SW News: On Sunday, December 13th, the Catholic Church in Singapore marked the beginning of a year-long commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the faith in the country. It was on December 11th, 1821 that the French Priest Father Laurent Imbert of the Paris Foreign Missions Society came to what was then a trading post of the British Empire. His letter to Bishop Florens is considered to mark the beginning of the Catholic Church in Singapore. Father Imbert is numbered among the 103 Korean martyrs canonized by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1984. The year-long celebration will include a variety of initiatives and events, such as the Caritas Singapore initiative and the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which is to be held in collaboration with foreign Catholic communities. The year’s celebrations will conclude with an 8-day festival in December of next year, coming to a close on December 11th, with all parishes in Singapore celebrating Holy Mass at the same time.