Inclement weather didn’t dampen enthusiasm or spirits at the inaugural ethnic chaplaincies’ festival for Auckland diocese on the weekend of October 1-2.
Held at Sancta Maria College and St Luke’s parish in Flat Bush in east Auckland, the festival featured activities, cultural performances, and stalls selling an assortment of delicious food from around the world. On October 2, a festival Mass was celebrated at a packed St Luke’s church.
Principal celebrant at the Mass, Auckland diocese vicar-general Msgr Bernard Kiely, noted that, in welcoming people, Auckland diocese vicar for Maori Manuel Beazley had earlier made mention of Bishop Jean-Baptiste Pompallier celebrating the first Mass on New Zealand soil in the Hokianga in 1838.
“I wonder what he would think if he [the bishop] was standing here today,” Msgr Kiely said at the start of the Mass, which could be viewed on Shine TV. “He would see how multicultural our Church has become.”
In his homily, Msgr Kiely spoke of Christ’s command to go to the ends of the earth and preach the Gospel. “How amazing when we think that we are at the ends of the earth, here giving thanks and praise to God.”
“Our ancestors in the faith arrived here – and some of you are the new arrivals – for various reasons, leaving homelands and all that was comfortable and familiar, with a heart full of hope, and a dream for something new and hopefully greater in this land.
“In many ways, we acknowledge that today – the richness of what it means to be a part of this land, peoples of this land, acknowledging our unique history and the pathways that unite us.”
Msgr Kiely said that there were more cultures at the Mass than he dared name, for fear of leaving anybody out.
Several ethnic chaplaincy choirs sang at various parts of the Mass. Some responses and songs were in the languages of the chaplaincies. During the first and second readings, the English words were projected onto the walls.
After Communion, the chairperson of the Ethnic Chaplaincies Rise Up Festival Committee, Dame Miriam Batucan, thanked the many chaplaincies which had contributed to the festival – such as the Brazilian, Chinese, Kiribati, Filipino, Fijian, Vietnamese, Tongan, Cook Islands, Indonesian, Samoan, Korean chaplaincies and the Rotuma community, as well as Whanau Tapu parish.
Dame Miriam said that the chaplaincies had risen up, and had built each other up.
“The combined efforts of all of us have made for a tremendous success of this first gathering of ethnic chaplaincies of the Catholic Diocese of Auckland. We believe that this will be an event we will be looking forward to each and every year,” she said.
Dame Miriam announced that the best stall trophy went to the Leyte-Samar group of the Auckland Catholic Filipino Chaplaincy.
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