Cardinal Sim with parishioners and youth in 2014 (Photo: Regional Commission for Social Commission (RCSC))
By Agnes Chai
June 24 2021
LITTLE did he know what he was letting himself into when he responded to serve a prayer meeting as an arranger of chairs.
The beloved late Cornelius Cardinal Sim could be chuckling to himself now as he viewed his life in retrospect, and his various responses to God’s promptings which led this exceptionally humble servant of the Lord to become more and more like his Master.
Docile as a lamb, he walked through “the opened door”, which he concluded in his reflection that God has provided for him an alternate plan for cancer treatment in Taiwan but which turned out to be otherwise, God’s eternal plan for him.
One could not help but recall how explicit his words were during his homily at Mass which he presided before leaving for Taiwan. “When God opens door for you, it is best to walk through,” advocated Cardinal Sim. And indeed, on May 29, God opened the door for HE Cornelius Cardinal Sim to enter in.
The 69-year-old cardinal died in the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taoyuan, Taiwan where he had waited for cancer treatment.
Pope Francis offered his condolences and prayers after the death of Cardinal Cornelius Sim, who had been created a cardinal only six months earlier.
The cardinal’s path to the priesthood and to the College of Cardinals was rather unusual. In his video call with Crux, he famously said that he “kind of got hijacked into this job” as he never wanted to be a priest.
Born Sep 16, 1951, in Seria, his parents were part of Brunei’s very small Catholic community. His grandparents were the first Catholics in his village. He grew up a Catholic, attended Catholic school, and got involved in parish and several other Catholic organizations.
However, he grew distant as he got older and had a crisis of faith. But as God would have it, his first brush with the Charismatic Movement enabled him to rediscover his faith.
Cardinal Sim with young people during 2016 RCSC meeting in Kuala Lumpur (Photo: Regional Commission for Social Commission)
His next encounter was on his return from studying engineering in Scotland, feeling a little “lost” and needing a sense of direction and belonging, especially as he was no longer actively practicing his faith. His father’s passing at this time also threw him into turmoil.
“After my father died, I began to appreciate … that life is not just about accumulating wealth. But it has to do with something more than what we see here,” said Sim at the time.
Working abroad for several years did not turn out to be the solution he hoped for. “I thought it would be the summit of a lot of things, but it didn’t turn out that way,” he told Crux.
Without knowing it, the hand of God guided him once more and led him to find his way to a charismatic group once he came back to Brunei and was prompted to return to Church.
Through the Charismatic Movement, he rediscovered that God was “the thing” that was missing in his life.
The cardinal recalled “I was a card-carrying charismatic at the time,” and I am still a “crypto-charismatic” he described himself. Until the present, he has maintained his charismatic roots, not so much in outward practice, but in the idea that “God is someone who is alive and is not someone out of a book, someone who’s there for you.”
It was because of his closeness to the Charismatic Movement that he took off to Steubenville, to give himself “a bit more of a solid underpinning”. It led him to pursue his masters in theology at the prestigious Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio.
“That has guided me throughout my priesthood and all the other streets I’ve been through,” Cardinal Sim told Crux, insisting that if one does not have a personal relationship with God, “it’s very difficult to negotiate your way through life and the Church too, because in the Church you meet all kinds of people, you listen to all kinds of stuff”.
Portrait captured by tamu artist in Papar. (Photo: Regional Commission for Social Commission)
As the cardinal reflected the depth of his thoughts and wisdom on the Church today, he spoke as a shepherd filled with the Spirit of God and with wisdom “It seems like the Church is split into captions, like warring tribes, almost to that point, where everybody has their own point of view and anybody who doesn’t fit in immediately is seen as some sort of barbarian….I find it rather disturbing.”
Not one with his head in the clouds, he informed that there is often a stigma to belonging to charismatic groups, particularly in the west, but believed that the movement has been “domesticated, maybe for good reason too”.
He opined, when it comes to people, those “who come out of it continue to maintain that living faith relationship. I know it all sounds very patent and pious and devotional, but it’s my way to describe it.” His modest opinion depicted his deep knowledge and understanding of the spiritual movement.
For him, he simply concluded, “if you don’t have it – and you don’t have to be a charismatic to have that – but if you don’t have that, I don’t see how you can be a Catholic in good standing. You can be a liberal Catholic, you can be a conservative Catholic, you can be a hyphenated Catholic of any kind, but that’s my opinion.”
For the many who personally know the electrical engineer turned priest and later bishop and cardinal, his opinions are often worth their weight in gold.
For those who know him personally, those who encounter him in one way or another, could not help but notice a fine semblance of the Master in this simple man with simple taste.
Like his Master, he has a heart for the poor. Fr Arin Sugit, in his homily/eulogy delivered at the funeral service at the Church of Our Lady of Assumption, Bandar Seri Begawan Jun 15, revealed that Cardinal never carried a wallet with him, yet readily dispensed cash loosely carried in his pocket to those who needed it.
“The cash that he gave away was not money from the church, but his own saving from his stipends and “angpow” that people gave him on special occasions,” revealed Fr Arin.
Like his Master, he has a penchant to feed the multitude. Every Friday, Cardinal Sim made it his ministry to “bake and partake bread” with parishioners and others who live in and nearby the area.
Preparing dough with Bandar Seri Begawan parish volunteers for his Friday bakery ministry. (Photo: Regional Commission for Social Commission)
After afternoon Mass, the massive amount of bread which he baked earlier, and the soup he made, would be shared with Mass-goers and others who have no bread to eat for bakeries and other groceries are closed in Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB) for Friday prayers.
“His kitchen with the huge ovens and full set of essential baking tools was impressive. It was as if his kitchen was purposely built for the intended ministry,” said Sylvia Richard, a frequent Sabah visitor who has the good fortune to be invited to bake, alongside other volunteers, with the cardinal and witnessed a modern miracle of Jesus feeding the multitude.
Fr Arin mentioned that the cardinal left behind two legacies: his love for the poor and the youth. With the youth, he was always in his element, said Fr Arin. He knew how to adapt himself to their popular culture just to be one with them, never hiding the secular, human and fun side of his person.
From them, he earned the moniker “our hip cardinal”. He enjoyed being photographed as much as he enjoyed taking great pictures with his smartphone camera. He spent time with them, eating with them and in fact, joining them all over the world for the World Youth Days and Asean Youth Days.
If that was not enough, he turned up at every youth activity. He was totally immersed in them, reflecting very much the life of Christ in Matthew “Let the little children come to me. Do not hinder them for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.”
Fr Arin further disclosed that the cardinal even told the late Pope John Paul II in the 2001 Ad Limina visit that he wanted the youths to treat the rectory as their second home!
“He literally smelt like the sheep as he disregarded his status and roughed out with the youth wherever they stayed,” added Fr Arin.
Fr Arin repeatedly said Cardinal put them (the vicariate clergy) to shame for the energy he invested into forming the youth, particularly in setting up Confirmation program before officiating Confirmation services in the vicariate. In fact, he did more than that, as he responded to conduct Confirmation Retreats in other dioceses outside Brunei. He never stopped forming the youth.
After getting his “red hat” and even when he was increasingly sick, he did not put aside his care of the sick. What matters most to him was the proximity to his people.
Sylvia, during another of her visit to BSB, was invited to visit the sick with the cardinal. “After Mass, he told me the time for mission has come – visiting the sick. He took his time at the bedside of the sick, talking, comforting and dispensing the Eucharist. Then when all is done, he went home, and only then did he take his late-night dinner,” recalled Sylvia, who was touched by the cardinal imitating Jesus his Saviour, and sharing the joys of discipleship with others.
Cardinal Sim has touched many with his words, thoughts and gestures, but unsuspecting perhaps even to himself, his poignant reminder to his flock, and even to all of us, during his last homily is worthy of serious consideration… “Don’t be a spectator in the Church. Be someone who contributes – who gives time, talent and treasure.” because this is how he lived as “a Catholic in good standing” after having rediscovered and maintaining a personal relationship with God.
Although he has only a short time to wear the “red hat” as Brunei’s first cardinal, and did not survive long enough to change the many things that need to be changed within this “youngest and smallest church in South East Asia”, his unique life and his reputation as a pastor of the people on “the periphery within the periphery” will remain in the memory of the Church of Brunei for years to come. (Sources: Cruxnow, Fr Arin’s homily)
