The Catholic Church in Perth is more diverse that ever.
By Robert Hiini
In the lead-up to migrant and refugee week (August 24-30) and a major national conference, the Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office (ACMRO) has produced a resources kit to help local Catholic parishes reflect on ways to welcome and support the migrants and refugees in their midst.
The kit, which is accessible at the catholic.org.au website, provides practical ideas for parish priests, ethnic chaplains, liturgists and teachers to help celebrate the week, providing text for daily prayer services for each day of the week culminating in homily notes for Migrant and Refugee Sunday on August 30.
It builds on the theme given to the week by Pope Benedict XVI in his message for the 95th World Day of Migrants and Refugees – "St Paul as migrant, Apostle of the peoples" – in which he describes St Paul as "a migrant by vocation" who took the message of Christ to a multiplicity of peoples and cultures.
"Today too the message of salvation must be presented with the same approach as that of the Apostle to the Gentiles, taking into account the different social and cultural situations and special difficulties of each one as a consequence of his or her condition as a migrant or itinerant person" the Pope wrote.
"I express the wish that every Christian community may feel the same apostolic zeal."
This year, migrant and refugee week will precede the second national conference on the pastoral care of migrants and refugees ever convened in Australia.
It will take place in Sydney from October 28-29 with a special session reserved for migrant chaplains on October 27.
Attendees will have an opportunity to contribute to the final preparation of a national plan for the pastoral care of migrants and refugees with ethnic chaplain coordinators throughout the country to provide details of the local plans they have been preparing.
The move to develop a national pastoral plan came in response to Erga migrantes caritas Christi (The Love of Christ towards migrants) – a 2004 instruction issued by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People.
The instruction recognises the exponential increase in migration in recent decades and urges the whole Church and local communities to develop a welcoming culture, acceptance of groups celebrating liturgy in their own languages and inclusion and integration of migrants over time.
"The entire Church in the host country must feel concerned and engaged regarding immigrants," the instruction says.
"This means that local Churches must rethink pastoral care, programming it to help the faithful live their faith authentically in today’s new multicultural and pluri-religious context."
In Australia, the instruction spurred the first national conference on the pastoral care of migrants and refugees in 2005 and the creation of a local framing document – Graced by Migration – for the eventual development of a national pastoral plan.
The situation in Perth
Fr Blasco Fonseca, Vicar for Migrants and Parish of East Fremantle, says that many migrants and refugees to Western Australia face common hurdles in communication and finding employment – particularly if the person doesn’t fit into the category of skilled migrant – as well as suffering from isolation and loneliness.
Whereas migration of some ethnic groups to Australia such as the Italians and Croatians has receded or effectively stopped, the number of migrants from southeast Asia and Africa is increasing.
The influx of muslims and persons from the Middle East has posed a particular challenge to migrant ministry because of a dearth of chaplains from that region.
Fr Blasco plays a coordinating and problem solving role for Perth’s network of chaplain priests and Religious ministering to 13 different ethnic groups celebrating Mass in their own language.
He says that social services for migrants are provided by other Church agencies such as Centacare and the Edmund Rice Centre for Social Justice amongst others as well by local and state government and concerned community groups.
Fr Blasco says that the gifts migrants bring vary from community to community pointing to the contribution Italians made to building and infrastructure from the 1950s onwards.
He says that the issue of incorporating the cultural practice of migrants into liturgy remains a vexing one with the trend in official teaching from the 1980s onwards, favouring what he describes as "unity and uniformity" rather than the "unity in plurality" that he would like to see flourishing. He recounted to The Record a Eucharistic liturgy in Botswana that he found profoundly moving where he was directed to process into the church on a horse-drawn cart while local music and dance ensued lasting up to 30 minutes – a celebration he described as "incredibly joyous and welcoming."
For Migrant and Refugee Sunday, he has invited the Memories of Africa choir – made up of migrants from Zimbabwe and Zambia amongst other African destinations – to provide music for the 8.30am Mass at his parish in East Fremantle.
He says he looks forward to the upcoming national conference and further public discussion and awareness of the mission of the Church in Australia to, amongst and with migrants and refugees.
How did you celebrate Migrant and Refugee Sunday? Send us your photos and let readers of The Record know about your community (photos must be larger than 800kb to be usable).
The changing face of the Church in Perth
Perth’s ethnic communities form the lifeblood of the Church.
Indonesians
About 150 Indonesian migrants attend their own Sunday Mass at St Benedict’s, Applecross, each week. They produce 250 copies of a monthly magazine to keep the Indonesian community informed and provide faith education through spiritual articles. Spiritual life is nurtured with a monthly devotion to the Divine Mercy and weekly meetings of the Marian Movement and Charismatic groups. Young people of highschool age and university age participate in the choir. The young adults have their own bible and theology study group. For more information about the Western Australian Indonesian Catholic Community see their website www.waicc.org.au
Chinese
About 80 attend Chinese Mass each Sunday. There have been two bible study groups, one each for the Cantonese and Mandarin dialects. The Focolare movement has a group of 20 who meet monthly and the Scripture study group organises a yearly weekend study with facilitators from east Asia. An Easter Fellowship meal and the celebration of the Chinese New Year are two major activities of the community. A monthly magazine is produced and circulated for the community’s benefit.
Polish
A total of 600 attend a Polish Mass in four parishes throughout Perth each Sunday. The celebration of the Feast of Corpus Christi, with a procession and stational altars set up around the parking area in front of the Maylands Parish Church, attracts a large crowd. Eastern European tradition is followed on Holy Saturday night with the popular blessing ritual of the food and Easter eggs. The church community at Maylands, where the Polish club is also situated, has been active and its life intertwined with that club. There are a number of young adults amongst the Mass attendees and the youth drama group has been active, staging a yearly Christmas drama. The young have a couple of picnics during the year. The Polish chaplains organise an annual three-day retreat for the church youth. A preacher is invited annually from Poland for a retreat held at the Maylands centre. A bible study group and a Rosary group meet regularly.
Vietnamese
The Vietnamese congregate in at the Vietnamese Catholic Community Centre in Westminster. They are one of the most active of all the communities. They contributed generously to buying spacious facilities for their community Mass and activities. For the 2008 World Youth Day they flew a total of 155 pilgrims to Sydney. Over two nights at the Chinese New Year celebration 1600 cakes were donated and raised $5000. This spells involvement and participation. Food donations and sales have been a regular feature in the community’s fundraising. It is comforting to know that the Vietnamese keep up the devotional practices and traditions which were popular in their home country, namely, the month of May procession in honour of Our Lady, the feast of the Vietnamese Martyrs, the Chinese New Year celebration which goes on for 4 days, the Chinese Moon Festival in September. A Father’s Day dinner is also one of the highlights of the year. About 600 people attend each major day and many more join in at Christmas and Easter. Probably as a result of the history of the constrained and persecuted Church in Vietnam during the Communist era a great effort is put into youth pastoral activities. Youth are taught catechism each Saturday (with registered numbers over 250) and there’s fun and games in the playground to go with it. They are taken on a 3-day camp in December. The Cursillo movement has been active. Attention is given to a couples’ program as is done in Vietnam and a guest speaker is brought in yearly from outside Perth to conduct a seminar.
Croatians
Two hundred and fifty attend services at the main North Fremantle centre in the southern part of Perth and 150 people attend at Balcatta Parish in the northern suburbs. The Feast of St Anne in the latter half of July is the big celebration of the year with a singing competition held at the Croatian club adjacent to the church facility. The feast attracts the younger members. It has been going on for 22 years. The chaplain spends time preparing a weekly radio program for the Croatians who want to tune in to news of Croatia as well as local religious happenings.
Portuguese
One hundred and fifty attend Mass on Sundays at the Portuguese Centre in Beaconsfield Parish. They hail mainly from Madeira. Several of the patronal feasts in the Madeira tradition are celebrated with mini committees responsible for each feast. Two annual street processions celebrate the feasts of Our Lady of Fatima. During the months of May and October devotions are held in the church culminating in a well-attended celebratory Mass with an attendance of over 300 people.
Italians
About 800 attend Sunday Masses offered in Italian by eight priests at the following parishes of Leederville, Morley, Midland, Northbridge, Highgate, Balcatta, Victoria Park Pro-cathedral and Fremantle. Some of these communities host the 12 annual feast day processions, dear to their hearts, their Italian roots. The biggest of these is the Sicilian one in honour of Our Lady of Tindari held in Fremantle in combination with the “Blessing of the Fleet” at the harbour. Local dignitaries and bishops grace the occasion. The reverent procession is a great “show of the flag” through the streets of Fremantle. Three Italian clubs are favourite meeting points for the older generation, providing social activities and meals and also offering facilities for prayer groups. Some of the Eight prayer Cenacles have met in these clubs. A couple of aged care homes for Italians in the northern and southern suburbs allow for spiritual care for those who have sought a Catholic atmosphere. For several years a radio program has been aired weekly for the Italian community by one of the chaplains.
Burmese
The Burmese come together once a month at Leederville Parish on a Sunday evening where a Burmese priest leads the Mass for the 120 or so who attend. A novena has been held at the end of each August for the past 25 years in honour of Our Lady of Good Health at Embleton Parish. Fervent devotions accompany festivities with a procession on the novena’s final day – the Feast of the Birthday of Our Lady – contributing to fraternity and solidarity. The Burmese reach out to the Missions in their home-country with a yearly raffle. Proceeds are sent to various bishops, priests and nuns who seek assistance for their projects. Generous giving at a dinner-dance earlier this year raised $25,000 for the completion of St Mary’s Cathedral.
Hispanics
Mass in Spanish is offered every weekend in the Northbridge and Mosman Park Parishes with about 100 attendees at the latter and 35 at the former. A coffee with bring-a-plate snacks after Mass provides the opportunity for people coming from various parts of the city to be together. Many of those at Mosman Park are originally from El Salvador. Consequently, the community has a small celebration on El Salvador national day. Many in the Northbridge group are involved in Marriage Encounter and charismatic prayer.
Filipino
The Filipino community is spread out over Perth and has been growing recently with migrants accessing the skilled migration program. A group of about 50 people attend a monthly Mass in Tagalog on a Sunday afternoon at Northbridge Parish and have an agape meal together after each Mass. The big event for the whole community is the Santo Nino festival on a Sunday in January. During the year about ten prayer groups of varying sizes are active both north and south of the river, meeting weekly or monthly. “Padre Pio”, “Alliance of Two Hearts”, “Immaculate Conception” “Couples for Christ” carry a ‘flavour’ of groups in the Philippines. Retreats and “Life in the Spirit” Seminars are part of the spiritual activity.
Ukranians
The Ukranian church in Maylands is served by Fr Wolodymyr Kalinecki who came from Melbourne several years ago and a pastoral worker, Sr Muriel Zemliak SSMI, from a Ukrainian community in Canada. The weekly congregation comprises approximately 75 people. A special feature of the church’s life are the liturgies in Lent and Holy Week. The community takes on a festive character with the “Blessing of the Food” ceremony on Holy Saturday. Vespers are now sung every Saturday evening. A special feature in the life of the parish last year was an ”Open Day” on the Church’s history and traditions, advertised and reported in The Record.
Sudanese
The group meet in a multipurpose building provided by the diocese which was formerly used by another community. The congregation of roughly 100 is composed of people who have come to Australia as refugees. A catechist who prepares people for the sacraments is a big help for the chaplain who has also been entrusted with duties in a parish. The lively drum-beating choir has been a prominent feature of the community’s Sunday worship. They have also sung by invitation in some other churches. Thirty children practice as a dance group. The Legion of Mary group meets weekly and does some visitation. Likewise seven who participate in a bible study group. The celebration days for the community are Saint Bakhita’s day and the Hero Day of the southern Sudanese liberation struggle leader.
Maltese
Maltese Catholics are mainly concentrated in the Bassendean area (also home to the Maltese Association). Last Sunday, they had a community Mass to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption which is intimately connected with Malta owing to the special graces the country is said to have received during the Second World War and during the siege 1565.
They celebrate Mass together occasionally with social meetings every Friday at the Maltese Association’s clubhouse.
Fledgling communities
Around 80 – 100 Koreans meet for Mass in the parish of Myaree for weekly Mass with their chaplain Fr Joseph Lee. A newly-formed Congolese community meets for Mass every weekend at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Nollamara with their chaplain Fr Jean Kabwika Kambana, led by their president Pierre Luboya.