News from Emerald
18 July, 2024
Multicultural Mass Emerald
On Sunday the 14th July, the Emerald Catholic Community celebrated their diversity in the multicultural Mass.
Francie Hartley wrote the following piece inviting all from the different cultural backgrounds to celebrate and share their riches before God and with each other.
Our Parish is a vital Christian community enriched by its diversity. We are proud of our Parish family that gathers many nationalities. St Patrick’s is a place all enjoy each other’s company, where there is no distinction between race, colour, language or heritage, where we are accepted for who we are.
Multicultural celebrations bring us all together to perform, share, taste, listen, learn and acknowledge that, while we may come from different cultures, we all belong to the St Patrick’s Parish family and we all love living in the Central Highlands. We respect each other, we celebrate each other’s gifts and we support one another.
Celebrating diversity encourages social cohesion and mutual understanding through the sharing of different cultural experiences such as dance, music, costume and food. Life for people of different cultures is not easy but our common faith in Jesus will be the strongest power to unite us. We are all different but we will be able to live and endure because Jesus rules and renews us as His Church (Mission Prayer Handbook 1999).
Multicultural day is not only a time for celebration, it is also a time for reflection on our Parish’s success as a multicultural community and the role we all play in helping to ensure our society is welcoming and inclusive. “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’” Luke 13:24-25 (NIV)
Jesus invites us all to follow him. But he stresses that there is no easy way to enter into the kingdom, no free entry tickets – we must follow him on his journey of giving ourselves in service to others. That, Jesus’ way, is the narrow door. The many who ‘will try to enter and will not be able’, will be those who want to enter without following Jesus’ way, without the struggle, without the sacrifices, without love and generosity. They want, perhaps expect, a free pass.
Some may believe that they just have to ‘hang out’ with Jesus. They are like the people who say, ‘We ate and drank with you, you taught in our streets’. Perhaps they say, ‘I went to church, I said my prayers!’ or, ‘I and all my family have always been Catholics!’ Jesus tells us that that is not sufficient, that we must give our lives in love for others as he did, that we must enter the struggle to make the world a better place, to build up the kingdom of God. The door is narrow. If we do not walk with Jesus we will not find it by ourselves.
Confirmation
In Emerald in July, forty-one children received their Sacrament of Confirmation. Unfortunately, Bishop Michael could not attend due to illness. Fr Francois conferred the Sacrament.
Cameron and Abigail and all the students.
