Multicultural Office

HARMONY DAY

As we became accustomed to COVID restrictions and their impact on our lives, the Multicultural Office began to look beyond its current practices and toward improvement of services.

Events that were cancelled in 2020 took on a new life in 2021. Harmony Day brought Diocesan, Centrecare and Catholic Education staff and together to promote cultural diversity and a sense of belonging. A special Harmony Day Tree provided branches with ‘leaves’ of scrolls that participants could pick and read quotations promoting inclusion, unity in diversity and multiculturalism. This built on an idea from the Vietnamese community to welcome in the New Year.

The Marian Procession was held as an indoor event at the Adelaide Showgrounds, and Migrant and Refugee Sunday and other wonderful celebrations were well supported by the Office.

The Filipino Community celebrated 500 years of Christianity and the Chinese Community celebrated 40 years of community life in Adelaide. The Polish Community celebrated its 150th anniversary at Polish Hill River. The Feasts of St Bakhita, St Thomas the Apostle and St Daniel Comboni were celebrated with our Indian and African communities. All these celebrations make up the wonderful and very colourful faith experience of our Adelaide Church.

The Catholic Multicultural Office hosts bimonthly meetings for migrant chaplains and pastoral workers to come together during the year. These meetings are invaluable in keeping the local Church connected at a diocesan level as well as providing a forum for the multicultural church to learn from each other and share ideas. Archbishop O’Regan’s annual attendance at chaplains’ meetings provides welcome support and important links to the Diocesan Assembly, Plenary Council and Synod.

The International Priest Program has involved some changes with some clergy returning to their homeland and one missionary priest even becoming the Bishop of Homa Bay, Kenya (Bishop Michael Odiwa). Some of the emerging multicultural communities continue to grow, particularly the Burmese, Konkani and Marathi groups, bringing hope and reminding us of the value of our multicultural church. Sr Nien Tran RSM, manager of the Catholic Multicultural Office for 12 years, retired on December 15, 2021. Her devoted service to the Catholic Multicultural Church will be missed as well as her missionary work supporting refugees and new migrants.

The Office embarked on a new project, One Faith, Many Cultures, documenting the history of the multicultural church in the Adelaide Archdiocese to provide an online historical picture of each multicultural community that can be built upon and provide a reference point for future generations. This will be available on the diocesan website.

The Multicultural E-News is an electronic newsletter that captures the amazing events and celebrations happening in all corners of our communities, highlighting their strength and expression of faith. The Catholic Multicultural Office continues to provide resources and service to the Archdiocese including the valued directory of migrant chaplaincies and multicultural communities. Information about Masses in languages other than English are updated via the website.