About Us

The year 1786 marks a significant milestone in the history of the Church in Malaya and Penang. That year saw the appointment of Mgr Garnault as the new Vicar Apostolic of the Vicariate of Siam and Kedah. Committed to strengthening the Church’s presence, he visited the four established Christian communities in the southern part of the Vicariate. Notably, Mgr Garnault became the first parish priest of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Penang.

Beginning in 1810, the Church’s influence expanded steadily southward from Penang, extending beyond the Malayan Peninsula and reaching into Singapore, which was formally attached to the Mission of Siam in 1821.

In 1841, the Mission of Siam was reorganized, and its southern territories—comprising Singapore, Malacca, Penang, Mergui, and Tavoy (the latter two now part of Myanmar)—were officially established as the Vicariate of Malaya.

Another defining moment came in 1888, when the Apostolic Vicariate of Malaya was elevated to become the Diocese of Malacca. Evangelisation efforts also gained traction in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan. The earliest church in the southern states of Malaya, the Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Seremban, was completed in 1848.

Later, in 1883, the Church of St. John the Evangelist was established and went on to become the Cathedral and “Mother Church” of what would become the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur.

The year 1955 marked a significant new chapter in the history of the Church in Malaya–Singapore. That year, the old Diocese of Malacca was reorganized into a new ecclesiastical province, comprising an Archdiocese with two suffragan dioceses. 

The newly established Diocese of Kuala Lumpur encompassed four central states on the Peninsula—Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, and Terengganu—with Bishop Dominic Vendargon appointed as its first bishop in August 1955. The second suffragan, the Diocese of Penang, included six states in the northern region of the peninsula.

In 1972, a pivotal restructuring took place: Singapore ceased to be a metropolitan See, and the states of Malacca and Johor were separated from it to form the new Diocese of Malacca–Johor, which became a suffragan of Kuala Lumpur. That same year, the Diocese of Kuala Lumpur was elevated to the status of an Archdiocese, with Penang and Malacca–Johor as its suffragan dioceses.

Archbishop Dominic Vendargon became the first Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur. He was succeeded in 1983 by Archbishop Anthony Soter Fernandez, who served until 2003. He was followed by Archbishop Murphy Pakiam, who retired in 2013, paving the way for Archbishop Julian Leow, who assumed office in 2014.