Singapore's first cardinal has set his sights on promoting religious harmony in Asia, through strengthening dialogue...
This was not the case in some other countries where religion and politics are so closely linked that"sometimes you don't know where religion is, where politics is", he said.The local archdiocese celebrated its 200th year last year.
He also wants to expand the work of the Caritas Humanitarian Aid and Relief Initiatives of Singapore, the local Church's umbrella body for overseas humanitarian aid and disaster relief efforts. His plans also include starting a Zacchaeus ministry, named after a tax collector in the Bible who was converted, to get more talented and wealthy individuals to get involved in helping others.
The Singapore-born Cardinal Goh is the youngest of five boys and one girl in his family. He lived in Hougang, which had one of the biggest Catholic populations in Singapore in those days. By Secondary 2, he decided he wanted to join the priesthood, but decided to wait until after national service to do it. However, he ended up joining Barclays bank at 21, where he was trained as a forex dealer.
"Vocation is very strange, it's a deep calling, it's a deep desire to serve God, desire to lead the life of a priest. Of course, the priests good mentors. I looked at them and the way they lived their life, the way they cared for the people, the way they loved, the way they taught, the way they enlightened and inspired life. I said, 'I want to be a priest as well. I want to bring people to God, I want to bring people to the goodness of life'.
He eventually decided that as a priest, he had to love and serve without conditions, following in the footsteps of Jesus.
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