoke from lived experience, sharing the everyday realities of running parishes in Malaysia and Singapore – the joys of serving people, the exhaustion of administrative duties, and the delicate balancing act between ministry and fraternal life. In the process, we recognised that our collective vitality depends not only on doing more, but also on discerning what must be pruned with care, and what perhaps must be cut away altogether, so that new life might emerge.
Presiding over the Chapter was Brother Ferdinand van der Reijken, our Visitator General from the Netherlands, whose calm wisdom and quiet attentiveness created space for truth to surface. In his opening address, he reminded us that discernment is not a race to conclusions, but a pilgrimage of listening – to God, to one another, and to the signs of the times.
Under his guidance, the Custody Chapter proceeded to elect new leadership. The announcement of candidates for Custos marked a solemn moment of communal trust. Ballots followed for the Vicar and Custody Council members, all carried out in prayerful transparency. When the new leadership team was confirmed, a deep silence of peace settled over the room. It was the sound of brothers entrusting one another anew to the grace of God’s guidance.
Guided once again by our facilitator, Aaron Maniam, we undertook a patient and honest exploration of the Custody’s strengths and challenges, identifying the opportunities and obstacles that might shape the next three years. Out of these conversations came resolutions and recommendations that are living signposts for a fraternity on the move.
Two of the most significant were:
A call to strengthen our fraternal presence in Malaysia and Singapore, including courageous discernment of whether to suspend or close certain houses, or to invite friars from other entities for renewed vitality.
A shared commitment for the Custody to deepen its ownership of the Franciscan charism – through devotions to St Anthony, the Blessing of Animals, and the Liturgy of the Word, seen not as mere traditions but as evangelising encounters that embody our identity.
These discussions were both administrative and theological as for Franciscans, governance is an act of fraternity, leadership a form of service, and structure a vessel for grace.
As our facilitator Aaron reminded us in the closing session, “The Custody Chapter’s true fruit lies not in documents, but in decisions made anew every morning.” He then invited each friar to reflect on two deceptively simple questions:
What is one thing I have learned during this Chapter that I will put into practice in the coming months?
What is one personal commitment I make to build on this moment in our Chapter’s history, and to help our fraternity manage its polarities in the best possible way?
It was a fitting close – for no Chapter is truly complete until its insights are embodied in life. Around the room, heads bowed and pens hovered. Some friars wrote quickly; others lingered in quiet thought. What united us was the shared awareness that we stood at another threshold – invited to translate vision into vitality, policy into presence, and fraternity into flesh.
As the friars returned to their friaries and ministries, there was a sense that something had shifted. The Chapter had reawakened a shared memory of who we are called to be – brothers to one another, and instruments of hope to a world in pain.
In the words of St Francis, “Let us begin again, for up to now we have done little.” That ancient invitation feels as fresh today as it did eight centuries ago. The world has changed beyond measure, yet the call remains the same: to live the Gospel, simply and joyfully, together.
For the Custody of St Anthony, the next three years will undoubtedly bring new challenges – changing demographics, shifting ministries, the ever-present tension between prayer and action. May God, who began this good work among us, bring it to fulfilment – in the laughter shared at table, in the silence of prayer, in the hands that bless, and in the hearts that continue to hope.
