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Family blessings bring hope to the domestic church in Sydney

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Arriving with the first Croatian community to come to Australia, the tradition of blessing families at the beginning of the year has become a way to also know and meet the needs of the community. Photo: Unsplash.com.

In a society where the family unit is being attacked, the Epiphany brings about hope for the future of the domestic church with the annual family blessing.

Fr Davor Filko OFM from St Anthony’s Catholic Centre, Summerhill and pastor to the Croatian community in Sydney spent the 27 December 2024 to 11 January 2025, visiting families, tending to their needs and blessing them as they ventured into the new year.

“We visit families, meet them and pray with them,” he said.

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“This is the day when the priest comes. As a child we would wake up and wait for him in front of the door.

“It’s a nice tradition and a nice way to meet your priest and know who he is. You may see him after Mass but some people leave or don’t come often, so it’s nice to meet them and say hello. You’re always welcome to us.”

A tradition with its roots in early Christianity, the Croatian community celebrates the blessing by having the whole family group together with the priest.

“We have our introduction prayer, we then read part of the Gospel followed by prayers of the faithful,” said Fr as he explained the process of the blessing.

It’s a nice tradition and a nice way to meet your priest and know who he is. You may see him after Mass but some people leave or don’t come often, so it’s nice to meet them and say hello. Photo: Unsplash.com.

“We then have time for an intercession, prayers for the family, for their health, for peace, love, joy and everything else. Once they have been blessed, we chat to them and spend some time together.”

The blessing is similar to the chalking of the doors where the lay faithful take chalk and write the following above the entrance of their home: 20 + C + M + B + 25. While it’s not customary to do this during the family blessing, Fr Davor said he’s happy to do the chalk, but that they also have stickers with the holy family and numbers that the community can put up.

“We do the chalk, but we have stickers with the Holy Family and the year on it. It’s a wonderful thing,” he said.

“There are many families who have been getting the blessing of the family for many years and they like putting the stickers on their doors, so some have stickers from 20 years ago. It’s a really nice commitment from them.”

Arriving with the first Croatian community to come to Australia, the tradition of blessing families at the beginning of the year has become a way to also know and meet the needs of the community.

A tradition with its roots in early Christianity, the Croatian community celebrates the blessing by having the whole family group together with the priest. Photo: Unsplash.com.

“I think as a priest it’s a nice way to get familiar with the congregation, where you live and so on. And if you stumble upon a family who needs help, usually people don’t ask for help, so once you’ve visited them you find out if they’re in need,” he said.

“I have also had some experiences where next door to my parishioner lives and Italian, Lebanese or other nationality and they ask ‘What are you doing?’

“I explain and afterwards they ask me to go their house and bless their family. So we have also prepared a form in English in case someone who doesn’t speak Croation wants a blessing. It is a beautiful way to evangelise.

“Anyone can have this blessing or do this blessing. A lot of good comes from this blessing.”

When asked about why families should receive a blessing, Fr Davor said that just like we prepare for the seasons of the year, we should prepare as a family for the year.

“And the family is the one who ultimately blesses the house. If the family isn’t as it should be it can’t bless the house, so we need to make sure families are blessed.”

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