Catholicism in Singapore | Of Beliefs & Faiths
Why are there stained glasses in churches? What actually happens during Easter? What do the symbols in a church mean? We visit the Church of St. Anthony, and speak to Father Ignatius to learn more about Catholicism, as well as experience Easter vigil for the first time.
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00:00We are exploring the rich spectrum of beliefs that shape our cultural landscape.
00:06From ancient practices to contemporary expressions of faith,
00:10delve into the vibrant tapestry of rituals, customs and spiritual narratives flourishing in Singapore.
00:18The Catholic Church is amongst the oldest institutions in the world.
00:32Its history can be traced back almost 2,000 years.
00:36Although Catholicism didn't reach our shores until the 19th century,
00:40it has grown to almost 400,000 believers here today.
00:45Hi Father, I'm Sindhu. Thank you so much for having me.
00:48Welcome to our Catholic Church of St Anthony.
00:51Very nice to have you here today.
00:52Thank you.
00:53Today, I will take you around the Catholic Church
00:55and show you what typically you will encounter when you enter a Catholic Church.
01:02Wow, Father, this church is beautiful.
01:05Yes, indeed it is.
01:16So first, when you enter into the Catholic Church,
01:19you will see this bowl attached to the wall.
01:22This bowl contains the holy water and so we call this the holy water stoop.
01:27The purpose of this is when the faithful come into the church,
01:30they dip their hands into this water,
01:32they make the sign of the cross,
01:34and they recall their baptism.
01:36It is much like when you board a plane,
01:38the first thing they offer you is a nice hot towel.
01:42And they allow the grace of God to refresh their body, mind and soul again.
01:47Alright, Sindhu, let me take you to another place in our church.
01:51Sure.
01:52Now, let me show you this room that has been featured in many Hollywood movies.
01:58Some people, when they enter the Catholic Church,
02:00they think, why is there a kind of changing room in this church?
02:05It is a confessional,
02:07Wow, I've never seen the inside of an actual confession booth.
02:11Wow, okay.
02:12It is a kind of changing room.
02:14They come in here,
02:15they confess to the priest who's seated on the other side.
02:18And here, the priest then forgives the person's sin on behalf of God
02:25and also on behalf of the church.
02:27You know your congregation well, right?
02:29Has there ever been an instance where you can really feel like,
02:33You know your congregation well, right?
02:35Has there ever been an instance where you can recognise
02:38the voice of the person making confession?
02:41Well, if a person is very familiar with the priest,
02:43they themselves are very creative.
02:45Sometimes you can tell that they are trying to disguise their voice.
02:49So, we never try to decipher who that person is.
02:55Asking for forgiveness wasn't always this straightforward.
02:59The price of sin is death,
03:01and in the Old Testament, animals were sacrificed
03:04so that they instead would die in the place of sinners.
03:08That's until God sent His Son as the ultimate sacrifice.
03:13The other feature that you see in some Catholic churches are stained glass.
03:17Right, yes.
03:18The purpose of the stained glass has a theological meaning behind it.
03:22God is pure light, and so He's unperceivable.
03:25But the stained glass, we can see its beauty and brilliance
03:29because it allows the light to come through it.
03:32And so in Catholic churches, we have images of saints,
03:36and of Jesus, of Mary,
03:38allow the light of God to pass through them.
03:42And so it is through them, Jesus, Mary and the saints,
03:45that we are now able to perceive the brilliance, the beauty,
03:50the love and the warmth of God Himself.
03:53I see.
03:54I am starting to see that symbolism is a big part of the Catholic faith,
03:59and Fr Ignatius gives me a very thorough lesson
04:02on the meanings behind the imagery found at the Church of St Anthony.
04:07These are Greek letters.
04:09So the PX that you see is actually Khi-ro, C-H-R,
04:15the first three letters of the word Christ.
04:19And the letter A there is Alpha,
04:22and this horseshoe thing is actually called Omega.
04:26It's the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.
04:29And so it depicts Christ, the beginning and the end.
04:34The most important and central part of any church celebration
04:38is the altar and crucifix.
04:40Sindhu, the most important and the highest point of our celebration
04:47is the altar.
04:49Just behind the altar is the crucifix.
04:52The crucifix depicts three moments of this celebration.
04:58Firstly, the crucifix reminds us that this celebration,
05:03this banquet of the Lord,
05:05is a celebration of Christ giving of Himself to us,
05:09His body and His blood.
05:11And then there's the second movement,
05:13where Christ gave Himself for us 2,000 years ago,
05:17is made present here and now, today.
05:21Then there's the third movement.
05:23This that is made present for us today
05:26is a foretaste of our life in heaven,
05:30where Christ, who is the slain Lamb,
05:34reigns upon His throne, the cross.
05:38I also want to ask, because there's a Catholic Church
05:42and there's a Protestant Church,
05:44and they both fall under the larger umbrella of Christianity,
05:49what are the main similarities and differences
05:53between these two faiths?
05:55We all recognise and accept baptism as the entry into Christianity.
06:04The Catholic Church, for us, we believe in seven sacraments.
06:08And so we say we are sacramental people.
06:11Jesus came to us as the first sacrament.
06:14And so in a sacrament, we can see God, touch God, be loved by God.
06:19That is what a sacrament is.
06:21And besides sacraments, then we also have sacramentals,
06:24meaning other forms.
06:26And that's why we have holy water, images.
06:30From my understanding, there's a lot of use of incense,
06:33is that something that...
06:34So those are sacramentals.
06:36So we engage the senses, so to say.
06:41Father Ignatius invites me to celebrate Easter with the Church.
06:45It's the holiest day in Catholicism
06:47and I am looking forward to experiencing it for myself.
06:53So here I am at the Easter vigil
06:55and what I know about Easter growing up
06:57is that it's actually the holiest celebration for all Christians
07:02because it's a celebration of Christ's resurrection.
07:05It is a big crowd
07:07and the first thing that I noticed when I got in
07:09was actually everybody is so well-dressed.
07:12Yeah, that's the first thing that I noticed when I got in.
07:14And as you can see, we're all carrying candles too,
07:17which I believe will be lit later on.
07:24In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
07:31Amen.
07:36Father Ignatius starts the vigil by blessing the fire
07:40and making inscriptions of Christ into the Paschal Candle.
07:44The candle is then lit
07:46and the congregation follows as it makes its way around the Church.
07:53The Paschal Candle is a very important part of today's ceremony.
07:57That's the candle we just saw Father Ignatius light.
08:00It's made of pure beeswax to represent Christ's sinless nature.
08:05The wick represents his humanity
08:08and the flame represents his divinity.
08:11Now you can see the entire congregation is following behind.
08:16So the thing that's most striking to me right now
08:18is actually the smell of the incense.
08:20It smells absolutely beautiful.
08:23After one round, the procession stops at the entrance of the Church.
08:28The flame from the Paschal Candle will be used to light our candles.
08:35As you can see, the Church is in complete darkness.
08:39And it is only with the lighting of this candle that the light will be brought in.
08:52The Lord is my light, my light and salvation
08:57In God I trust, in God I trust
09:02The atmosphere is solemn
09:04but I can almost feel a sense of excitement in the air
09:08as the flame is passed down.
09:10In God I trust, in God I trust
09:15The Lord is my light, my light and salvation
09:21In God I trust, in God I trust
09:28The Lord is my light, my light and salvation
09:34In God I trust
09:37As we enter, the Church is gradually filled with little dots of light.
09:44It's a beautiful sight.
09:47In God I trust, in God I trust
09:58The light of Christ
10:03leads me to God
10:08Some of the lights in the Church just came on
10:13but I believe it's only after the Easter Proclamation
10:16that the lights at the altar will be lit.
10:27The Easter Proclamation, also known as the Exalted,
10:32is a proclamation of the resurrection of Christ.
10:35For 10 minutes, an invitation is sung to Heaven and Earth
10:39to join with the Church in joy and jubilation.
10:46Be glad, let earth be glad as glory floods her
10:53Ablaze with light from her eternal King
10:59Let all corners of the earth be glad
11:04Knowing an end to gloom and darkness
11:11Please be seated and extinguish your candles.
11:14So we've just been told that we can be seated
11:17and that we're allowed to extinguish our candles.
11:25The next part is a series of readings known as the Liturgy of the Word.
11:30After the fifth reading, the Gloria is sung,
11:34an ancient hymn that begins with the words that the angels sang
11:38when announcing the birth of Christ.
11:41So the Gloria has not been sung in 40 days.
11:45We've been told that today when it is sung,
11:48all the bells in the Church are going to be ringing as well.
11:51It's bound to be a beautiful moment.
11:54Glory to God in the highest
12:25I'm not lying but I got goosebumps.
12:35The hymns are beautiful to say the least.
12:39You can hear their devotion carried within their singing
12:43and binding the congregation together.
12:47So the Alleluia which we're hearing the congregation sing right now
12:52is another thing that has not been sung in 40 days.
13:16Alleluia
13:19Because it is the holiest day in Catholicism,
13:23many Catholics choose to be baptised on Easter.
13:27As a symbol of their sins being washed away,
13:30they are submerged in water three times,
13:33one each for the Holy Trinity,
13:36the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
13:40Alleluia
13:44Today, 21 of them are making this public declaration
13:48of renouncing sin and accepting God into their lives.
13:52Alleluia
13:57Some of those who are being baptised today
14:00are very, very young like this little kid over there.
14:03Father Ignatius is being extra kind and caring
14:08during the dunking in the baptismal water.
14:19Before the celebration draws to an end,
14:22we are blessed with holy water
14:24and communion is received by the congregation.
14:38One cup of blessing which we bless
14:47and we...
14:52Like Father Ignatius told me the last time I was here,
14:55this was really a multi-sensorial experience.
14:58From the smell of the incense
15:01to the sound of everybody singing in perfect unison
15:05to walking together into the church from darkness into light.
15:09It was truly an amazing experience
15:11and even though you're not Catholic,
15:12you can't help but sing along to the hymns.
15:15You can't help but feel moved.
15:17I'm really, really grateful that I got to spend this time here
15:20at the Church of St Anthony
15:21and I'd like to thank you for joining me on this journey as well.
15:25Till we meet again,
15:26thank you for watching this episode of Of Beliefs and Faith.
15:35One cup of blessing which we bless
15:44and we...