Cameron Highlands Catholic Community: Chapel of the Sacred Heart, Ringlet, Bertam Valley

By Therese Clare Tan Yi-Ling

The Chapel of the Sacred Heart is located in the small town of Ringlet, Bertam Valley, Cameron Highlands.  Growing up, my father had lived in Ringlet; in December 2017, I had revisited Ringlet with my father and he had taken me around the small town, pointing out and reminiscing about the sights that were so familiar to him in his childhood.

One of these familiar sights that had left an impression on my non-Catholic father was the Catholic Chapel of the Sacred Heart. In December 2017, it remained a very modest wooden structure (see photo on the left directly below) that did not seem to differ very much in spirit or in truth from the touching humility of the historical Chapel (see photo on the right directly below).

What touched me very fundamentally about the Chapel of the Sacred Heart, other than its very humble and modest architectural ‘bones’, is the quiet resilience and tenacity of the Cameron Highlands Catholic community in simply remaining faithful and staying ‘present’ in the small town of Ringlet. We had bumped into a local church member when we strolled around the Chapel on a week day, and had learnt anecdotally from him that the wooden planks which made up the modest building had come from the very trees in or near Ringlet itself, and that the church members had literally helped to build their physical church.

Gazing with awe at the seemingly fragile Chapel (more photos on page 2), I was reminded once more, of the very intimate, spiritual as well as historical link between this physical church and its members (the Body of Christ, as it were). The Chapel of the Sacred Heart is not architecturally grand but it is more than sufficiently ‘of’ the Body of Christ, having been built and manifested through the actual efforts (and hands) of its church members, both past and present.

In contrast to the very privileged Catholic parishes in Singapore with our multiple daily and weekend Masses, the humble Chapel of the Sacred Heart only has one Mandarin Mass each month (at least that was the case in December 2017, and as far as I understand it, still the case now). Even the modern and main Catholic Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the bigger town of Tanah Rata in Cameron Highlands (see photos directly below) also had just the one English Mass each Sunday (again, as far as I know).

Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Tanah Rata (December 2017)

Ultimately, the Chapel of the Sacred Heart in Ringlet, Cameron Highlands impressed on me the sheer preciousness and privilege of the Eucharist for many Catholic communities in our neighbouring Asian countries, and once again, how truly blessed the Catholic communities in Singapore are, to have the Eucharist and the Mass so close and so within our reach daily. The intimate presence and availability of Christ to all the baptised in the Eucharist is certainly something we ought to remember not to ever take for granted; nor should we ever hesitate or be ashamed or fearful to go to our God for the unconditional forgiveness and solace that we know only He can avail us.

Brief Note on the History of the Cameron Highlands Catholic Community

It was not until 1935 that the Catholic faith took root more firmly in the Cameron Highlands, and more precisely in the town of Tanah Rata. In fact, it had taken 15 years for the Convent of Our Lady at Tanah Rata to become a reality. The story goes that three Paris Foreign Missions Society (MEP) priests, namely Fr. Fourgs, Fr.  Perissoud and Fr. Devals, had hiked from the town of Ringlet to select a site for the Convent. In doing so, the priests had to trudge arduously through the undeveloped jungle of the Highlands before arriving at Tanah Rata.  The MEP Fathers’ journey concluded when one of them, Fr. Fourgs fell into the stream just below the site that was finally chosen and actually broke his collar bone. This unfortunate though perhaps fortuitous incident led to the priests making arrangements for a large part of the mountain side to be carved and levelled, thus effectively laying the foundations for the building of the Catholic Church in the Cameron Highlands. 

This very first Convent of Our Lady is now the SK Convent Primary school, one of the elite schools in Cameron Highlands. The present Catholic Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Tanah Rata continues to be the focal point for the closely knit Catholic community in Cameron Highlands, together with the other smaller Mass centres of the Highlands, namely the Chapel of the Sacred Heart (in Ringlet) and the Chapel of Christ the King (in Kampung Raja).

(Above Note has been compiled from the information available to the public at the present Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, in Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands, December 2017. Photos are taken by Therese Clare Tan Yi-Ling.)

Therese Clare loves writing and travelling. During her travels, she visits churches so as to learn more about diverse Christian communities and their inspiring histories.