Christianity in Singapore

Overview

Catholicism

Main article: Catholic Church in Singapore

Roman Catholicism

The Roman Catholic population in Singapore generally consists of Chinese (including Peranakans) and Indians, along with a few smaller minority groups such as Eurasians (including Kristang), white Europeans and Filipinos. The Chinese, the majority ethnicity in Singapore, also account for the majority of Catholics. There are 29 Roman Catholic parishes and 3 devotional churches in Singapore, each administering to a particular district in Singapore. Plans for a 33rd church at Tengah Gardens are in the works, after a successful bidding for land from the Housing Development Board.

Singapore has a Roman Catholic Archdiocese headed by Archbishop William Cardinal Goh who presides at the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd. The Holy Mass in Singapore is celebrated in numerous vernacular tongues, including English, Chinese language (Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Teochew, etc.), Malayalam, Korean, German, Indonesian, Tamil and Tagalog (at the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd). The Traditional Latin Mass is also celebrated every Sunday at 2pm at St. Joseph's Church (Victoria Street).

Peranakan Roman Catholics are generally concentrated in the Church of the Holy Family in Katong; whilst St. Joseph's Church along Victoria street is a cultural base for Portuguese Eurasians. Roman Catholic parishes in the 18th to early 19th centuries were initially set up along racial and cultural lines by various Roman Catholic missionary groups from Europe.

Various Roman Catholic parishes in Singapore are actively involved in social services such as welfare homes, the opening of soup kitchens as well as missionary trips to places like Indonesia and the Philippines. There is also the Catholic Medical Guild, and other Catholic lobby groups that are based in the Church of St Peter & Paul parish grounds.

Neighbourhood Christian Communities (NCC) take an active role in organising and gathering Catholics in the community, especially within their neighbourhoods, so that they may support one another spiritually and grow in Christ.

Eastern Catholicism

A fledgling Greek-Catholic community, dependent on the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic bishop of Melbourne, is also present.

A Syro-Malabar Catholic community in Singapore has been set up to cater to the growing Malayali diaspora. The Qurbana is celebrated at various Roman Catholic churches around the country: the Church of St. Antony in Woodlands, the Church of the Transfiguration in Punggol, the Church of St. Stephen in MacPherson, the Church of St. Mary of the Angels in Bukit Batok and St. Patrick's House Chapel in Bedok. All of these are only monthly, except that at St. Patrick's House Chapel. Only the Qurbana at the Church of St. Stephen is on Sunday, the rest are celebrated on Saturday.

Protestantism

Local Protestant denominations consist of: Anglicans, Methodists, Pentecostals, Baptists, Reformed (mostly Presbyterians and Dutch Reformed), Lutherans, and Evangelical Free Church. There are also nondenominational churches from the Churches of Christ, Plymouth Brethren, and Charismatic Christian traditions.

Anglicanism is represented in Singapore by the Diocese of Singapore, which has 26 parishes in Singapore, and is a part of the Church of the Province of South East Asia.

The Methodist Church in Singapore is the largest mainline Protestant denomination in the country, with some 45,000 members in 46 churches.

Pentecostalism has exerted a larger influence with the start of the charismatic movement in the 1970s. There are other organisations such as, Fei Yue Family Centres, Teen Challenge various community hospitals, and Beulah.

Prominent megachurches include New Creation Church, City Harvest Church and Faith Community Baptist Church, which count among Singapore's 10 largest charities, according to a report by The Straits Times in 2019.

The City Harvest Church Criminal Breach of Trust Case had involved the misappropriation of approximately S$50.6 million in church funds by church founder Kong Hee and five other key leaders in the church. It is the largest case of its kind in the history of Singapore, with Kong Hee and the other leaders ultimately found guilty and served prison sentences.

Oriental Orthodoxy

Oriental Orthodox churches in Singapore include the old Armenian Church which has a church building and newly appointed resident clergy. By the Pontifical Order of Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, Zaven Yazichyan, a member of the Brotherhood of Holy Etchmiadzin; has been appointed to serve as the spiritual pastor of Singapore, the Coptic Orthodox Church which meets in the Armenian Church, and the Syriac Orthodox Church; the latter two churches generally minister to the Coptic and Indian communities respectively.

There is also a large Malankara Orthodox presence in Singapore administering to the Keralite Diaspora, with services as St. Thomas Orthodox Syrian Cathedral.

Eastern Orthodoxy

Main article: Eastern Orthodox Metropolitanate of Singapore and South Asia, Patriarchal Exarchate in South-East Asia

In Singapore there is also a small but growing Eastern Orthodox congregation made up of ethnic Greeks, Georgians, Russians, Ukrainians and Indians, constituting a small minority in the local Christian population. In 2008, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople decided to split the Eastern Orthodox Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia (OMHKSEA) formed in 1996 into two, creating the Eastern Orthodox Metropolitanate of Singapore and South Asia, with jurisdiction over Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Timor, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan and Afghanistan. First Diocesan Bishop was appointed in 2011, when Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate elected Archimandrite Konstantinos (Tsilis) as the first Metropolitan of Singapore and South Asia. He was ordained by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople and resides in Singapore. The central parish in Singapore is served by Archimandrite Daniel Toyne.

On 28 December 2018, in response to the Ecumenical Patriarchate's actions in Ukraine, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to create "a Patriarchal Exarchate in Western Europe with the center in Paris", as well as "a Patriarchal Exarchate in South-East Asia [PESEA] with the center in Singapore." The "sphere of pastoral responsibility" of the PESEA is Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, North Korea, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Thailand. It is centered around the Diocese of Singapore, which also includes parishes in Malaysia, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea.

Nontrinitarianism

There are also various nontrinitarian congregations in Singapore, such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS, "Mormons") and the True Jesus Church. While these groups are recognised by the state, other groups have been subject to varying degrees of restriction, most notably the Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) and the Unification Church (UC, "Moonies"), who are deemed as cults.

Education and schools

A Pew Center study about religion and education around the world in 2016, found that between the various Christian communities, Singapore outranks other nations in terms of Christians who obtain a university degree in institutions of higher education (67%).

Anglican schools

• Anglican High School
• Christ Church Secondary School
• Saint Andrew's Junior School
• Saint Andrew's Secondary School
• Saint Andrew's Junior College
• Saint Hilda's Primary School
• Saint Hilda's Secondary School
• Saint Margaret's Primary School
• Saint Margaret's Secondary School

Methodist schools

• Anglo-Chinese School (Junior)
• Anglo-Chinese School (Primary)
• Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road)
• Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)
• Anglo-Chinese Junior College
• Anglo-Chinese School (International)
• Fairfield Methodist Primary School
• Fairfield Methodist Secondary School
• Geylang Methodist Primary School
• Geylang Methodist Secondary School
• Methodist Girls' School
• Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' School (Primary)
• Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' School (Secondary)

Presbyterian schools

• Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Primary School
• Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School
• Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary School
• Presbyterian High School

Roman Catholic schools

• Assumption English School
• Assumption Pathway School
• Canossa Catholic Primary School
• Canossian Convent Kindergarten
• Canossian School for the Hearing-Impaired
• Catholic High School
• Catholic Junior College
• Catholic Kindergarten
• CHIJ Katong (Primary)
• CHIJ Katong Convent
• CHIJ Kellock Primary
• CHIJ Our Lady of Good Counsel
• CHIJ Our Lady Queen of Peace
• CHIJ Our Lady of the Nativity
• CHIJ Primary (Toa Payoh)
• CHIJ Saint Nicholas Girls' School
• CHIJ Saint Joseph's Convent
• CHIJ Saint Theresa's Convent
• CHIJ Secondary School (Toa Payoh)
• De La Salle School
• Good Shepherd Kindergarten
• Hai Sing Catholic School
• Holy Innocents' High School
• Holy Innocents' Primary School
• Magdalene's Kindergarten
• Maris Stella Kindergarten
• Maris Stella High School
• Marymount Convent School
• Montfort Junior School
• Montfort Secondary School
• Nazareth Centre Kindergarten
• St Anthony's Canossian Primary School
• St Anthony's Canossian Secondary School
• St Anthony's Primary School
• St Gabriel's Primary School
• St Gabriel's Secondary School
• Saint Joseph's Institution
• Saint Joseph's Institution Junior
• Saint Joseph's Institution International School
• Saint Patrick's School

Inter-faith

Singapore is a society of diverse religious traditions. The Declaration of Religious Harmony, which was published in 2003, is a seminal document, which the National Council of Churches of Singapore supported and helped create. On 3 September 2008, the sociologist and Pentecostal pastor, Mathew Mathews, who was named a visiting fellow of the Sociology department at the National University of Singapore, interviewed 183 Singaporean clergy. From these interviews he formed the opinion that the Christian clergy in many parts of Singapore were wary of inter-faith dialogue. He claimed that nearly 50% of clergy believe that inter-faith dialogue compromises their own religious convictions. He presented his paper to the Institute of Public Studies (Singapore) in a forum they organised on 2 September 2008.

References

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