St.Mark’s Multicultural Mass 2022
Archbishop Mark Coleridge was the Principal Celebrant of the annual Multicultural mass at St Mark’s Inala on Sunday 23rd October. To acknowledge the traditional custodians of our land Uncle Eric from Ngutana Lui Centre opened the Mass with a “Welcome to Country”. The Gathering Hymn, our St. Mark’s Hymn and several other hymns for this special occasion were composed or arranged by Kay Hartwig, our Music Director. Samoan, Vietnamese and Filipino choirs all joyfully contributed to the liturgy.
Our Parish Priest, Father Boni Buahendri welcomed everybody, including the visiting dignitaries: the Hon Milton Dick MP, Ken Huynh the President of the Brisbane Vietnamese Catholic Community and his wife Mary and Holy Spirit Sisters. Celebrants and special guests were all honoured with colourful fresh leis made by our Samoan parishioners.
Readings and prayers in Tagalog (Philippines), Vietnamese, Rwandan, Sri Lankan and Samoan languages reflected the many different communities of St Mark’s Parish. The Samoan Youth added greatly to the festive atmosphere with their solemn traditional presentation of the Word of God and the lively Procession of the Gifts.
The Archbishop’s homily acknowledged that even in our diversity, we are all united in finding and making our home at St. Mark’s, Australia.
Following the mass, a colourful liturgical dance by children of our Vietnamese community honoured Mary and delighted everyone, bringing forth a burst of applause. Smiles broke out as the Archbishop showed his gratitude to St. Mark’s by saying ‘thank you’ in several of the represented languages before giving the solemn blessing to conclude.
