OCEANIA/AUSTRALIA - “We are One and we are Many”: archdiocese of Adelaide focuses Lenten Programme on Multi-Cultural richness

Adelaide (Fides Service) - The society of Adelaide, the principal city of South Australia, is markedly multi-cultural with various generations of emigrants from many different European and Asian countries, and the local Catholic community is no exception. In view of this variety of origin, culture and language the archdiocese of Adelaide is focussing this year’s Lenten programme on multi-cultural identity, with the title “We are One and we are Many”.
The aim is to “celebrate diversity”, an explanatory note from the archdiocese reads. First of all by “acknowledging the first people who owned, lived on and cared for this land, the Kaurna and Ngarrindjeri aboriginal peoples, as the original and continuing custodians of this southern part of South Australia. Others have travelled here from the four corners of the earth. These four middle weeks of Lent provide an opportunity for us to talk together about our history and celebrate the contribution of cultural and linguistic diversity to our local Church”.
The material prepared by the Catholic Multicultural Services in English, Italian and Vietnamese includes themes for reflection, and suggestions for penitential liturgies and Eucharistic Celebrations. Each week has a separate theme: Week One, ‘Seeing with new eyes’; week two ‘We are nourished and we nourish others’; week three ‘We already have everything we need’; week four ‘God includes us all”.
Archbishop Philip Wilson is responsible for the archdiocese with a population of 1.3 million of whom 275,000 are Catholics. The people of various origin mainly English, Irish, German, Italian, Greeks, Italians, Dutch, Polish, Chinese and Vietnamese. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 7/3/2007 righe 24 parole 249)