The origins of St. Annes Parish can be traced back as early as 1833 when the Chinese and the Indians came to settle in Batu Kawan. At that time, Penang, Malacca and Singapore collectively known as the Straits Settlements were all under British colonial rule. A large number of the Chinese came to toil in the tin mines and the Indians, in the rubber and tea estates. Some worked on the roads and railways. Among these people were some Catholic families. From Batu Kawan, the Chinese and the Indian Catholics moved into Matang Tinggi, Machang Bubuk (formerly known as Pagar Teras)* and Bukit Mertajam (B.M.). In 1840, the Chinese Catholics settled at Bukit Mertajam foothill and worked in the farms.

French missionaries from Batu Kawan came to B.M. to gather the people for worship. They numbered about 190 Catholics then. Fr. Adolphe Couellan, MEP, the first visiting priest saw the need for a chapel and built one on the top of a hill, about two kilometers from B.M. town. From 1860 onwards the visiting priests came from Matang Tinggi.

With the increase in the Catholic population, a bigger chapel was built in 1865 by Fr. Maistre.  Four years later the first resident parish priest, Fr. Allard was assigned to the Parish. Fr. F.P. Sorin took over the Parish and served for fifteen years. He died on the Feast of St. Anne in July 1907 and was buried in the church he built.

Various Languages used in Church.

From the start, the parishes in the Penang dioceses were personal in nature and dominated by the English-speaking parishioners. English was the language of administration, participation and communication. In those days, the problem of integration of language groups was non-existent because Latin was used during the Liturgy and most of the people went to Church only for the liturgy. The different language groups were given their respective parish churches: Church of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows was for the Chinese-speaking: Church of St. Francis Xavier for the Tamil-speaking and Church of the Immaculate Conception and Assumption Church for the English-speaking. All these churches are on Penang Island.

St. Annes Parish has always been composed predominantly, though not exclusively, of Chinese Catholics. Until 1978, it was considered a Chinese-speaking Parish (personal parish). It was a sort of pastoral service centre. From here, the parish priest used to go and serve the needs of the Chinese Catholics in the neighbouring towns and as far as Alor Setar and Changlun in Kedah State.

 War Years (1914 1945)

 In 1914, the first local priest was assigned to the Parish: he was Fr. Michael Seet. He served as a pastor for twenty-four years. It was during his time that the Feast of St. Anne grew in popularity. In 1918, he invited the Bishop and the priests and the people of the neighbouring parishes to join in the feast of the Patroness of the Parish and they obliged. Gradually, this event attracted the attention of people far and wide. Thus, a tradition that survives even to this day was born.

Just before the war, Fr. Joachim Teng, took over the Parish. He remembers that his Chinese parishioners were mostly Hakka speaking and there were few Eurasians and Indians. He boughtsome land for the Church. Today, the Kim Sen Primary School and the present Parish Church stand on this site. In 1938, St. Marguerites Convent School was transferred to its present site. It was founded in 1934 by Reverend Mother St. Tarcisus, a French nun of the Holy Infant Jesus Order.

When the Second World War broke out, religious services were disrupted by the Japanese who occupied the Church land. Fr. Teng himself was arrested and jailed for three weeks. Upon his release, he went to Seremban where he stayed for ten months. During his absence, the Catholic Action Group, helped out in the church work. Fr. Teng returned to the Parish in 1946 when the situation became normal.

             Post-War Years (1946~1956)

 The treat of communism began to engulf the country after the war. It prompted the government to declare a state of emergency in 1948. Curfew, food rationing and other restrictions were imposed on the people. B.M. hill was often bombarded by the army as many suspected  communist terrorists hid there. The old Church grounds were declared out of bounds due to communist activities and so Church services had to be held in the Convent of I.J. Sisters.

 Building of new Church

 In order to control the insurgency problem, the town was divided by the British Government into black and white areas. The white areas were supposed to be clear of  communist elements. A new church had to be built in 1957 by Fr. Thomas Chin because the old one was situated in the black area. As a large number of  Chinese were suspected to be communist sympathisers by  the British Government they were relocated to new village created by the government. 

  The first half of the 20^th century was a period of consolidation, organisation  and institutionalisation of the Church in the country. In the beginning the number of clergy was very small, composed mostly of French missionaries.  After the war, the Chinese and other missionaries expelled from China came and joined the ranks of the native clergy. Apostolic movements of the laity began to flourish. The life of the Parish revolved around these movements. In St. Annes Parish, the Society of St. Vincent De Paul  and Legion of Mary were among the most active. The St. Vincent De Paul Society took care of the material needs of the people; the Legion of Mary, the spiritual. The Legionaries used to visit homes and hospitals, reminding Catholics of their Christian obligations. The Marist brothers were also asked in 1949 to take charge of Kim Sen School.

          Independence and Vatican II (1957 1970)

 The Federation of Malaya won its independence from British colonial rule in 1957. Tunku Abdul Rahman became the first Prime Minister of this new Confederation of States.  The new country established as a constitutional monarchy; has Islam as the official religion and Malay as the national language. In 1963 Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak joined the Federation to become Malaysia. Singapore left the federation in 1967. These political events wrought changes to the Malaysian way of life, culture and in turn religion.

This era was an historical one for the Catholic Church because of the Second Vatican Council. At the initiative of Pope John XXIII, about 2,000 people (members of the hierarchy, the laity and even non-Catholic) gathered in the VaticanCity in Rome to start the process of aggiornamento  (renewal) in the Church. The sessions lasted for three years and covered a wide range of topics.

         Consequences of Vatican II

 Soon the concept of Vatican II began to seep into the dioceses and Parishes. Changes in the liturgy were the most conspicious. Latin gave way to the vernacular or English. The non-English speaking parishioners suffered as a result of this change. Besides this, many of the Catholics were brought into the Pre-Vatican II model of the Church where the participation and responsibility of the laity were at the minimum. The priest made all the decisions and the faith of the people consisted mainly of devotional practices and had very little to do with their lives.

         Expansion (1970)

 Traditionally B.M. has always been a trading and transportation centre for goods coming from surrounding towns and even as far as Thailand. This is primarily because of its strategic location and facility of transport. The mid-70s saw the beginning of an economic boom for the country. New housing estates sprouted all over the country. Land and houses were cheap in B.M. As a result, there was an influx of new residents into the community. These two factors affected the lives of the residents especially in terms of their value system and inter-personal relationships.

In 1976, the Peninsular Malaysia Bishops and priests attended a month-long aggiornamento at the College General in Penang. In that meeting, they decided to build Basic Ecclesial Communities as the pastoral thrust of the Church. Two years later, the personal parishes were abolished in the diocese of Penang to give way to territorial parishes. This strategy was conceived for the purpose of better integrating the different language groups and to witness to unity in response to the growing racial polarisation of Malaysian society. Area groups which were supposed to develop into Basic Ecclesial Communities began to emerge. In 1976, for instance, Fr. L. Catel helped to form the Tamil Area Groups in the St. Annes Parish

         Towards The Centenary (1980-1989)

 The following decade saw more residents flocking into the area. New housing estates were opened due to the cheaper cost of land. Plans for the relocation of some government offices to the outskirts of the town pushed direction from the centre to the periphery. To top it all, the Penang Bridge linking the Island to the mainland was opened in 1985. It cut travelling time considerably and encouraged more mobillity among the population.

With the influx of people, the Catholic population also increased. The newcomers appeared to be English-educated and belonging mostly to the middle-income group. They started to get involved in the Parish activities too.

The country plunged into economic recession in the mid 1980s, people were retrenched as a consequence. Poverty crept into the lives of the citizens. This caused some strain and tension among families, making some shy away from area groups or even participation in Church. Some families felt isolated, unable to receive consolation and support from the area groups and from the faith.

In 1984, Fr. Augustine Wong was assigned to the Parish. Earlier Fr. Peter Pang had planned for a mission to be conducted by the Redemptorists but he left the Parish before the plan could be carried out. A few months after Fr. A. Wongs arrival to the Parish, the Redemptorists came to conduct the mission. The result of the mission was the formation of area groups for the English and Chinese-speaking.

In 1985, the parish priest organised the Parish Renewal Committee to implement the Parish Renewal Programme, a diocesan option for building the Basic Ecclesial Communities as the over-all renewal of the Parish. Steps were gradually taken to set up the programme which included the sending of one parishioner (Mr. Lazarus Anthony) to a seminar on the New I age of the Parish in Manila in August 1986. The method may be a sign of hope for a Parish so much in need of integration and unity.

In 1988, the Parish gave a face-lift to the Old Church for the Centennial celebration in 1989. The centenary of the church was celebrated in a truly stupendous manner with processions of floats and marching bands.