Honoring their faith and celebrating their heritage, members of the African Catholic community joyfully welcomed Bishop Jerome Feudijo of the Diocese of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands on October 10 for the Diocese of Harrisburg’s African Heritage Mass.
With praise, thanksgiving and song, the congregation came to St. Catherine Labouré Church in Harrisburg for the celebration, many traveling from various parts of the diocese for the Saturday morning Mass.
Praise and worship music in Swahili, the official language of Tanzania and Kenya, emanated from the church as a choir led the congregation in spirited hymns.
In his homily, Bishop Feudijo underscored the importance of welcoming the stranger and joining together as one Body of Christ from our various communities, cultures and nationalities.
“We bring before the Lord the memory of our ancestors, the sacrifices of our families, the beauty of our cultures, and the faith handed down to us; and we gather to worship God, from whom everything comes,” he said. “Drawn from many nations, languages and traditions, we are made one in Christ. Today, we remember our source: the God who made us, the God who sustains us.”
Speaking on the parable of the king who prepared a wedding feast where many were invited but few were worthy to attend, Bishop Feudijo said, “God welcomes us as we are yet loves us too much to leave us unchanged. His invitation calls for a response.”
We must live our lives longing for a seat at the heavenly banquet, he said. “We cannot receive the Bread of Life and remain indifferent to the hungry. We cannot ask God for mercy while refusing mercy to one another. We cannot rejoice in our heritage while neglecting the young, abandoning the elderly or permitting division among us.”
“Our heritage must therefore become a mission,” Bishop Feudijo told the congregation. “The fruit of our ancestors must become our own living faith.”
The Mass was hosted by the Diocesan Office for Culture and Outreach and the Diocesan Black Catholic Apostolate.
(Photos by Jen Reed, The Catholic Witness.)
By Jen Reed, The Catholic Witness
