Church of St Mary of the Angels

Church of St. Mary of the Angels
Religion
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
District	Archdiocese of Singapore
Region	West Region
Leadership	Archbishop William Goh
Location
Location	5 Bukit Batok East Avenue 2, Singapore 659918
Geographic coordinates	1.347141°N 103.759735°E
Architecture
Architect(s)	WOHA Architects Pte Ltd [1]
Date established	1970
Construction cost	$16.5 million [1]
Website
	catholic.org.sg; www.stmary.sg

The Church of St. Mary of the Angels is a Roman Catholic church in Singapore completed in 2004. It is located in the Bukit Batok Planning Area, within the West Region of Singapore. The church is home to both a parish community and Franciscan monastery.[2] Currently, the parish is home to some 8,500 parishioners. The parish caters to parishioners who come from the different parts of Singapore, mainly from Bukit Batok, Bukit Gombak, Hillview, Jurong East and Choa Chu Kang.

It grew out of the work of a group of Franciscan friars in the 1950s.[3] The building was awarded the Singapore Institute of Architects Religious Building category award in 2004, and Design of the Year award at the first President's Design Award in 2006.[4] It was designed by Singapore-based WOHA Architects.

With effect from 2020, the newly appointed Parish Priest is Friar Michael D’Cruz OFM, with the assistance of two other priests, Friar Esmond Chua OFM, and Friar Gerard Victor OFM, with Friar John-Paul Tan, OFM, JCL, being the chancellor of the Archdiocese of Singapore, and Friar Derrick Yap, OFM, being appointed as Custos, or Regional Superior of the Franciscans in Malaysia Singapore and Brunei.

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Singapore, St. Mary’s is known for streaming church mass online on Youtube and Facebook. Ministries like the AV Ministry, Choirs and Youth Ministry all take part in contributing and devolping the production of streams weekly and sometimes, daily.

The "Last Chance" Mass

Over the years, the parish had rapid growth in the number of parishioners, which resulted in most of the weekend Masses being very crowded. The final straw came in 2011 when the 5.30pm Mass on Sunday became just as crowded as the Sunday Morning Masses. The parish saw the need to add in a new Mass timing to cater to the crowd. With that, the Sunday 7.15pm Mass started, with the initial aim to cater to the crowd. It now caters to many parishioners, as well as people who are on shift work and are unable to attend Mass at any other timing on Sundays. The mass timing has since changed to 7.00pm.

The Sunday 7.00pm Mass is the latest timing for any English Mass among all Catholic Churches in Singapore. It is known as the "Last Chance" Mass for people who are unable to attend Mass earlier in the day due to their hectic schedules.

References

Architectural Record Building Types Study - Church of St Mary of the Angels
"Church of St. Mary of the Angels, Singapore - Architecture Gallery - Australian Institute of Architects, The Voice of Australian Architecture". dynamic.architecture.com.au. Australian Institute of Architects. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
Susan Tsang Discover Singapore: The City's History & Culture Redefined -- 2008 Page 44 "Church of St Mary of the Angels' "In 1970, they took charge of the newly-established parish of St Mary of the Angels. Although Bukit Batok, where they were situated, was in the outskirts, the area developed as public housing spread away from the city centre. By 1985, the ..."
Tsang page 44 "The result: a building with a glass wall, and a spacious column-free hall. It is hoped that the unblocked prospect of the priest and the altar will make it more conducive to worshippers participation in the celebration of mass... In 2004, the Singapore Institute of Architects honoured St Mary's with awards in the Religious Building category and also in the Interior ... The architects took the Design of the Year award at the inaugural President's Design Award in 2006."

External links

Official

Official website of Church of St Mary of the Angels
History | S.M.O.T.A Website
Singapore Catholic Church Directory
SMOTA on Flicker
Facebook page of Church of St Mary of the Angels

Other

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[AR-1] Architectural Record Building Types Study - Church of St Mary of the Angels

[2] "Church of St. Mary of the Angels, Singapore - Architecture Gallery - Australian Institute of Architects, The Voice of Australian Architecture". dynamic.architecture.com.au. Australian Institute of Architects. Retrieved 25 March 2019.

[3] Susan Tsang Discover Singapore: The City's History & Culture Redefined -- 2008 Page 44 "Church of St Mary of the Angels' "In 1970, they took charge of the newly-established parish of St Mary of the Angels. Although Bukit Batok, where they were situated, was in the outskirts, the area developed as public housing spread away from the city centre. By 1985, the ..."

[4] Tsang page 44 "The result: a building with a glass wall, and a spacious column-free hall. It is hoped that the unblocked prospect of the priest and the altar will make it more conducive to worshippers participation in the celebration of mass... In 2004, the Singapore Institute of Architects honoured St Mary's with awards in the Religious Building category and also in the Interior ... The architects took the Design of the Year award at the inaugural President's Design Award in 2006."