On 15 November, the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney threw its arms around the poor at the 6th annual “Street Feast.”
Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP invited Sydney’s most vulnerable to congregate together for lunch at St Mary’s Cathedral forecourt.
Hundreds of Sydney’s most disadvantaged were fed by over 100 volunteers in the spirt of community and charity.
Archbishop Fisher OP, who dined with those present, reminded all gathered of his great joy at being able to offer and share a meal with them in the shadow of Sydney’s mother church — to share a common humanity.
“For me, it’s such a special joy to share a meal with you and offer food to you and hospitality in this sacred heart of Sydney,” he told those gathered.
Fr Peter Smith had the idea for Street Feast after Pope Francis first observed the World Day of the Poor on 19 November 2017, with the theme “Let us love, not with words but with deeds.”
“It’s just always such a wonderful event. We had one year off for Covid, but it’s just grown bigger each year. It’s just a great celebration for our city,” he said.
“I started off thinking we might have a bit of a sausage sizzle and bread roll, but now we have groups like St Merkorious Charity providing a true feast and groups like Payce Foundation who give us an enormous amount of funding.”
“We have stalls from Thread Together from St Vinnies and it’s just growing and growing.”
Mark Bampton from Redfern was one of many who accepted the invitation of the Sydney Archdiocese for food and fraternity.
“It’s a great vibe here today,” he said. “It’s good to see so many people here. The volunteers have come up and have been with us. It makes you feel seen and loved,” he said.
St Merkorious Charity, a group that makes 4,000 meals a week for the elderly, homeless and disabled oversaw the provision of food at Street Feast. Paula Nicolas, a volunteer said “We did about 500 kebabs, 500 falafel and, made lots of food and beautiful salads.”
“It’s an amazing event. And this is what we’re here for. To put smiles on people’s faces and show that we’re here to support them in their hardships,” she said.
Invited guests like Federal Member for Sydney, Tanya Plibersek expressed genuine joy at witnessing the spirit of generosity on display.
“It’s really at the heart of Jesus’ message. It’s about love for everyone. I’m so impressed with the generosity of the people who come, their generosity to one another. The generosity of the organisations and the volunteers who come out to serve lunch, to be here to show fellowship. It’s wonderful to see and be a part of,” she said.
At the completion of his meal, Mark was full of gratitude for the hundreds who made today possible.
“I’d just like to thank you to all the people that have, spent their time, and the resources and money for those of us out here doing it tough. Especially to the church for all the goodwill,” he said.
“It’s up to all of us to see these people and that we can give up some of our valuable time to stop and talk to them, to get to know them and realise the struggles that they go through,” said Fr Peter.
“Jesus constantly went out to the margins. And I think that’s what we need to do is church as well.”
