SINGAPORE (UCAN) -- Establish more Catholic counseling centers and hire more full-time staff for parish liturgical and catechetical ministries, young Catholics advised Archbishop Nicholas Chia at a dialogue session.

In the two-hour session on April 24 titled Face To Face With The Archbishop, participants, aged mainly between 25 and 35, engaged the Singapore Church leader in a vigorous dialogue on what they regarded as pressing issues facing the archdiocese.

The meeting was the second in a series of informal meetings between laypeople and the archbishop organized by CANA - The Catholic Centre. During the first, held last November, about 40 Catholics asked questions on catechesis, liturgy and other areas of Church life.

At the April 24 meeting, counseling psychologist Adrian Lim expressed concern that Catholics are turning to non-Catholic counselors for help in family matters.

"There are 170,000 Catholics in Singapore ... which amounts to about 30,000 (Catholic) families," but Catholic family service centers are few, he noted.

Catholic couples thus turn to counselors who might not even be Christians and who "guide them to work out solutions that may not be in line with our Catholic teachings and values, such as divorce, abortion and contraception," Lim continued. He suggested that every parish in Singapore have a family service center with full-time paid counselors.

Lim also highlighted the lack of avenues for social workers, trained counselors and professional psychologists to work full-time in the archdiocese. He cited examples of such Catholic professionals having to find employment in welfare organizations run by other Christian groups or other religious organizations such as Buddhist societies.

The psychologist urged the archdiocese to employ lay workers at market-rate salaries rather than rely heavily on volunteers.

Archbishop Chia responded by revealing there are already "60 lay counseling volunteers" in the archdiocese who have undergone five months' basic counseling training. They currently serve in 12 parishes, where their services are available free of charge.

Another 100 volunteers are undergoing such training, he continued. Additionally, four full-time counselors or therapists who are "adequately paid" work in the archdiocese's Family Life Society

On the concern that Catholics are turning to non-Catholic counselors, he said: "If you have the faith, you will want to seek help from the Church. But if not, you will seek help elsewhere." He added that Catholics "should know they can approach priests for help."

Lawrence Nonis echoed concerns similar to Lim's. Without sufficient full-time workers, he said, parishes are forced to rely largely on volunteers.

Archbishop Chia acknowledged this matter needs further consideration. He pointed out that each parish has a parish pastoral council that decides what staff it needs to employ and on the scope of their work.

The prelate stressed the importance of finding people "who are truly dedicated" to their cause, as opposed to "those who work just for the pay."

John Sim stressed the importance of having "one or two permanent staff" working in liturgical and catechetical ministries in every parish, who should be given proper training. This would ensure they "do what ought to be done, not what they think should be done," as may be the case with volunteers who have not received proper formation.

On this matter, Archbishop Chia said the archdiocese's Catechetical Commission requires volunteer catechists to undergo formation. He also said the parish priest is responsible for ensuring that catechism and liturgies follow established norms.

In closing, Archbishop Chia thanked participants for their contributions. He acknowledged some issues "have no immediate solutions" and some need to be looked into further.

Many participants shared with UCA News that they felt dissatisfied with the archbishop's replies.

Lim said he wanted to gather a group of Catholic social workers to speak with Archbishop Chia on the need to employ more full-time parish counselors, buttressing their case with more statistics and better-researched facts.

Fellow participant Sim shared: "What disappointed me was that His Grace perceived there was no need or no demand for things such as more permanent staff and Catholic counselors. Perhaps a committee should be commissioned to assess the situation and (report) their findings and recommendations."

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