Migrant and Refugee Sunday was celebrated by the Marsfield Community on Sunday, 19th August which centred around the theme of ‘Multiculturalism’. The day began with Mass at 9am, the main celebrant was Fr. Francis Gerry, concelebrating with him were six of our confreres. The celebration was all about uniqueness and diversity, our unique gifts, talents and bringing together of cultures which was evident in the cultural programme that followed the Mass.
In his homily, Fr. Frank said “Here today, we wish to celebrate aspects of that God-given task -- the sharing of the multi-layered joy of song and dance, of food and dress, all of which celebrate the beauty, the goodness, and the variety of life and language that has come to this land, going all the way back to the first custodians of the land, our Indigenous People, who have blessed us and the land with their stories of dreamtime.” The Prayers of the Faithful were extra special as they were read in English and then translated into the language of the readers’ country of origin – Indonesian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Hindi, Singhalese and Italian.
There were dancers and singers from Vietnam, China, India, Philippines, Slovakia, Samoa and Indonesia – the beautiful costumes, the vibrant colours all had a story to share. The variety entertainment ended with a magic show for the children as well as a Piñata filled with candies. The fabulous lunch that followed was prepared by the different ethnic groups could not be matched by any 5-star catering company. The variety, the tastes, the smells – it was an exotic feast that everyone enjoyed and had the opportunity to sample food from so many different countries. There was that tangible feeling of joy, fellowship and appreciation of each other from different cultures and that feeling was everywhere and quickly spread in the strong winds that we experienced during the day.
There were more than 350 people who participated in this occasion including a bus load of parishioners from Macquarie Fields SVD Parish. The clean-up job at the end of the day was huge but the Rector of the Marsfield community rallied the troops and everything was spick and span for Monday morning.
By: Fr. Truc Quoc Phan SVD
