Crowds packed St Joseph’s Catholic church in Moorebank as the community gathered to honour its parish’s patron saint with a candlelit solemn Mass, procession and international food festival on 15 March.
Assistant priest Fr David Romero CRS was the main celebrant for the Liturgy which was concelebrated by St Joseph’s Moorebank and St Christopher’s Holsworthy parish priest Fr Mathew Velliyamkandathil CRS, his assistant Fr Paul Antony CRS, Glenmore Park parish priest Fr Johnson Malayil CRS and his assistant priest Fr Pradeep Dias CRS.
During his homily, Fr David spoke of St Joseph as a patriarchal figure.
A man representing something that western culture today often struggles to understand and a structure of power that it sees must be dismantled in order to achieve “equality”.
“Today we are invited to rediscover something the western culture sometimes forgets”, said Fr David to an overflowing congregation.
“There is a kind of fatherhood – there is a kind of patriarchy – that is not oppressive.
“It is protective, it is sacrificial, it is faithful, it is the kind of fatherhood we see in St Joseph.
“Men who protect life. Men who protect families. Men who quietly carry responsibility for the good of others.
“These men may never appear in history books. But like Joseph, they participate in the hidden work of God.”
Fr David highlighted how Joseph’s organisation of his life, his work, and his decisions around protecting the child entrusted to him became an act of service to God’s saving plan.
Following Mass, passers-by on Moorebank’s busy Newbridge Road were treated to the sight of the congregation processing beneath a cloud of incense.
About 600 Catholics formed a public procession behind the parish statue of St Joseph, invoking the saint’s intercession through the recitation of the Holy Rosary.
The celebrations concluded with a free international food festival on the school grounds.
