Andrew (third from left) together with his group of fellow RCPM volunteers. Photo: Andrew Ng Thirsting for knowledge to serve The Catholic Theological Institute of Singapore (CTIS) is a vital part of the archdiocese’s vision … Read More
Gift of gratitude The GIFT campaign has been reaching out to the Catholic community to gather support for the growth of the Archdiocese. In this article, we learn about a senior couple who have generously … Read More
Clarice Chan, Chairwoman, Original Minds Group
Clarice champions social justice through education. She founded the Original Minds Group to deliver holistic youth development programs in the areas of higher education advising, career readiness, soft skills training and mental wellness. Her mission is to increase access to experts and knowledge, and empower youths worldwide to step into their future more confidently.
A frequent keynote and contributor on entrepreneurship, career and corporate conscience, Clarice developed a $30,000 scholarship programme for underserved communities, leveraged technology to bring learning into rural classrooms and is an active mentor to at-risk youths. For her efforts, she was nominated for the President’s Award for Philanthropy and Volunteerism (SME Category) and is a Fellow with the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC).
Clarice serves on the Parish Pastoral Council at the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour and is a member of Catholic Foundation Stewardship committee.
Her favourite bible verse is – “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) as she believes that because God is ever faithful, she can surrender all worries to Him and take comfort in His perfect plan.
Alex Yam, Mayor North-West District &
MP for Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC
Alex was first elected as a MP in May 2011, and became Mayor of North West District in July 2020. He advocates for pro-family policies, religious and racial harmony, care for the vulnerable in society and Singapore’s foreign and defence policies.
Married to Jocelyn, they have 4 young children and are parishioners of the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour where they serve in various ministries. He is co-President of the Asia-Pacific chapter of the International Catholic Legislators Network and a third order Servite. His favourite biblical quotation is “I am my Beloved’s, and my Beloved is mine.” (Song of Solomon 6:3)
Joy Tan, Founder Kirisuto Enterprise & Ergo Media LLP
Joy Tan is the entrepreneur behind Little Flock & Ergo Media, and inspires ethical practices in the marketing world by blending business-savvy ideas with faith. Her involvement in CHARIS, ONE, and Saint Max also displays her commitment to putting her faith in action. An advocate for positive change in Catholic businesses, she marries her insights with compassion.
Gerald Lee, Manager, Archbishop’s Office
Gerald began his career in strategy consulting, but decided to pursue full-time work in the Catholic Church after a series of personal encounters with the love and mercy of Christ. As a lay staff in the Church supporting the Archbishop at the intersection of theology and management, Gerald desires to give his best to Jesus Christ and His Church: the best hours of his day, and the best days of his life.
Fr David Garcia, OP
Fr David Garcia, OP has been a Dominican Friar for over 38 Years, and has been in Singapore since 2001. He is currently the Chaplain for the Catholic Medical Guild, Religious Assistant of the Lay Dominicans Singapore and the Spiritual Director for the Couple Empowerment Programme and Natural Family Planning. Fr David also promotes financial stewardship through Catholic Foundation’s “God, Money and Me” programme.
Artist & Educator
Karen’s faith and identity were shaken by a series of mental health crises in the prime of her life. However, it was through her suffering that God led her to discover the fullness of the Christian life and His unique plans for her.
Today, she is a passionate special education teacher and freelance artist. Karen’s journey of healing enables her to minister to others’ wounds and accompany them in their own pursuits for truth, goodness, and beauty.
Founder of Strong Bold Grateful Inc
When is it ever enough? Julianne was laser-focus in pursuit of the glitz and glamour of “success” in her 6-inch stilettos and corporate dresses, she reached the peak of her career and was thriving. While Julianne was so busy having her eye on chasing her dreams, God never let her out of his sight and was also hot on her heels, in relentless pursuit of her too and kept going after her heart!
In her last position as Head of Change Management and ex- Private Banker in a global bank, Julianne had it all, or so she thought, until she was diagnosed with Cancer.
Assistant Rector at St Joseph’s Church, Victoria Street
Fr. Damien came in touch with the faith through indulging in lives of saints during his army days. (Thanks be to God there was no smartphone back in those days), He joined Opus Dei as a numerary member in his sophomore year (NUS 1991) and was ordained in Rome in 2011. He was stationed in Taiwan after ordination and particularly enjoy preaching retreats to mainland Chinese.
In total, Fr. Damien was out of Singapore for almost 17 years and have lived in Spain, Hong Kong, Rome and Taiwan. Fr. Damien enjoys a good philosophical discussion and mulling over human conditions, divine providence, woke movement, open source and geo-politics.
Franciscan friar of the Order of Friars Minor
Friar Gerald Tan OFM, joined the Franciscan Order in 2014, and made his Solemn Profession of Religious Vows on 8 Feb 2020. He had discerned and decided to take the path less travelled as a ‘Lay Friar’, one who is non-ordained.
He is currently serving as the assistant manager for San Damiano Franciscan Centre, and does online reflections, Spiritual Direction for retreatants & young people, as well as journeys with individuals and communities of youth & young adults. Interestingly, he had also picked up haircutting for men and women, and is now ministering in a creative way to others as he cuts their hair as a friar-hairstylist!
Seminarian at the Saint Francis Xavier Major Seminary
Prior to joining the Seminary, Br Andrew worked as a general insurance loss adjuster for 3 years, where he was able to meet some migrants and blue-collar workers, which planted some tiny seeds of the vocation to the priesthood within him. After that, feeling called to build the youth community in my parish of the Holy Family, he began full-time ministry as the Youth Pastoral Worker there for another 3 years, during which, his call to the priesthood was cemented, and he joined the seminary in 2015.
Director, Rosebrook
Monica’s passion is working with families beginning with her own – Monica and Mark are the happy parents of seven children aged 16 to 33. Their youngest, Marie, was born with Down syndrome and severe hearing loss. Their search for authentic fully inclusive, fully integrated development of children through to adulthood resulted in the establishment of Rosebrook Developmental Centre, a calling inspired through God’s gift of Marie. They’ve also been on the board of Family Enrichment Society, Down syndrome Association, and Archdiocesan Commission for the Family.
Monica has 24 years of experience in education management with both local and multinational organisations. Prior to that she was in banking, human resource management and founded a home-based enterprise focussed on faith-based family education resources.
Assistant Professor, SMU Yong Pung How School of Law
Kenny Chng is an Assistant Professor and Lee Kong Chian Fellow at the SMU Yong Pung How School of Law. Kenny joined SMU as a Lecturer of Law in 2016 and was later awarded the MOE-START Overseas Postgraduate Scholarship to pursue his LL.M. studies at Harvard Law School.
Kenny’s main areas of interest are in Legal Theory and Public Law. He has published in leading international and local academic journals, and was awarded the Lee Kong Chian Fellowship for three years consecutively in recognition of research excellence. Kenny has also received multiple teaching awards at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels for teaching excellence.
Producer-Presenter, CatholicSG Radio
Nicholas is an Assistant Producer-Presenter with CatholicSG Radio. He is a father of two young boys and is passionate about making Jesus known through the gift of song and music.
Director of Digital & Corporate Transformation at Ministry of Defence
Henry first encountered the Lord as a young 12-year-old when he attended a church camp upon the invitation of his schoolteacher. However, it was not until his undergraduate days that he was baptized into the Christian faith and subsequently received into the Catholic Church.
Since then, his story with the Lord has led him to help at the Alpha Program, serve as a catechist and participated in the Parish Pastoral Council. At work, he was an air force engineer for 20 years and has worked alongside men and women to maintain aircraft systems for the Republic of Singapore Air Force. He is currently the Director of Digital and Corporate Transformation at MINDEF, concurrently serving as the Chief Information Officer.
Henry’s faith journey has its fair share of ups and downs, knocks and falls. While he struggles with brokenness as part of his humanity, he has also encountered the joy of being received by the Lord just as he is. Henry is passionate about personal development and has taken interest in personality assessment tools such as the Myers-Briggs Type Instrument (MBTI) and Motivational Code (MCODE). He has found silent retreats and spiritual direction helpful in leading him to deeper encounters with the Lord and is currently making his way through the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises in daily life. As an introvert, he prefers spending time on restful activities but is also game for meaningful conversations, especially with a nice cup of coffee. Henry is married to Ann and they enjoy serving Christ together.
