By Anthony Barich
THE Malaysian Singaporean Catholic Community of Australia (MSCCA) is helping activate Archbishop Barry Hickey’s vision of the Church to be more akin to the original Christian communities in Rome.
The Archbishop said he “completely endorsed” the aims and objectives,
all past, present and future events that the MSCCA would organise with
the aim of continuously sponsoring youth, particularly
Malaysian/Singaporean youth and the underprivileged to attend and
participate in World Youth Days, including next month’s in Madrid,
Spain. He told the gathering – including people from Albany, Narrogin, Bunbury, Mandurah and Katanning – that the MSCCA’s vision of supporting people in need is “fundamental” to the Church’s essential calling.
Inspired by the vision of Fr Roy Pereira, the MSCCA evolved from the sole focus on youth to a broader vision of deepening, strengthening and nourishing the Catholic faith within and amongst the Malaysia-Singaporean community.
“I have a vision of the early Christian communities in Roman cities, made up of all kinds of people – Greeks, Jews, slaves and travellers – held together by Christ with a common principle of loving one another, ensuring nobody in their community was left lonely or suffering,” Archbishop Hickey told 320 people at a 2 July “Holywood Night” fundraiser at the Perth Convention Centre.
While not-for-profit agencies supported by the Catholic Church often depend on government funding, the Archbishop said that the ideal vision of the Church is to form communities where its members have the conviction that, as a family, nobody is left out or suffers.
This vision, he said, is the practical manifestation of Christ’s “challenging” command to “love one another”. “In rubbish dumps around the world, there are Christians who befriend people, preserve their dignity and find help. The Christian tradition is therefore alive and well in the world today,” he said.
The spirit to do this comes from Christ, he said, as His command was that, “whatever you do for the least of these, you do it to Me”.
“When we contemplate this command, we have no alternative but to be active and do something,” the Archbishop said.
“Fr Roy is doing that by building resources to help underprivileged people.”
Also present at the fundraiser were members of the Archdiocesan Daydawn Advocacy Centre, an agency named after a small “ghost town” near Mount Magnet that used to be a thriving gold mining centre.The Archbishop said the creation of Daydawn was the result of his concern for Indigenous Australians in the city of Perth, adding that the agency has had “enormous success” in “battling against huge bureaucratic difficulties”.
Daydawn is an initiative on behalf of Indigenous people, especially Nyoongar people of south-west WA, whose rights and legitimate aspirations are often difficult to attain. It is an act of solidarity for those who suffer disadvantage or rejection. The Centre also promotes the full inclusion of Aboriginal people in the life, worship, education and spirit-filled community of the Church at every level. In this, it works closely with the Catholic Aboriginal Ministry.
Fr Roy said the MSCCA’s ministry for youth and the disadvantaged is often “difficult, tedious and time constraining”, but “God has not finished with us yet”. “How can we sleep at night knowing that children are going hungry on the street? It’s a continuous challenge to give children a chance, to do something for humanity,” Fr Roy said.