KUCHING – With the demise of Cornelius Cardinal Sim on May 29, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei Darussalam lost their second cardinal within six months of losing their first, Soter Cardinal Fernandez.
The youths in the tiny Apostolic Vicariate of Brunei lost their very “hip” cardinal and priest who sometimes attuned himself to their popular culture just to be one with them.
As for his flock in Brunei and the parishioners of the Church of Our Lady of Assumption in Bandar Seri Begawan – not only did they lose their priest and bishop who consecrated the sacred bread and wine for them. They had also lost the “baker-man” in the late Cornelius Cardinal Sim who baked bread for them on Fridays.
“This Friday output of ‘manna’ hot from the cardinal’s oven is God-sent, actually, for his parishioners and others living in and around the area. Bakeries and other groceries are closed in Bandar Seri Begawan for Friday prayers.
“And I recall on one occasion in 2014, the cardinal had to rush back to Brunei to attend to his baking ministry,” says Patricia Regis, a Kota Kinabalu representative of the Regional Commission for Social Communication (RCSC).
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She adds it is the cardinal’s weekly Friday mission to “make and break bread” with his flock living around Bandar Seri Begawan.
Sim died at the age of 69 at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taoyuan, Taiwan. He suffered a cardiac arrest while awaiting cancer treatment.
His funeral could only be held on Tuesday as it took time to bring his remains back under the current restrictive travel logistics.
People who personally knew the electrical-engineer turned priest and later bishop and cardinal – the highest hierarchy in the Catholic Church – offer “exceptional” anecdotes of the man who at one time in his life was distant from the Church.
For 12 years, Sim was a “lapsed Catholic”, a term loosely used for such persona in church circles, as he had stopped practising his faith after he earned his engineering degree from Dundee University in Scotland.
Sim went on to work for Brunei LNG from 1978 till 1985 and also spent several years working abroad.
From ‘prodigal’ to reluctant priest
On his return to Brunei, Sim was a little lost, needed a sense of direction and belonging, especially after his father's passing. His parish priest counselled him to return to the Church and Sim took up the offer.
Last year he told the Rome-based Zenit News Agency (ZNA): “I realised what I needed was a sense of community to belong to and an opportunity to grow in a personal faith experience.”
Sim found a solution to his “lost situation” by engaging with the church’s charismatic renewal group. It is a spiritual entente that downplays doctrine and emphasises a personal relationship with God.
Moving forward, Sim realised within him the surging of new spiritual growth. It led to him pursuing his masters in theology at the prestigious Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio.
Sim was supported in this endeavour by Bishop Emeritus Anthony Lee of Miri who had bigger plans for him.
Sim told ZNA: “My master’s degree in theology provided me with a stronger foundation for my faith.
“On my return from Steubenville in 1988 many priests and other religious clergy were leaving Brunei as their work permits could not be renewed anymore. Bishop Lee offered to ordain me! I declined the offer immediately.
“However, I perceived the prospect of a Brunei Church without priests and sacraments. So after a week-long retreat, I decided the right thing to do was to accept Bishop Lee’s proposal and I was ordained a priest on November 26, 1989.”
‘Shortcut’ to the priesthood
Sim’s journey into the priesthood was itself “exceptional”. It usually takes between eight to 10 years of formal training in an established seminary for one to be ordained a priest in the Catholic tradition.
Studies include at least two years of philosophy and four years of theology among others.
Retired priest Fr Sylvesterding Ibau of Miri, who had served for 33 years in the diocese and had also studied in Sim’s alma mater of Steubenville, tells The Vibes: “The ordaining of Sim who had zero seminary training may seem ‘unorthodox’ to many but Bishop Lee ‘felt’ he was capable enough to be ordained.”
Sim was the first graduate of Steubenville to be ordained under this special “priestly discernment programme”.
“Surprisingly, the Vatican did not seem to object as the Holy See made him the first Prefect of Brunei when it separated from the dioceses of Miri. Sim later became bishop when the Church of Brunei was elevated in status to a vicariate. And more surprisingly, was Sim’s elevation to the College of Cardinals six months ago.”
According to Sylvesterding, Sim, who comes from the Dusun-Chinese community, was the first local to be ordained priest in the rich oil-producing state.
“Sim was simply an 'exceptional' man,” says Sylvesterding.
“During the Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei’s Ad Limina visit to the late Pope John Paul II in 2001, Sim was the only one from the group who addressed the pope when his turn came, without reading from a prepared text.
“He spoke off the cuff, simply saying: ‘Holy Father, I am from Brunei. In my Ministry, I want the youths to treat the rectory as their second home. I once had to rescue a girl from a window near the rectory using a ladder and rope during a stay-in retreat. She had accidentally locked herself and did not know how to get out.’
“I do not know how the pope reacted or felt at Sim’s simple delivery but I was stunned at his natural way of talking to the Vicar of Christ. All the others spoke ‘from the clouds’ but not Sim.
“I felt at that time he was “exceptional”. Although he was the most junior among the members of the Bishops’ Conference being just a Prefect of the Prefecture of Brunei.”
While in Steubenville, Sylvesterding was told that Sim was student par excellence – he was the first to enter the library and the last to leave.
“Sim’s high personal qualities were noted by the head of theology in Steubenville who had tried to cajole him to continue his studies towards a doctorate programme and to eventually take over as the head of theology in Steubenville.
“But Sim declined the offer, saying he had his own country to look after,” adds Sylvesterding.
Reluctant priest but ‘eager’ cardinal
During Tuesday’s emotion-chocked funeral service of Sim at the Church of Our Lady of Assumption, Bandar Seri Begawan, Fr Arin Sugit who lent the homily and eulogy, shared two anecdotes of the late cardinal which brought out the laughs.
Arin said: “Having been made the Prefect of the Apostolic Prefecture of Brunei by the late Pope John Paul II in 1997, Sim, like all heads of dioceses, had to attend the five-yearly Ad Limina meeting in 2001 with the pope, together with other members of the Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.”
According to Arin, being his first attendance at an Ad Limina meeting and being a little less “street smart” on the pompous protocols in the citadel of the Holy Father, Sim thought he could sit wherever he wished during a prayer service with the pope.
And as the service progressed, Archbishop Emeritus of Kuching, Datuk Seri Peter Chung, spotted Sim, the Prefect of Brunei, in his “misplaced” seat and frantically gestured to him to sit in the area where the Malaysian clergy were seated.
Sim, failing to understand the Kuching prelate’s hand gestures returned a response, gesturing that he preferred to sit where he was.
After the service was over, Archbishop Chung picked up a red hat and showing it to Sim said: “You were seated on a chair reserved only for cardinals!”
Arin shared another anecdote, also indicating Sim’s unwitting “eagerness” to wear the red hat of the cardinal.
“This happened in Steubenville where Sim was a student of theology. It was Thanksgiving Day, so a fancy dress event was held at the prestigious institution to celebrate the event.
“And when Sim came out to parade himself, he was dressed in the unmistakable red robe of a cardinal, complete with red hat!” Arin said, adding: “We still have the photo of Sim in that attire,” as his voice broke, choked by emotion.
Ironically, when Sim was made a cardinal on November 28 last year, he could not attend the special ceremony called a consistory where the cardinals are issued with the symbolic red hat and the Cardinal’s ring personally by the pope – because of travel restrictions during the current pandemic.
Sim’s red hat and ring were couriered to him at the Apostolic Vicariate of Brunei. In an earlier interview with The Vibes, Arin had said that Sim did have the opportunity to officially don his red hat and ring during minor church events before his passing.
“He had officiated confirmation services in the vicariate even as his health was failing,” Arin said.
Simple man with simple tastes
Sim had a heart for the poor, never carried a wallet with him and readily dispensed cash loosely carried in his pocket to those who needed it. According to Arin, the cash that he gave away was not money from the church, but his own savings from his stipends and “ang pow” that people gave him on special occasions.
In the company of youths, Sim was always in his element. Sometimes giving in to their fancies, eating Chinatown fare with them – never hiding the secular, human and fun side of his persona.
He enjoys being photographed and taking arty photos with his smartphone camera - even allowing his portrait to be drawn by a street artist at the Papar marketplace in Sabah, cajoled by the youths of course. It was for these reasons that they tagged him with the moniker “our hip cardinal”.
In a text message to The Vibes, Archbishop of Kuching, Simon Poh says: “On a personal level, our friendship (with Sim) deepened when I assisted him for masses whenever I visited my relatives in Brunei.
“Both of us being newly ordained then, we supported and encouraged each other in the ministry. During World Youth Days and Asian Youth Days, we would be together. He was a well-liked youth minister.
“With his humble heart, easy to approach personality and with a simple down to earth personhood, I am sure that the young people, bishops and priests will greatly miss him,” added Poh.
Media savvy, media-friendly
Catholic journalists working for the secular mainstream media have often experienced difficulties when assigned to cover certain issues of interest about the Church and sometimes on matters of the State, as Church hierarchy at times tends to be overly “media-shy”.
However, Sim takes after his predecessor Soter Cardinal Fernandez who was not only media-savvy but media-friendly as well.
According to Joseph Leong Sai Ho, head of the Social Communications Commission, Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu, Sim was a true friend of the media.
“Sim has full understanding of our need as journalists. He was very savvy with social media and always make it a point to respond to our requests for his opinion on current events and issues related to the Catholic Church in the region.
“No matter how busy he was, he never failed to find time for the media. From my personal experience, the views he expressed reflected his wisdom and intellect. His opinions depicted the deep knowledge and understanding of the topics under discussion.
“He had a very creative mind and expressed thoughts from outside ‘the box’. This quality is a delight to any journalist, for the views he offered each time, became solid substance for a good news story,” said Leong.
Leong said Sim served for many years as the president of the Regional Episcopal Commission for Social Communications of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.
In a message to The Vibes, the vice-president of SIGNIS, Lawrence John described Sim as one among the few clergies who could feel the pulse of the media and who had made them feel at ease to speak from their hearts.
The Brussels-based SIGNIS (World Catholic Association for Communication) is a Roman Catholic lay ecclesial movement of professionals in the communication media.
“Sim kept up with new technologies and could easily engage with young people of the digital age as well as millennial journalists of the new era for whom he devoted much of his time,” said Lawrence.
“Very significantly in his pastoral plans and communication programmes, Sim took the side of ‘mission’ while many of his peers would opt for ‘maintenance’,” said Lawrence who was also the former director of the Kuala Lumpur Archdiocesan Social Communication Centre, Cahayasuara.
According to SIGNIS Malaysia president, Karen Arukesamy, Sim was well known for his simplicity, good sense of humour, and being tech-savvy, keeping himself up-to-date with the latest communication technologies that are useful to promote social communications among the community in Brunei, Singapore and Malaysia.
Sim did not have the opportunity to be dressed in full cardinal’s regalia at a major ecclesial event in the local Church or in Rome. Being cardinal for a brief period of six months only, neither did he get the opportunity to vote at a conclave in Rome dressed in a red robe and red hat, wearing the cardinal’s ring.
But Cornelius Cardinal Sim, simply had that substance to be priest, bishop and cardinal. And it now seems, that the “cardinal” who showed up at Steubenville’s fancy dress parade years ago eventually turned out to be more than just a laughing matter. – The Vibes, June 17, 2021
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