The British intervention in Selangor took place in 1874 after the signing of the Pangkor Treaty in the same year. The first Anglican service recorded in Selangor was in Kelang in 1879. In 1882 the Parish of Selangor was formed with Rev. F.W. Haines as its first chaplain. On 13^th February 1887, St. Mary’s Church at Bluff Road was consecrated Rt. Rev. George Frederic Hose, Bishop of the Diocese of Labuan, Sarawak and Singapore and the present St. Mary’s Cathedral by him too on 9^th February 1895.

     In 1910 the vision of the chaplaincy of St. Mary’s spread to Kuala Kubu, Banting and Kajang. In these places there were large concentration of British who wre in the rubber estates, tin mines and civil service. In Kajang, as there were no building then, the congregation met at the court house for services.

     On 21^st March 1912, lot No. 24 in Section 9, in the town of Kajang, in the District of Ulu Langat, was proclaimed as a reserve, for a purpose of a place of public worship for the Church of England (Anglican) and a week later was gazetted.

     The Church of St. Katherine’s as it is  known today was consecrated and dedicated to the memory of St. Katherine on Tuesday 16^th April 1912 by Bishop Rt. Rev Ferguson Davie D.D. who became the first bishop of Singapore. The chaplain for Selangor was Rev P.G Graham.

       Who is St. Katherine?

Excerpt taken from the sermon preached by the bishop at the consecration:

“The title St. Katherine Virgin stands in the English prayer book opposite the date, November 25^th. A lady of Alexandria and a martyr at the beginning of the 4^th century. The name in Latin is ‘kathoros’ meaning pure. A woman of ordinary rank of life who resisted the blandishment of an emperor. Although weak in physical strength, she did not fail before the strong. For this , she was exiled from home and country. Blessed are the pure in heart, makaroi hoi kataroi”

According to legend, she later suffered torture and death. She was adopted by Joan of Arc as her patron saint in the 11^th century and in her honor a religious order was started.

    Now a little about the building:

“Of Elizabethan style, half timber construction, with tiled floor and roof. Nave measuring 33’ by 20’, Apse, two vestries and verandahs to shade the nave walls. The sanctuary window being of cathedral glass. It superintended the construction of the building”, taken from the report by Rev. P.G. Graham, chaplain of Selangor at the time of consecration.

From 1912- 1957:

  The church like many other older churches in the Diocese, was built primarily for the British population in the Ulu Langat district. Chaplains from the St. Mary’s church KL extended their ministries to Kajang. Chaplains from St. Mary’s also took care of the Asian work. Canon (now Rt. Rev) Chu Ban, was the first Asian vicar of the St. Mary’s and the Late Rt. Rev Tan Sri Roland Kok Peck Chiang was his successor.

The following Tamil clergy, based at St. Mary’s KL, ministered to Tamils in Kajang:-

1900-1905 Rev R.V Vethavanam                  1932-1937 Rev. S. Charles

1905-1911 Rev S. Richard                             1937-1951 Rev (later canon) T. Yesudian

1912-1914 Rev D.J Deviapriam                     1951-1960 Rev (later canon) David Samuel

1914-1919 Rev J.S Yesudian                         1960-1966 Rev R.A Kurian

1919-1923 Rev D.S Ponniah                          1966-1970. Rev (later canon) P.G.T Samuel

1923-1932 Rev C.D Gnanamani                    1970-1984 Rev (later canon) V.D Samuel

Until 1971, Kajang was part of St. Mary’s tamil parish. When St. Peter’s Parish was constituted in 1971,  Kajang came under the newly constituted parish. The Rev (now canon) M.E Ponniah, as an acting priest of St. Peter’s, also served here.

The Malayanisation policy after independence in 1957 paved the way for the British to leave. Their departure invited the Christians to continue to worship at St. Katherine’s. The Tamil clergy based in KL due to their heavy commitments, initially at St. Mary’s Tamil parish and later at St. Barnabas, Kelang, St. Thomas, Banting and St. James, Sentul treated the Kajang congregation as one of the outstation centres.

As the numbers were few and a ‘low tide’ in the mission of the Anglican church in Malaysia, the former Diocese of Singapore and Malaysia leased out the church and land to the Lutheran Church of Malaysia for 30 years on a gentlemen’s agreement. 

From 1957 to 1999:

The Anglicans who were mostly Indians continued to worship at St. Katherine’s church. The Chinese and other who were not well versed in Tamil worshipped in the Lutheran Church, which had Chinese and English services.

With the birth of the new Diocese of West Malaysia in 1970, the Parish of St. Peter’s KL was created from the Tamil congregation of St. Mary’s, in 1971 with Rev V.D Samuel as its first vicar.

In 1980, Mr. Johnson Chelliah who had moved into Kajang acted as secretary to liaison between. The priests who came only to conduct the services and congregation in Kajang, Rev V.D Samuel initiated a move to bring all the members together and electoral forms were filled as it was felt that the Kajang church would become a full constituted church. A meeting of all members living in Kajang was held on 24.02.1980 and regular service was planned. Confirmation classes were also started. A pro-tem committee was formed with the following:

Hon. Secretary: Johnson Chelliah

Committee Members: Mr. J. Samuel –Lay leader

                                    Mr. S. Pakiam

                                    Mr. Stephen Rajamoney

                                    Miss Esther Richards

A Sunday School was started at Cheras estate and was conducted by Mr. Johnson Chelliah and Mr. Rajan Navamoney. Home prayer meetings were conducted in the homes of members. The organist who helped in the services were Mrs. Jeyaratnam, Miss Premeni Jeyaratnam and Miss Esther Richards.

Action was taken to make Kajang a missionary district. Electoral forms were updated and about 60 signed up. Services continued to be held in the evenings at 5pm and bilingual i.e. in Tamil and English. Lay readers, Miss Samidial and Mr J.Y Alexander helped in the services and did house visitations. In April, the first Newsletter was produced with Mr. Johnson Chelliah being editor and was typed and printed at his school.

The heading done in blue and on cyclostyling paper (Photostatting not heard of) was donated by Mr. James Sundram. It was very informative and kept the people informed and close as there was no resident priest. The church was also represented at St. Peter’s Church P.C.C by Mr Johnson or Miss Esther Richard.

Canon V.D Samuel passed away on August 1984 and the bishop appointed Rev Canon Butwan Manikam as the team vicar. He was assited by Rev. Dr. J Louis formerly from St. George’s Church Penang and Rev. D.S Batumalai from STM. This arrangement in a small way stepped up the ministry at Kajang. For the first time, morning Eucharistic service was introduced. Parish assistants, Mr and Mrs Thanapal Henry and Mr. J Samuel together with the congregation helped the church to grow.

Rev Dr. J Louis who was the priest in charge of St. Peter’s also looked after St. Katherine’s until 1986.

On 8^th June 1986, Rev Davies Sigamoney was made deacon and posted to St. Katherine’s under Canon Dr. S. Batumalai.  Then things began to move fast. More and more people began to come forward and help in worship and the giving also increased. A Lay Leaders Training (LLT) and 15 members received their certificated in 1987. !6 students were prepared for confirmation. The  first woman’s fellowship was formed with Mrs. Kamala Raj as the first president.

Many STM student came here for their practical. They were Mr. Charles Fraser, Mr. Ganapathy, James Alexander and Mr. George John. They are all now priest serving at different parishes. Rev Jacob George John is currently the vicar at St. Katherine’s.

The first youth fellowship was formed from the group of 16 being prepared for confirmation and the first president was Timothy Johnson.

75^th Anniversary of St. Katherine’s Church

This was celebrated on a grand scale on April 1987. The bishop Rt. Rev Tan Sri J.G Savarimuthu was there with guests Rev Patrik Manney from New York and Rev David K. Gilbert from London. A souvenir programme was compiled tracing the history of St. Katherine’s by Canon Dr. Batumalai and printed by Mr. Rajoo R. The lease on the church had one more year to go. In his article, “A New Chapter Begins”, Canon Dr. Batumalai wrote “Why did it take nearly 74 years for the Kajang congregation to be constituted as a missionary district?” and later on “God willing in April 1987, we shall celebrate the 75^th Anniversary of St. Katherine’s church. We hope by this date, we will be ready to be constituted as the parish of Hulu Langat. This is our dream” It remained so until 01.11.1999.

12^th December 1988: 

A historical date and much awaited day finally arrived. Although 30 years had been lost when the building was leased to the Lutheran Church, we gained a parsonage and a kindergarten building. According to the gentlemen’s agreement, they had to be handed over free. There was so much to be done. The ground cleaned, trees cut, buildings repaired and painted. The parsonage and kindergarten were also furnished.

The people rallied behind the pastor, Rev Davies Sigamoney, who was then the priest in charge. An amount close to RM 20,000 was spent on the parsonage, church and kindergarten. The kindergarten opened in 1989 as Tadika St. Katherine. The Lutheran’s whose church was not ready, continued to use the building until 1990 until they moved to their new church in Jln. Reko.

Mention must be made of people like Mr. Jeyaratanam, Mr. R Rajoo, Mr Hilbert Singaram, Mr Retnaswamy, Mrs Poovan, Mr Johnson Chelliah and others who spent must time and effort making the place, a place of worship to be proud of in Kajang. Mr Thangam donated the organ as the previous one belonged to the Lutheran’s, Rev and Mrs Davies Sigamoney, 2 candle stands, Mr and Mrs Stepohan Rajamoney the processional cross. The wall sat the side of the entrance was in bad condition and renovation work was done. The cost was borne by the priest warden.

As the years rolled by from 1988 to 1998, Rev Davies Sigamoney continued to be priest in charge. The congregation increases as more and more people move into Kajang. The new prison at Sg. Jelok was built and a few families moved from Taiping. University Kebangsaan and University Putra brought in more student from Sabah and Sarawak. The industrial areas in Bangi saw many Christians from Sabah and Sarawak coming to work here. Mr Manohar Johnson and Miss Premala Poovan also helped as organist.

Auxiliary bodies like women’s fellowship, youth fellowship, servers guild, senior citizens played a active role in the life of the church. A donation dinner was held to raise funds. The Tadika St. Katherine continued to grow with about 60 students and 4 teachers, including a music teacher. The services continued to be bilingual that is in Tamil and English. A service in Bahasa Malaysia was also started at 11.00am on Sundays led by Mr Juining Babia.

15^th November 1998:

On this date, Rev Davies Sigamoney, being the longest serving priest at St. Katherine’s retired. Rev Father Jacob George John as transferred here from Kota Bharu’s St. Martin’s church to be the new priest in charge. He was a bachelor was able to lead in 3 languages. The number of services increased and the giving also increased. On Sundays the service are at 8.30am – English, 11.00 am- Bahasa Malaysia and 5.00pm- Tamil. About 160 attended the three services. In the Bahasa Malaysia service he is helped by Mr and Mrs Juining Babia.

There is a home prayer meetings on Fridays and a Mid-Week Holy Communion on Wednesdays with an average attendance of 45.

The parsonage and church building were given a new coat of paint by the members and paint was donated by the members. The old P.A system was replaced and the praise and worship enhanced by the use of the overhead projector and a drum set. To accommodate the large crowd when combined services are held, the sides have been extended with awnings.

At the 1^st AGM held in 1999, it was proposed that St. Katherine’s was ready to apply for parish status. The monthly contribution to the Diocese was increased from RM 500 to RM 1,000 and the members numbered 150.

Now the dream of Rev Dr S. Batumalai, now Ven Canon Dr S. Batumalai, the archdeacon of lower north Perak, seeing St. Katherine’s Parish has come to pass on 1^st November 1999. We are truly thankful to God and His Glorious doing.     

**Our thanks to Ven. Canon Dr. S Batumalai for the historical records, facts and figures from 1912 to 1980 which has been taken from ‘A Souvenir Magazine of the 75^th Anniversary of the consecration of St. Katherine’s Church Kajang 1912-1987.

The rest from 1980 onwards are from the files of Mr. Johnson Chelliah who was Hon. Secretary from 1980-1990 and 1999.

Ex. Hon Secretary,

Johnson Chelliah