Perth’s Burmese Catholics raise whopping $25,000 for Cathedral.
By Anthony Barich
Archbishop Barry Hickey praised Perth’s Burmese Catholic Community for its strength of faith and for promoting a prayerful family environment.
The Archbishop made the comments during a June 7 thanksgiving Mass at St Mary’s Church Leederville for the Burmese Catholic Community raising $25,138.30 at an April 12 dinner dance fundraiser for St Mary’s Cathedral by charging 1200 people $15 a head.
The food at the fundraiser was entirely contributed by families of the community. One person alone contributed 65kg of pork – and cooked it; another provided 1200 pieces of chicken as the guests at the dinner dance were treated to chicken, pork, beef, egg and vegetable dishes cooked in Burmese style.
The Archbishop said that communities like the Burmese, who have left a coutry in which religious belief is persecuted, are a sign of hope for the future in Australia.
“Looking at society, I see young Catholics not going to Mass, not going anywhere in life, even not believing in God; I see laws passed contrary to the Gospel,” the Archbishop said.
“Then I see Burmese people from a country of faith, where prayer and family life is strong, who have brought it here. It is a sign of hope against secularism.
“When there are strong numbers, where you pass on the faith to your children, the Church will remain strong.”
He urged the Burmese families gathered at St Mary’s Church to continue saying prayers in their families, and take them to Mass, especially while their children are still little, to strengthen them to avoid pressures that would lead them away from the faith later in life, so they can grow in the faith.
The Burmese Catholic Community, which prayed a prayer for vocations in Burmese during the Mass, meets once a month at St Mary’s Church, though many more – some 300 families – are scattered around the Archdiocese of Perth.
The Mass was concelebrated by Burmese priests based in Western Australia – Frs Richard Ye Mynt, Noel Htun Latt, Joseph Kum Htoi and Ossie Lewis, the chaplain of the Burmese Catholic Community and parish priest of Leederville.
The Burmese Catholic Community embraced the sung Latin responses during the thanksgiving Mass, held on the feast of the Blessed Trinity, as Latin was still used in the liturgy before many of them migrated to Australia.
Richard Anthony, secretary of the Burmese Catholic Community, said that his community’s example shows what can easily be done by other ethnic communities in bonding and faith-building.