{"id":42596,"date":"2021-07-21T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-21T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldcatholicnews.com\/faith-in-focus-for-fairfield-under-pandemic-scrutiny\/"},"modified":"2021-07-21T03:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-21T07:00:00","slug":"faith-in-focus-for-fairfield-under-pandemic-scrutiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldcatholicnews.com\/faith-in-focus-for-fairfield-under-pandemic-scrutiny\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith in focus for Fairfield under pandemic scrutiny"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Reading Time: <\/span> 4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

PHOTO: Our Lady of the Rosary, Fairfield<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Parish in hotspot suburb launches online rosary campaign<\/h2>\n

Our Lady of the Rosary parish, Fairfield, is inviting all to join an online novena (nine consecutive days of prayer) to pray with parishioners for an end to the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Each day at 6pm beginning on Friday 23 July until Saturday 31 July, prayers will be led including the rosary at the parish\u2019s Facebook page. It comes amid weeks of focus on Fairfield as a coronavirus hotspot with parishioners are turning to the church for spiritual support.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we journey through the last few weeks in lockdown, there are many unknowns that are ahead of us,\u201d said parish events and marketing coordinator Kathryn Gerardino. \u201cWe might not have all the answers but have faith that Jesus is always with us. He knows our pain and He knows the plan. So let us remain in Him as one community as we pray together in these next nine days to Our Lady of Lourdes. Let us be comforted by Our Lady and surrender to God\u2019s Providence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The novena was welcomed by the Director of the Sydney Centre for Evangelisation, Daniel Ang.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis novena will bring together in spiritual communion not only the parish community at Fairfield but Catholics across Sydney,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this time of lockdown and uncertainty we seek the intercession of Mary, with whom we turn to Christ. We pray for consolation and hope for all those suffering in this pandemic, and especially for the protection and care of families and communities in south western Sydney, among all those impacted by this latest outbreak\u201d.<\/p>\n

Fr Robert (Bob) Bossini, parish administrator, said a sense of fear had prevailed over last week as south west Sydney, Fairfield in particular, featured in daily briefings by Premier Gladys Berejiklian and the state chief medical officer Kerry Chant.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fairfield parish\u2019s sacramental and youth coordinator Katelyn Del Rosario. PHOTO: OLOR Fairfield<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For some, an increased police presence to enforce social distancing rules added to a sense of oppression rather than safety, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are telling me they feel spiritually assaulted,\u201d Fr Bob told The Catholic Weekly, <\/em>adding that it seemed hard to justify the focus on south western Sydney and Fairfield in particular, as opposed to other places and groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were confused by anomalies in the health orders as they were updated, they weren\u2019t sure for example whether they had to be tested every three days, or once a week if they needed to leave the area for work, and that caused a lot of stress as people queued for hours to be tested and then were turned away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government said it has consulted leaders of the community but as a pastor here in the Fairfield area I haven\u2019t been approached at all. To keep hearing this week that the problem is in Fairfield creates bit of a ghetto mentality which I don\u2019t think bodes well for people\u2019s mental states.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fr Bob said the parish was doing all it could to give people hope, including livestreaming Mass daily, regularly updating its website, keeping in touch with parishioners by phone and letting them know that priests are still available for sacraments such as the anointing of the sick.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fr Bob Bossini. PHOTO: OLOR Fairfield<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe expose the Blessed Sacrament inside the locked church at the window where people can come to pray and they timetable themselves so there are no more than a couple of people there at one time, otherwise they stay in their car,\u201d he added.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s given people a lot of hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our Lady of the Rosary\u2019s sacramental and youth coordinator Katelyn Del Rosario agreed that recent events had been a \u201creal struggle\u201d for the normally vibrant parish community. \u201cThe community here have very strong faith and family values and we do have a number of larger families,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo people were already missing being able to pray and connect with each other at church and then really felt a sense of injustice about the government\u2019s focus on larger and tight-knit families in our area [as sources of viral transmission].\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Katelyn said her focus is on being proactive during the lockdown. She is experimenting with ways to keep the parish\u2019s young people connected with each other, including hosting a games night and youth groups online and she is considering adding a praise and worship event.<\/p>\n

\u201cRelationships are so important for them and it\u2019s been a real strength and blessing to be able to pray together, and play games and do these things with them even if it is front of a screen you can see it\u2019s so great for them to get together,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe faith is alive and active and so I don\u2019t want to wait until the lockdown ends to try and grow this ministry. My hope is that when it ends they will be ready and will really want to do bigger things.\u201d<\/p>\n

* Article updated to include information about the rosary novena.<\/em><\/p>\n

Related:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Credit: Source link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading Time: 4 minutes PHOTO: Our Lady of the Rosary, Fairfield Parish in hotspot suburb launches online rosary campaign Our Lady of the Rosary parish, Fairfield, is inviting all to join an online novena (nine consecutive days of prayer) to pray with parishioners for an end to the pandemic. Each day at 6pm beginning on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nFaith in focus for Fairfield under pandemic scrutiny - WORLD CATHOLIC NEWS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.worldcatholicnews.com\/faith-in-focus-for-fairfield-under-pandemic-scrutiny\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Faith in focus for Fairfield under pandemic scrutiny - WORLD CATHOLIC NEWS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Reading Time: 4 minutes PHOTO: Our Lady of the Rosary, Fairfield Parish in hotspot suburb launches online rosary campaign Our Lady of the Rosary parish, Fairfield, is inviting all to join an online novena (nine consecutive days of prayer) to pray with parishioners for an end to the pandemic. 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