On a Saturday evening in Five Dock in Sydney’s inner west, the All Hallows parish youth group is working hard preparing meals and snacks for the city’s less fortunate.
The team led by Chris Gatto and Justin Speranza are making sandwiches and spaghetti bolognese for the St Vincent de Paul Society to distribute.
Each sandwich, using donations from local charity Gift of Bread, is carefully wrapped and adorned with a sticker bearing a Scripture verse, offering not only physical but spiritual sustenance.
With several others Gatto and Speranza revitalised the youth group and launched its Vinnies partnership about a year ago – bolstered by donations of muffins by Gatto’s mother.
“I was inspired by a group of Protestants, actually, because I noticed they have such a good welcoming spirit whenever I go see them,” Gatto tells The Catholic Weekly.
“We’re all good friends with each other, and the charitable work is part of it. Making sandwiches is a very important part because we need to put into practice what we’re learning in the Gospels.”
Parishioner Elena Garcia-Araujo is passionate about the outreach. Having grown up in a family which drew upon Vinnies for support, she is keen to “give back”.
She is also moved by the Gospel parable of the poor woman who gave all she had to the temple treasury.
“Even though I’m on the disability support pension myself, I think that it’s always good to give what little you have,” she says.
All Hallows parish priest Fr Sebastian Savarimuthu says the group, which also provided food for the parish Christmas and Easter celebrations, engages in “prayer and action.”
“As a group they come to pray the rosary before Mass, they attend Mass, and then do the youth group,” he says.
After Mass, every alternate gathering is for discussing Scripture and other faith topics, sometimes with guest speakers.
Speaking to The Catholic Weekly, All Hallows’ parishioner and Canada Bay mayor Michael Megna, praised the group and said the parish’s future “is in safe hands”.
He said today’s young people are often disparaged for being disengaged from society and each other but that this group is full of “self-starters.”
“They see something that needs doing and they do it.”
