我们的教会、团体与学校
信仰标记这一系列的四篇文章中，我们谈论新加坡教会史上，一些鲜为人知或被遗忘的人事物，其内容背景都有平信徒和传教士的参与。前三篇文章，我们分别介绍了圣文生善会、不同修会传教团体的传教工作和一个被遗忘的教会传统：真人玫瑰经。
本期，我们分享传教修会早期在本地办教育，在教会学校所扮演的重要角色。今天，多数堂区和教会学校独立地存在和运作。也许通过研究和阐明这种被遗忘的联系，能够重燃彼此的合作关系以及对于教会的共同使命感。
第一颗种子
新加坡教会为基督徒提供教育的想法可以追溯到 1835年, 当时马来亚宗座代牧（主教）Jean Paul Hilarie Michael Courvezy蒙席，发现他的华人基督徒使用印刷手稿自己学习阅读。主教试图通过从澳门为他们购买葡萄牙文书籍来帮助他们学习欧洲字母，然而在早期，主教只是希望“教导他们，让他们足以在弥撒中参与歌唱”。但华人基督徒自己想要更多。他们开始列下想要的中文书籍清单，并请法国传教会从中国采购。然而，历经好几年后，改革才开始。
1842年，法国传教士要为新加坡少数的华人天主教徒建立一所正式学校的计划，向前迈出了一大步。然而, 由于财政困难, 新学校直到1845年才得以建成。当时法国巴黎外方传教士Jean Marie Beurel 和 Anatole Mauduit 两位神父，在勿拉峇拉士路（圣若瑟学院旧址）开办了第一所教会学校。当时有一位华文老师、一名教理员和十个男生。住在学校宿舍里的 Fr Beurel 负责男生的膳食， 而 Fr Mauduit 则负责照顾和指导较年长的男生。 这些男孩遵循每天早上5点起床到晚上9点结束的日常工作表。其中包括弥撒、祈祷、学习、娱乐和杂务。他们以欧洲字母表和汉字学习阅读和写作。
教会学校，天主教教会的延伸
显然，法国传教士建立的第一所天主教华校的例子，表明了教会福传策略是如何考虑到新皈依者的现实生活需要，其中涉及基本需求及其社会文化生活。在这方面，为教会播下种子的当儿，传教士也播下了团体的种子，不仅只是建造设施，而是建造共融的机构。因此，从十九世纪开始，社会机构如教会学校、诊所和教堂都是任何传教中心站的组成部分。这些机构地点往往靠近，同时，天主教徒居住在附近。因此形成了天主教徒和社区聚集区。 如此一来， 一个简单的校舍也成为宣教的延伸。在市区，建校基金（1845年）是由华人天主教徒所筹集的。因此，校舍还充当宣教的成人教理学校，学校还为华人皈依者和教理生提供了一个图书馆。
1846年，当巴黎外方传教会将传教扩大到新加坡的丛林时，法国传教士再次看到在那里建造一所学校的好处。1847年7月, Fr Mauduit 在他克兰芝的办事处为该区的男孩建立了一所学校。从5个男孩开始，这所华人学校向所有人开放，包括非天主教徒。Fr Mauduit 发现，很难将信仰传播给那里的华人，他们基本上只关心在外面谋生。此外，他们大多是短暂的旅居者。
为了建立一个更加稳定、以家庭为基础的基督徒团体，Fr Mauduit采取的策略是改变那里的非基督徒华人家庭。除了指导该区的少数孩子外，巴黎外方传教会还通过学校，向未接受基督信仰的华人父母的子女灌输基督信仰，以便这些孩子最终说服父母皈依。这个策略很管用。到了1849年，克兰芝的华人天主教团体已有相当规模，以至当地媒体称之为“基督徒村”。在此情况下，教会学校一方面提供了居住在当地的天主教家庭其教育需要，同时也是传播信仰的一个不可或缺的工具。这不仅仅是教会的延伸，也是有助于教会进一步延伸的方法。
19世纪40年代，天主教向丛林华人传教的成功，导致华人私会党的不满，并于1851年全面攻击新加坡教会。此后，克兰芝的生活变得如此艰难，不得不在1853年将圣若瑟堂，这个丛林传教中心站转移到目前武吉知马的所在地点。然而, 这并无法阻止丛林传教每况愈下。
1861年，奥思定佩理神父（ Fr. Augustine Perie）抵达武吉知马，恢复了教会学校以及复兴了传教的活力。佩里神父延续 Fr Mauduit 的策略，建立了一所免费学校，开放给所有人，包括非基督徒。学校完全由佩理神父资助，华人教师每个月6元的薪金都由他本人支付。
在教堂附近居住着许多非天主教家庭，佩理神父深知，比起他的劝说，通过上学的孩子宣传信仰，成年人更有可能被自己的孩子说服。而当许多家庭最终通过他们儿子的劝说而皈依时，这个信念得到了肯定。此外，佩理神父还在武吉知马中心设立了一家诊所。在该区爆发的一次霍乱中，几乎每一个受影响的人, 甚至是非基督徒, 都向诊所求助。
到了19世纪60年代初，武吉知马的华人基督徒人数又开始增加。增加的原因之一是因为圣若瑟堂外站——教堂以北约5公里处的克兰芝一个称为Boo Koo Kangkar的村镇，有大量的华人皈依者。 1862年初，佩理神父发现，在距离克兰芝码头仅有短距离处的海岸附近，为这些皈依者建造他们自己的小圣堂和学校是权宜之计。1862年9月8日教堂兴建圣玛利亚堂，祝福并开放。就在这时，17名被安置在城市教会学校旧址居住及求学的华人男孩，被安排转移到了佩理神父在克兰芝中心站新的教会学校。从这里，华人传教继续扩展。1863年，佩理神父从克兰芝教堂出发，进入柔佛苯珍开设华人学校，开垦另一片基督徒区域。显然的，60年代向华人传教的成功，在很大的程度上取决于传教会在传播信仰时，是否有能力提供最基本的物质和社会需求，包括食品、药物和教育。
建立英文教会学校
Fr Beurel 自19世纪40年代初开始掌管新加坡的天主教教会。Courvezy蒙席离职后，新任的宗座代牧将主教公署设在槟城。尽管传教会已经为华人团体建立了好几所学校，Fr Beurel 仍然希望传教会拥有自己的英语学校，以便天主教教育与新加坡设立完善的英校并驾齐驱。毕竟，天主教在当时是新加坡最大的基督宗教。此外 Fr Beurel 知道，让葡萄牙和法国传教会的欧洲和欧亚裔天主教儿童继续在基督新教学校上学极不理想。
建立第一所英语学校的准备工作始于 19世纪40年代末，但来自欧洲修会的负责修士和修女，直到1852年才抵达马来亚，由Fr Beurel 亲自回返法国接他们到来。然而， Fr Beurel 回来后，主教却带着六位修士中的三位和所有修女前往槟城传教。因此，藉着三位基督学校修士会 (喇沙修士会)，传教会期待已久的英文基督徒学校在旧传教会教堂所处之地，即原来的华文教会学校所在处建立。
喇沙修士会的修士被授予圣若翰书院的负责人, 这是一所天主教学院，属于天主教团体的一所免费学校。它“不分族裔和信仰，完全由公众资助”，开放给男生。然而，喇沙修士会有自己的其他想法，这在未来几十年里成为巴黎外方传教会和喇沙修士会之间争论的焦点。喇沙修士会最终将新学校重新命名为圣若瑟学院。此外，尽管就欧洲和欧亚团体而言，圣若翰书院的成立是一个非常受欢迎和积极的发展，但这发展极大地影响了当地传教机构的进展。喇沙修士会抵达传教中心处之前, 华人传教会已经在那里展开了一切活动，同时建立了一所华校。
随着喇沙修士会所创建的学校成立，传教会面临优先事项的冲突。自1831年巴黎外方传教会在这里设立发展以来，传教会的资源一直有限。然而，鉴于经历了长时间的运作、困难、所投入的费用和公众对将喇沙修士会带到新加坡所产生的巨大期望，传教会认为，必须不惜一切代价使喇沙修士会的学校取得成功。于是，他们将旧教堂给了修士们作为新学校。后来，就连华人传教会于1845年建立的华校，也被交给喇沙修士会用作他们的居所。事实上，整个传教中心处已经逐渐成为喇沙修士会的领域，牺牲了华人传教会在城镇的进展。
19世纪50年代中期，喇沙修士会在免付费学校内开设了付费课程，这一发展极大的影响了整个社团。 到了 1861年，其余的免费课程被终止，改变了法国传教士最初所设定的传教目标。
1854年，耶稣圣婴女修会的修女抵达新加坡，当时他们在维多利亚街创建了耶稣圣婴修道院。其实在她们抵达前两年就已经计划将新修道院设在传教中心处，与喇沙修士会一样。当她们都被转移到槟城时，喇沙修士会占据了整个地点。但 Fr Beurel 并没有绝望。1852年8月，他买下了考德威尔先生（ Mr Caldwell ）在维多利亚街的住所，就在新教堂 (今善牧主教座堂) 的马路对面，他预计修女们最终会来到新加坡，届时，将会需要用到教堂附近的地方。该女修道院最终于1854年2月成立，向所有族裔群体和信仰的女孩开放，其中一个部分收留被遗弃或没有父母的女孩，另一部分为有付费的学生，这些费用都用以支助孤儿院。1850年末，女修道院还增设了一个贫困妇女的避难所。在修女们到来之前，没有一个地方机构关注被遗弃婴儿和赤贫妇女的福利。
到了 19世纪50年代，英文教会学校的成立是新加坡教会历史上的一个分水岭。教会管理的两种不同传统，即英语和华语的社区学校，是当时任何基督新教、政府或宗乡会馆都无法复制的壮举。教会有学校照顾不同族裔社区, 这大大强化了新加坡天主教传教会的社会共融。到了1860年，在圣若翰书院后方的华人传教中心处也建立了一所印度学校孤儿院。……待续
文：刘伟强／译：海星报
Our Forgotten Catholic Heritage
The final article will share the forgotten connections or parishes had with our Mission schools. Today, most parishes and Catholic schools exist and function independently. There was a time when they were part and parcel of one church community. Perhaps, examining and articulating this forgotten connection may rekindle relationships and the sense of co-ownership.
Writer’s Profile
The author Clement Liew Wei Chiang was brought up in Toa Payoh and attended the Church of Risen Christ. IN school, he joined the Legion of Mary at St Joseph’s Institution and he became a Catechist while serving his National Service. Having been in the Normal Stream in secondary school, he was fortunate to have been able to go on to Catholic Junior College and then to National University of Singapore where he discovered his zeal for researching history and writing the story of our Church. He considers chronicling the history of the Singapore Catholic Church and its community a life’s calling because it allows him to pursue the Truth, and the truth about his faith. After devoting several years to teaching in Catholic schools, he went on to pursue a Masters at the University of Singapore, choosing the history of the Singapore Church as the topic of his dissertation. And after almost a decade in researching and writing Singapore history, which included building a museum, he finally earned his doctorate in 2010. Through the years, he has grown acutely aware of his cultural roots and how that had enriched his faith. In this series, the author traces the journey of Church in Singapore, placing emphasis on the forgotten parts of our shared heritage. In re-laying the stones that formed the long road we have taken a community the faithful in history, the author hopes we can all rediscover the little nuggets that would provide hope and inspire wisdom in our walk into the future.
4. Our Church, Community and Schools: Forgotten Connections（1）
Clement Liew Wei Chiang
All rights reserved: No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means Electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner．
The First Seeds
The idea of the Singapore Church providing education for its Christians dates back to 1835 when Mgr Jean Paul Hilarie Michael Courvezy, Vicar Apostolic (Bishop) of Malaya discovered his Chinese Christians using printed manuscripts to learn to read on their own. The Bishop tried to help them learn the European alphabet by acquiring for them Portuguese books from Macau. However, in those early days, the Bishop merely wanted to “teach them enough in order that they could join the singing at mass”, but the Chinese Christians themselves wanted more. They began making up lists of Chinese books which they wanted and got the French Mission to procure them from China. However, it would take a few more years before the wheels of change started turning. The establishment of a proper school for the island’s small number of Chinese Catholics took a major step forward in 1842 when plans for this endeavour were drawn up by the French missionaries. However, due to financial difficulties, the new school only became a reality in 1845 when Frs Jean Marie Beurel and Anatole Mauduit (of the Societe des Missions Etrangeres de Paris, MEP) opened the Mission’s first school on its own Mission Grounds at Bras Basah Road (on the site of the old SJI). It began with a Chinese teacher, a catechist and ten boys. Living within the school’s dormitory, Fr Beurel took care of the boys’ meals while Fr Mauduit oversaw the care and instruction of the older boys. The boys followed a daily routine that began at five in the morning and ended at nine in the evening, and this included mass, prayers, studies, recreation and chores. They were taught reading and writing in both the European alphabet and Chinese characters.
Mission Schools, an Extension of the Catholic Mission Church
Clearly, the case of the first Chinese Catholic school established by the French missionaries demonstrated just how the Mission’s proselytization/evangelism strategy had taken into consideration the real-life needs of the new converts, which included matters involving basic needs as well as to their socio-cultural lives. In this context, to plant the seeds for a Church, the pioneering missionaries also planted the seeds of a community, building not just facilities but communal institutions at the heart of Mission Ground. Hence, from the nineteenth century, social institutions like the Mission’s school, clinic and church were all integral parts of any mission station. These institutions tended to be situated in close proximity, and together with the Catholics residing nearby. In this way, Catholic and communal enclaves were established. As such, a simple schoolhouse also became an extension of the Mission. In Town, it was the Chinese Catholics who had raised the money for the establishment of school (1845), and hence, the schoolhouse also functioned as the Mission’s adult catechumenate, which also housed a library for the Mission’s Chinese converts and catechumens.
When the MEP extended the Mission into the jungles of Singapore in 1846, the French missionaries once again saw the advantage of having a school built there. In July 1847, Fr Mauduit established a school for the boys of the district at his Kranji outpost. Beginning with just five boys, this Chinese school was opened to all, including non-Catholics. Fr Mauduit had found it difficult to propagate the faith to the Chinese in the interior who were by and large only concerned with eking out a living out there. Furthermore, they were also mostly transient sojourners. One strategy that Fr Mauduit employed to create a more settled, family-based Christian community was to convert the non-Christian Chinese families already in the interior. Besides instructing the few children of the district, the MEP also used the school to expose the Christian faith to the children of non-receptive Chinese parents in order that the children might eventually convince their parents to convert. And it worked. By 1849, the Chinese Catholic community at Kranji was so established that the local press designated it a “Christian village”. In this instance, while at one level, the Mission’s schools served the educational needs of the domiciled Catholic families, they were also an integral instrument for the propagation of the faith. That is, they were not simply extensions of the Church, but were also instrumental in the further extension of the Church.
The success of the Chinese Catholic Mission in the interior in the 1840s led to the resentment of the Chinese secret society which led a general attack on Singapore Church in 1851. Thereafter, life at Kranji had become so difficult that it necessitated the shift of the jungle Mission station, St. Joseph’s Church, to its present site at Bukit Timah in 1853. However, this did little to halt the decline of the jungle Mission. In 1861, Fr Augustine Perie arrived at Bukit Timah to revive the Mission as well as its school. Once again, following Fr Mauduit’s strategy, Fr Perie set up a Free School open to all, including non-Christians, and it was entirely supported by Fr Perie himself who paid the Chinese teacher six dollars a month. There were numerous non-Catholic families residing near the church, and Fr Perie knew that by propagating the faith to their children who attended the school, the adults would be more likely to be convinced by their own children than by his persuasion. And this belief was affirmed when a number of families eventually converted through the persuasions of their sons. Fr Perie also started a clinic at the Bukit Timah station. In one outbreak of cholera in the district, almost every afflicted person, even non-Christians, turned to the clinic for help.
By the early 1860s, the number of Chinese Christians at Bukit Timah had begun to increase once more. Another reason for this increase was the large number of Chinese conversions made at St Joseph’s outstation at the village of Boo Koo Kangkar, back at Kranji, approximately five kilometres north of the church. In early 1862, Fr Perie found it expedient to build the converts of Boo Koo Kangkar their very own chapel and a school near the coast, just a short distance from the Kranji harbour jetty. On 8 September 1862, the chapel was completed, blessed and opened as the Chapel of St Mary’s. This was when seventeen Chinese boys, who were housed and schooled at the old Mission Ground in Town, were relocated to Fr Perie’s new Kranji station mission school. From here, the Chinese Mission continued its expansion beyond its first stations. In 1863, departing from his Kranji chapel, Fr Perie crossed into Pontien, Johore, and planted another Christian colony with its own Chinese school. It is evident that the success the Mission’s work with the Chinese in the 1860s was greatly dependent on the Mission’s ability to provide the very basic material and social needs, including food, medication and education, in conjunction with the propagation of the faith.
Establishment of English Mission Schools
In Town, Fr Beurel had taken charge of the Catholic Mission in Singapore from early 1840s after Mgr Courvezy left his post and the new Vicar Apostolic made Penang his official residence. Although the Mission had already a couple of schools for its Chinese congregation, Fr Beurel still desired that the Mission should have its own English school in order that Catholic education on the island be on par with the most established English school in Singapore. After all, the Catholic Church was at that time the largest Christian denomination in Singapore. Furthermore, Fr Beurel knew it was most unhealthy for the European and Eurasian Catholic children in the Portuguese and French Missions to continue attending Protestant schools.
Preparation for the establishment of the Mission’s first English school began in the late 1840s, but the Religious Brothers and Sisters from Europe needed to operate them arrived at Malaya only in 1852, after Fr Beurel personally returned to France to fetch them himself. However, upon his return, the bishop took three of the six Brothers and all the nuns for the Mission to Penang. So, with just three Brothers of the Christian Schools (De La Salle), the Mission’s long awaited English Christian School was founded on the site of the old Mission chapel where the original Chinese Mission school was also located.
The Christian Brothers were given charge of St. John’s Institution, a Catholic institution that would be a Free School belonging to the island’s Catholic community. It was to be opened to boys “irrespective of ethnicity and creed, and solely supported by public subscription”. The Christian Brothers, however, had other ideas of their own and this became a source of contention between the MEP and the Christian Brothers for decades to come. The Brothers would eventually rename the new school St Joseph’s Institution. Also, although the foundation of St. John’s was a highly welcomed and positive development as far as the European and Eurasian community was concerned, the progress of the Mission’s vernacular institutions were greatly affected by this development. Prior to the arrival of the Brothers at the Mission Ground, the Chinese Mission had conducted all its activities as well as maintained a Chinese School there. With the establishment of the Brothers’ school, the Mission faced a conflict of priority. The Mission’s resources had always been limited since the MEP was established here in 1831. Nevertheless, given the length of time, the difficulties, the expenses incurred and the enormous public expectation generated to bring the Brothers to Singapore, the Mission felt that it was imperative to make the Brother’s school successful at all cost. Hence, the Brothers were given the old chapel for their new school. Later, even the Chinese school erected by the Chinese Mission in 1845, was given to the Brothers to use as their living quarters. In fact, the entire Mission Ground had progressively become the domain of the Brothers, at the expense of the Chinese Mission’s progress in Town. In the mid-1850s, the Brothers created paying classes within the Free School, a development that greatly affected the community as a whole. By 1861, the remaining free classes were terminated, altering the original mission objectives envisaged by the French missionaries.
The Sisters of St Muar (Holy Infant Jesus) finally made it to Singapore in 1854, when they founded the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus at Victoria Street. It had been planned two years earlier to locate the new convent on the old Mission Ground with the Christian Brothers. When all of them were redirected to Penang, the Brothers occupied the entire plot. But Fr Beurel did not despair. In August 1852, he bought Mr Caldwell’s residence at Victoria Street, just across the road facing the new Church (Good Shepherd), in anticipation that the Sisters would eventually make it to Singapore and a place near the Church would still be needed. The Convent, eventually founded in February 1854, was opened to girls of all ethnic groups and persuasions, with a section for abandoned or orphaned girls, and another for paying students, whose fees went into the support of the orphanage. In the late 1850s, a refuge for destitute women was also added to the Convent. Prior to the arrival of the Sisters, there was no local institution that was concerned with the welfare of abandoned infants and destitute women.
The founding of the English Mission schools by the 1850s was a watershed in the history of Singapore Church. The Mission operated communal schools of two distinct traditions, English and Chinese, a feat which no Protestant, Government or Chinese clan association could replicate at that time. But more pertinently, the Church had schools to cater to the diverse ethnic communities under its care, and this greatly strengthened the socio-communal of the Catholic Mission in Singapore. By 1860, an Indian school-orphanage was also founded at the Chinese Mission grounds at the back of St. John’s.
