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Participants of the 2022 Homeless Memorial Service in St Mary’s Cathedral Square. (Giovanni Portelli/Supplied/via Catholic Outlook)

Sydney’s annual Homeless Memorial Service will be celebrated in the heart of the city this Wednesday at Martin Place, and organisers are inviting the whole community to join in remembering those who have died on the streets in the last year. Source: Catholic Outlook.

The service will take place on the longest night of the year, reminding those present that over the past 12 months many people died silently, unnamed and unmourned on the streets of Sydney.

In addition to the general community, the service also welcomes the friends, families, and carers of those who have died, including the many outreach and health workers, volunteers and other community workers who work with those experiencing homelessness.

The service is being supported by a number of charities and community organisations, including the End Street Sleeping Collaboration, Catholic Cemeteries, the Wayside Chapel and the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney’s Justice and Peace Office. Two legendary community choirs will be on hand to perform – the Honeybees Choir and the Sydney Street Choir.

Event organiser and End Street Sleeping director Dominic Sullivan said he was hoping for the broader community of Sydney to come out for the special service.

“This is a unique opportunity to remember and celebrate the lives of those that died without a home, and often without a commemoration. Our aim is to remember them,” he said.

“The aim of the End Street Sleeping Collaboration is to bring attention to the plight experienced by so many people sleeping rough and to ensure no one should be living or dying on our streets. As a community, we need to understand that homelessness is solvable.”

FULL STORY

Remembering those who have died on the streets of Sydney (Catholic Outlook)