SARAWAK, APOSTOLIC PREFECTURE OF. - It is located in the southwestern part of British Borneo.
The territories of S., Brunei, North Borneo and the Island of Labuan on 27 Aug. 1855 were erected into a prefecture under the name of Labuan and North Borneo. Its first apostolic prefect was the Spanish priest Fr. Carlos Cuarterón, who in 1879 left the mission to return to his homeland. In 1881 the fathers of the Society of St. Joseph of Mill-Hill arrived in British Borneo to take charge of the same prefecture, where they still work today. On 5 Feb. 1927 the mission was divided into the two prefectures of S. and Northern Borneo, which on 14 Feb. 1952 were elevated to apostolic vicariates, of Kuching and of Jesselton respectively. On the same date, the territory of Brunei was detached from the vicariate of Jesselton and annexed to that of Kuching. The region of S. in 1946 obtained the legal status of "British Crown Colony" and is administered by a British governor. It comprises an area of 130,000 sq km and a population of 546,000 inhabitants. It is divided into five administrative divisions, each of which is presided over by a British "resident". The same divisions, in turn, are subdivided into districts, headed by a "district officer".
According to the Prospectus Status Missionis, 1950-51, there are 13,755 Catholics and 3,189 catechumens; 27 priests, of whom one is indigenous; 5 brothers; 54 sisters, both foreign and native; 6 minor seminarians. The construction of the seminary is about to be completed. There are 39 catechists; 132 teachers; 3 hospitals; 3 dispensaries; 1 orphanage; 1 home for the elderly; 47 elementary schools; 2 middle schools. This mission has suffered considerable damage because of the war, but the zeal of the Mill-Hill Fathers was able to accomplish the work of reconstruction very soon and to impart to the missionary movement a fair degree of progress.
Bibliography5 works
Edoardo Pecoraio