On the longest night of the year, a memorial service was held in Sydney to honour homeless people who have died in the past 12 months. Source: The Catholic Weekly.
The City of Sydney estimates that about 350 people are sleeping rough on the streets of the inner city, a 24 per cent increase over 2024. Some of them will likely not survive this winter.
At the annual Homeless Persons’ Memorial Service in Martin Place on Saturday evening, Catholic Cemeteries and Crematoria chief executive Lauren Hardgrove read out the names of about 20 men and women who had died on the city streets last year.
“Each name we speak represents a life full of hopes, struggles and moments of connection,” she said. “Though their journeys may not have been easy, we honour their humanity, their dignity and the impact they had on those around them.”
These were just the people who could be identified or found, Ms Hardgrove said.
About 250 people attended the hour-long ceremony, which is held annually at 6pm on June 21, the winter solstice, the longest night of the year.
It is supported by a number of charities, including the PAYCE Foundation, the Archdiocese of Sydney’s Justice and Peace Office, Catholic Cemeteries and Crematoria, the St Vincent de Paul Society, and the End Street Sleeping Collaboration.
The memorial service is an important moment, said Sue Buckingham, a facilitator at David’s Place, a Catholic charity in Elizabeth Bay for the homeless and marginalised.
“Somebody’s there, and then they disappear. They die and there’s no memorial service. There’s nothing. It’s very difficult for people to know that nothing’s going to happen if they die. It’s very difficult for the friends of people who have died to know there’s no way that they can remember that person or commemorate them.”
Among the speakers were religious leaders, Sydney Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Meagher, Imam Mahmoud Alazhari, Rabbi Mendel Kastel, and the NSW Minister for Housing and Homelessness, Rose Jackson.
Two homeless men, Kelvin Coe and Felix Morgan, also contributed words about their “street brothers”.
Providing uplifting moments on the evening were the Honeybees Choir and Sydney Street Choir, clad in vivid red t-shirts.
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Deceased homeless honoured in Martin Place (By Michael Cook, The Catholic Weekly)
