Festive spirit: Bishop of Sandhurst Shane Mackinlay, has wished everyone a merry Christmas.
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Gabriel Garcia
The Bishop of Sandhurst Shane Mackinlay, has wished everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year, and reassured the community that God was always with them.
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Bishop Mackinlay was in Shepparton on Friday, December 23 celebrating the Misa de Gallo dawn novena.
The Misa de Gallo, translated to ‘mass of the rooster’, is a Filipino dawn mass tradition that has made its way to Australia with migrants and has become increasingly popular with non-Filipinos.
Bishop Mackinlay said the wonderful tradition, almost unheard of a few years back, reminded attendees that Christmas was a celebration of Jesus’s birth and that God's love and presence was always with us.
“(It’s) a really spiritual preparation for the people who engage in it,” Bishop Mackinlay said.
Speaking of the challenges that both the Australian community and the world faced, such as the recent floods, COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, Bishop Mackinlay reiterated that Christians should always remember they were never alone.
“God is with us. Whatever might happen. However our plans develop and are frustrated. Whatever disappointments we might face, the God who stayed faithful to Jesus, even on the cross, continues to be faithful to us,” Bishop Mackinlay said.
The Bishop also reminded Christians that when faced with such trials, the need to reflect on and identify what they could do to respond was paramount.
Filipino tradition: The Misa de Gallo has been going on all week at St Brendan’s Church.
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Contributed
Speaking of the war in Ukraine, Bishop Mackinlay praised the efforts of the Australian community and the Catholic Church in Australia in helping alleviate the suffering of the Ukrainian people.
“Nationally, in our Catholic churches we've had an appeal over the last couple of weeks to support both the refugees here and the communities in Ukraine who are suffering,” he said.
When questioned about the waning number of people who identified as Christian, Bishop Mackinlay remained positive and warned against taking the figures on face value, saying that though there were people who genuinely were not interested in faith, that was not necessarily the whole story.
“For other people it’s to say ‘I don't choose to identify with any particular denomination with any particular church, or I'm not sure about where I stand’,” Bishop Mackinlay said.
Bishop Mackinlay said 2023 would be a big year for the Sandhurst Diocese, and finished his interview by wishing the Shepparton community a merry Christmas.
“I wish all of the readers of the Shepp News, all of the people of these communities, a happy peaceful and safe Christmas,” he said.
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