MIRI, Malaysia (UCAN) -- Brunei's first local priest, Father Cornelius Sim, 38, was ordained by Bishop Anthony Lee Kok Hin of Miri in Seria's Church of the Immaculate Conception Nov. 26, the feast of Christ the King.

Father Sim, the eldest of six children -- four boys and two girls -- decided to become a priest as he was being promoted to head Brunei Shell's utilities operations department. Sent by Miri diocese, which encompasses Brunei and its neighbor Sarawak, East Malaysia, he left Brunei in 1986 to study theology.

Part indigenous Dusun and part Chinese, Father Sim received a master's degree in theology (Christian ministry and renewal) in 1988 from the Franciscan-run University of Steubenville in the United States. He already had an electrical engineering degree from Dundee University in Scotland.

Upon returning from the U.S., he became lay rector in Kuala Belait parish until his diaconate ordination May 28. He is now its parish priest.

Besides Father Sim, whose hometown is Seria, the only other Catholic priests in Brunei are Father Peter Chiang in Bander Seri Begawan, and Father John McClorey in Seria.

In a speech after the ordination, attended by about a thousand people from Miri diocese, Bishop Lee said, "I am happy that there is somebody who will carry on my job on this side of the diocese. I hope you will join me in praying that more parents give up their children to God.

"What gives real joy to a bishop is when he lays hands on a man to become a priest. Then I know that I have a successor who will continue my work."

At a post-ordination dinner party, Father Sim told his guests, "As I prostrated before the bishop, I realized that I am a 'dead man.' That from now on, I am dead to the world.

"Living a contradiction of answering God's call and the earth's call, I ask that your faith be based on Christ's faith. I promise that I will proclaim the crucified Christ -- in or out of season."

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