By Anthony Barich
The baptism of a baby boy born in detention in Sydney has signalled a new life for a Sri Lankan refugee family who arrived illegally by boat as asylum seekers.
Risen – so called as he was born 7 April, the Wednesday after Easter Sunday – was baptised on 12 September by Jesuit Fr Sacha Bermudez-Goldman, director of the Jesuit Refugee Service, at St Canice’s Church, a Jesuit parish in Sydney harbourside suburb Kings Cross.
The baby’s godparent, also a Tamil Sri Lankan who arrived in Australia 27 years ago, is now helping to have baptised the baby of a Hindu couple – from the same village as Risen’s parents – who made a promise to Our Lady to convert if they arrived safely to Australia.
Risen was born at St George Hospital in Sydney under security to ensure the family would not try to escape after his mother went into labour when she and her husband were in detention at Villawood Immigration Residential Housing in Sydney.
His father was given special permission to spend a few days with his family at the hospital. A source told The Record that the authorities were “very compassionate” towards the family in their difficult circumstances.
The family returned to Villawood a few days after the birth, but have since been granted permanent residency and released.
The couple, who prefer not to be named, had been in detention for a year, including eight months at Christmas Island Immigration Detention Facility – located 1,600 miles north of WA – which in April exceeded its official capacity of 2,040 after a number of boats had been intercepted on their way to Australia.
They also spent four months prior to the birth in detention at Villawood, which has been a flashpoint for the Federal Government’s controversial asylum-seeker detention policy this week.
On 21 September, officials from the UN High Commission for Refugees persuaded 11 asylum seekers to climb down from a roof where they had staged a 30-hour sit-in protest. Some had threatened to throw themselves off and had to be restrained by fellow protesters, while others cut themselves, The Australian reported.
Sydney Australian Tax Office worker Tarcisius Matthias, who migrated from Sri Lanka 27 years ago, agreed with his wife to be Risen’s godparents after his local Toongabbie parish secretary contacted him and said a recently released refugee couple needed godparents for their baby.
Tarcisius, 66, told The Record that the baby’s parents befriended a Hindu family on the boat trip from the same village who “pledged to Our Lady back in Sri Lanka that they would become Catholics if Mary gave them safe journey to Australia”.
Tarcisius – the eldest of six whose younger brother is a diocesan priest back in Sri Lanka and whose late uncle was a Benedictine priest – is now helping them organise to have the Hindu family’s baby baptised and then the parents.
Risen’s father, an electrician by trade, now works two jobs, in a restaurant with the Hindu family’s father and in a carwash. He plans to re-train in his field of expertise, while Risen’s mother will start English lessons when he is six months old.
Tarcisius, a Tamil, said his involvement helping other Sri Lankan refugees has been rewarding, and he will begin visiting more at Villawood after he retires within the next year, as it is less then 30 minutes’ drive from where he lives.
“I consider it as a gift from God. It’s an honour’, said Matthias of being Risen’s godparent. “You can help people with zero dollars. You just need to give your time.” His wife Matilda told Province Express Jesuit online journal that while “we came on a plane … these people came on a boat. You have to really suffer to take that kind of risk.”
Tarcisius, who has been involved in the Tamil Community Catholic Association since its inception in 1991, told The Record that Risen’s parents’ boat trip was “hazardous”, having stopped on an island on the way for “mechanical repairs”.