圣伯多禄圣保禄堂于1870年完工后，华人传教事业继续发展。
从奎因街的小院子，华人传教中心的天主教徒当起了处在新加坡和邻近一带华人的指路明灯。因此，圣伯多禄圣保禄堂可以被称为“母堂”。
从爱慕劳（Etienne Albrand）神父的时代起，华人天主教信徒分布在印尼群岛，从婆罗洲到廖内群岛。这些地区兴起许多零星的华人群体，由来自新加坡的传道员和神职人员为他们服务。日子一久，他们也建立了自己的教堂，就像从前在武吉知马的圣若瑟堂和在实龙岗的圣母圣诞堂一样，从最初作为圣伯多禄圣保禄堂的传教站演变为独当一面的堂区。
在1888年，教会为印度藉教徒在奥菲亚路建立露德圣母堂。从此，印度藉教徒不用再上圣伯多禄圣保禄堂。到了1910年，操粤语和客家话的天主教徒搬到了登路的圣心堂。操福建话的天主教徒也在1929年找到了自己的礼拜场所，那就是刚在甘榜巴鲁落成的圣德肋撒堂。在这个教堂建成之前的1928年3月13日，当时圣伯多禄圣保禄堂主持Mariette神父，也是当时的副主教，在视察圣德肋撒堂的建筑时，不幸被掉下的木板击死。
1926年，数百名中国汕头的天主教徒为了躲避共产党人的迫害，来东南亚找寻避难所。他们之中有些人来到了新加坡。在这里，他们被划归圣伯多禄圣保禄堂来照顾。当时堂区的教友领袖挺身而出，来照顾他们。一位在教堂场地建了一间安老院和病房的曾德懿（Chan Teck Hee）先生，为这些难民提供避难所。另有一位Wee Cheng Soon先生替他们找到工作，建造板桥医院。至于李斯德望神父则在万礼那里取得一大块土地给他们定居。这些天主教移民最终发展成圣安多尼堂区。事实上，建造圣心堂和圣德肋撒堂的筹款活动，向来也是由圣伯多禄圣保禄堂的教友在领导。
在战后的年代，随着城镇的民众转移到新加坡各个角落的新市镇，而且有更多从国外来的神职人员，圣伯多禄圣保禄堂的教友们也移殖到由华人传教中心的神职人员所建的新教堂；这包括建于1954年的和平之后堂，建于1959年的圣伯纳德堂，1961年的圣迈克堂，和建于1971年的耶稣复活堂。
在福传方面，圣伯多禄圣保禄堂也跨越了新加坡的范围。即使在世纪之交，尽管荷兰的天主教传教士已经进军印尼的岛屿，从廖内群岛一路延伸到班卡的华人天主教徒，都转向新加坡的华人神职人员寻求指导。早期的荷兰传教士很少会讲中国方言。李斯德望神父本人，作为圣伯多禄圣保禄堂的本堂神父，经常需要长途乘船到印度尼西亚的岛屿，为分布各地的华人天主教徒服务。在其中的一次旅途，他甚至遇上船难！
1911年，天主赐予这一重要堂区首个圣召，薛迈克神父。他也是新加坡的第一位本土华人天主教神父。他的父亲是堂区的一位要理老师。
艰难时期
当李斯德望神父（Fr. Stephen Lee）于1935年在圣德肋撒堂新上任的时候，E. Becheras神父接手华人传教中心的领导。他的首要任务是完成李斯德望神父开办的华
英学校。学校后来更名为公教中学。此后不久战火蔓延到新加坡。圣伯多禄圣保禄堂的许多华人教友在日军占领初期的肃清行动中遇了害。在占领期间的那段黑暗日子里Wee Cheng Soon的许多家人没能活下来。在战争结束之前，Wee Cheng Soon先生本人也去世。
Becheras神父继续留在圣伯多禄圣保禄堂直到1943年他才主动申请去波摩。因为当时有许多圣伯多禄圣保禄堂的天主教徒被紧急疏散到那里。在这段时间，圣伯多禄圣保禄堂由Louis Wee神父当家。
战后发展
随着战争的结束，新加坡发生了巨大的变化。圣伯多禄圣保禄堂也跟随着这些改变的
浪潮而起变化。随着越来越多的侨居移民由于自己家园的政局动荡开始在新加坡扎根，教会也因着这些人流最终的稳定而获益。总之，越来越多的人在新加坡定居下来，并生儿育女。自20世纪50年代到60年代中期，圣伯多禄圣保禄堂每年平均有超过200个婴儿洗礼。与此同时，通过诺维娜教堂赎主会士的努力和Abrial神父的干劲，堂区每年也有同样多的成人接受洗礼。在此期间平均每年总洗礼数目约有350到400位。单单在1958年，圣伯多禄圣保禄堂有总数超过570，不分老少的洗礼。这个壮举是新加坡甚至整个亚洲的任何教堂都无法比拟的。
圣伯多禄圣保禄堂的信友团体在战后的日子里大大的扩展。1957年，它最终决定在地面铺上水泥。然而堂区的发展并不总是一帆风顺的。在1950年代共产主义者到处引发种族骚乱导致政治动荡。在1950年代中期一次华校生发起的暴动，抗议骚乱蔓延到教堂的院子里。正是由于Albrial神父的警觉迅速把教堂的大门关上，才不让闹事的学生闯入。
讽刺的是，共产主义也给圣伯多禄圣保禄堂带来了积极的进展。1952年，王守礼（Carlo Van Melckebeke）主教被中国驱逐出境。在接下来的一年，基于在东南亚有大批的海外华裔天主教徒，罗马决定任命王守礼主教为教廷驻东南亚视察专员，为这些中国侨民服务。1954年，王守礼主教选择新加坡作为其运作的中心。天主教南洋教务促进社遂在新加坡华人天主教传教中心的所在地——圣伯多禄圣保禄教堂成立。它至今仍然在225B奎因街，教堂的毗邻（即现今的守礼社）。
迈向下一个千禧年
从1970年代一直到1980年代，母堂遭遇了遏制她成长的新挑战。它的遏制力甚至会让19世纪的私会党徒垂涎。圣伯多禄圣保禄堂面对的社会威胁不是以武装人员的
形式，而是社会变化的形式。随着新镇的成立，许多新的堂区也诞生了，其中许多还是直接从圣伯多禄圣保禄堂分支而来。但是，这也意味着那些迁往新镇原属圣伯多禄圣保禄堂的教友，必须离开圣伯多禄圣保禄堂去参加为他们建立的新堂区。再加上中央商业区的发展，使到更少的天主教徒居住在圣伯多禄圣保禄堂附近。1970年代也见证了我国婴儿出生率的急剧下降。同样的，堂区也受到低出生率的影响。出席率以及洗礼人数都急剧下降。
然而，教友们还是努力从事他们祖先给予圣伯多禄圣保禄堂的任务。教堂仍不断的在发展。1995年，教堂庆祝其成立125周年。为了配合此庆典，教堂进行耗资30万元的大装修。华文教团以及堂区的青年团体继续往返廖内群岛为当地的天主教徒带来急需的物质和精神上的援助，与他们共融。目前公教中学已迁往他处。
1998年2月，在Claude Barreteau神父离开后，照顾堂区的任务交给了加尔默罗修会。就这样法国传教会经过了166年，为华人教会的工作终于画上了句号。加尔默罗会会士从现今开始将为圣伯多禄圣保禄堂编写历史新篇章。他们将带领母堂进入下一个世纪。
作者：Clement Liew／译者：林木围
The Seat of the Chinese Catholic Mission: The Mother Church
Clement Liew
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．
From their little compound at Queen Street, the Chinese Catholics of the Mission took on an immensely important task of being the beacon for Chinese converts within Singapore and beyond her shores. Aptly, the Church of Sts Peter and Paul could claim the title of “The Mother Church.” Since the time of Fr Albrand, Chinese Catholic converts dispersed all over the Indonesian Islands, from Borneo to the Riau islands where numerous pockets of Chinese communities thrived, catechists and clergy from Singapore had ministered to them. In time, they too raised their own churches, just as St Joseph’s at Bukit Timah and Nativity at Serangoon did, evolving from just being mission stations of Sts Peter and Paul to full parishes in their own right.
In 1888, the Mission erected for the Indian Catholics, the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes at Sophia Road. Thus, they departed from Sts Peter and Paul. By 1910, the Cantonese and Hakka Christians moved out to Sacred Heart Church at Tank Road. The Hokkiens also found their own place of worship in 1929, with the completion of St Teresa’s Church at Kampong Bahru. For this church, the pastor of Sts Peter and Paul, Fr Mariette, who was also Vicar General, laid down his life on 13th March 1928. He was killed by a falling plank while inspecting the construction of St Teresa’s.
In 1926, when hundreds of Chinese Catholics from Swatow escaped the persecution of the Communists, they found refuge in Southeast Asia. Some of them were sent to Singapore. Here, they were placed under the care of Sts Peter and Paul. The lay leaders of the parish then rose to the occasion and put their enterprise into action. Mr Chan Teck Hee who had already built a home for the aged and sick in the church’s compound, found shelter for these refugees. Another, Mr Wee Cheng Soon, found them employment, building Woodbridge Hospital, and Fr Stephen Lee himself, secure a huge plot of land at Mandai where they eventually settled. From this Catholic Settlement would eventually rise St Anthony’s Church. In fact, in the building of the Church of Sacred Heart and of St Teresa’s, it was the parishioners of Sts Peter and Paul who led in the fund raising.
In the post war years, with the masses shifting to all parts of Singapore into new towns, and with the availability of more clergy and religious from abroad, the Catholics of Sts Peter and Paul also found themselves transplanted to new churches erected by the clergy of the Chinese Mission; Church of Our Lady Queen of Peace, 1954; Church of St Bernadette, 1959, St Michael’s Church, 1961, and the Church of the Risen Christ in 1971.
The importance of Sts Peter and Paul to the spread of Catholicism went beyond the borders of Singapore. Even after the turn of the century, though Dutch Catholic missionaries were already making inroads into the Indonesian islands, the Chinese Catholics of the Riau islands, stretching all the way to Banka, had turned to the Chinese clergy of Singapore for guidance. Few of the early Dutch missionaries spoke Chinese dialects. Fr Stephen Lee himself, as parish priest of Sts Peter and Paul, used to take long boat journeys to the Indonesian islands to minister to the Chinese Catholics scattered all over. On one of these trips, he was actually shipwrecked !
In 1911, God granted this important parish its first vocation, Fr Michael Seet, Singapore’s first local Chinese Catholic priest. His father was a catechist in the parish, and till this day, the Seet family resides in a house next to the church.
Hard Times
When Fr Stephen Lee took up his new post at St Teresa’s in 1935, Fr E Becheras took over the leadership of the Chinese Mission. His first task was to complete the Sino-Englsih School which Fr Stephen Lee had started. The school was later renamed Catholic High School. It was not long before war found its way to Singapore. Without doubt, many parishioners of Sts Peter and Paul did not survive the “ethnic-cleansing” of the Chinese during the early days of occupation. Many of Mr Wee Cheng Soon’s family members did not survive those dark days of the Occupation. Mr Wee himself died before the war ended.
Fr Becheras continued to shepherd his flock at Sts Peter and Paul till 1943 when he volunteered to go to Bahau where many of his Catholics were evacuated. In his absence, Fr Louis Wee held the fort.
Post-war Developments
The end of the war brought great changes to Singapore. Sts Peter and Paul too, flowed along the waves of these changes. As more sojourning migrants began to root themselves in Singapore, due to the political uncertainties in their own homeland, the church too, benefited from the resultant stabilization of population movement. In short, many more settled and raised families. The average number of infant baptisms at Sts Peter and Paul well exceeded 200 annually from the 1950s to mid 1960s. At the same time, through the industry of the Redemptorists at Novena Church, and the energy of Fr Abrial, the parish achieved just as many adult baptisms yearly. The average total baptisms received during this period were around 350-400. In 1958, Sts Peter and Paul had 570 baptisms of both young and old, a feat unmatched by any church in Singapore, perhaps even across Asia.
The church as a community was greatly enlarged in the post war days. In 1957, it was decided to finally cement the grounds of the church. The development of the parish was however not always smooth going. Communist inspired racial riots and political uncertainty also characterized the 1950s. During a Chinese students’ riot in the mid 1950s, the protest had at one point, spilled over into the church’s compound. It was through Fr Albrial’s alertness that the church’s gates were closed before the rioting students could enter.
Ironically, Communism had also brought positive developments to Sts Peter and Paul. In 1952, Mgr. Carlo van Melckebeke was expelled from China. In the following year, in view of the great number of overseas Chinese Catholics in Southeast Asia, Rome decided to appointed Mgr. Melckebeke Apostolic Visitor to the Chinese in diaspora. In 1954, Mgr. Melckebeke chose Singapore as his centre of operation. The Singapore Catholic Central Bureau was thus founded at the Chinese Catholic Mission of Singapore – the Church of Sts Peter and Paul. It remains today, at 225-B Queen Street, at the corner of the church.
Towards the Next Millenium
From the 1970s right through to the 1980s, the Mother Church met a new challenge that curbed her growth to such an extend that the secret societies of the 19th century would have been envious of. The social threats that faced Sts Peter and Paul did not come in the form of armed men, but the form of social change. With the creation of New Towns, many new parishes were also given birth to, many of whom stemmed directly from Sts Peter and Paul. This, however, meant that the parishioners of Sts Peter and Paul who have relocated themselves in these New Towns, must also depart from Sts Peter and Paul for the new parishes erected for them. And coupled by the development of the town area into a centralized business district, fewer Catholics resided near Sts Peter and Paul. The 1970s also saw a steep decline in our birth rate. Notwithstanding, the parish also suffered lower birth rates. Attendance as well as baptisms declined drastically.
The parishioners have however, strived to remain engaged and relevant to the Mission their forefathers had meant Sts Peter and Paul to be. The development continues. In 1995, the church celebrated its 125th anniversary. In conjunction with this event, the church underwent extensive renovation costing $300,000. The Chinese groups as well as the youth groups in the parish continue to make trips to the Riau islands bringing much needed material and spiritual aid, in communion with the fellow Catholics there. And though Catholic High School may have shifted out, its old premises are now currently occupied by dozens of diocesan level organizations.
In February 1998, with the departure of Fr Claude Barreteau, the care of the parish was handed over to the Carmelite Community. After 166 years, the French Mission’s presence at the Chinese Mission had finally come to an end. The Carmelite Friars will now begin a new chapter in the history of the Church of Sts Peter and Paul. They will have to lead the Mother Church into the next century.
