At Easter Sunday services across the country, worshippers have been urged to look for joy and hope, despite the “heaviness” of recent global events. Source: ABC News.
At Parramatta in Sydney’s west, hundreds of people gathered in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral for a service that reflected the area’s multiculturalism.
The pews were filled with people of all ages and backgrounds, with only standing room available for the late-comers.
Joseph Sadek attends the church regularly and brought his baby daughter on Sunday for her first Easter Mass.
“It’s a very diverse culture here as well in the church, and we all respect each other, we all love each other, and I guess that’s what Easter is all about,” he said.
Debbie Malinis is part of the St Patrick’s community in Parramatta. She said Easter was a reminder to help others amid crises.
“I’m praying for my family, peace around the world and what’s happening in the Middle East,” she said.
“The cost of living is really very high, and I know a lot of people are having a hard time.”
Assistant priest Fr Andrew Rooney said people were concerned about issues globally and locally, but that Easter brought the community together.
“Here in the Diocese of Parramatta … we truly see a bit of an image of heaven, of all people from all different walks of life coming together to celebrate and worship,” he said.
In Hobart, about 300 people filled St Mary’s Cathedral on Sunday morning for the Catholic congregation’s major Easter Sunday Mass.
This year’s Easter services were the first for the new archbishop of Hobart, Anthony Ireland, who has been in the role since August last year.
In Adelaide, it was standing room only for the 11am service at the St Francis Xavier Cathedral.
Dozens of people crowded at the back of the room, while some had to stand at the entrance foyer and in the front doors, enduring light rain.
During the service, Adelaide Archbishop Patrick O’Regan spoke of the current global conflicts and high cost of fuel, encouraging people to keep showing up, sharing and supporting each other.
Speaking before the service, he said Jesus’s first words when he rose from the dead were “peace be with you”.
“And that would really be my message for people, to receive that peace but also to be instruments of that peace, because our world needs it.
“Every human being actually needs it [peace], and this is the gift that the risen Lord gives to us all, and that’s really the essential message of Easter.”
FULL STORY
Multicultural mass, sermons and egg hunts mark Easter Sunday across Australia (ABC News)
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