Firing up the flames of faith

By Wendy Shaw

A Pentecost Sunday firepot and soup night united Launceston parishioners in faith and joy on a cold autumn night.

The crowd, some in coats, scarves and beanies, gathered outside the Church of the Apostles after the 5.30pm Mass on 24 May.

Parish Pastoral Council members organised the event and provided an array of warming soups.

The acting chairman, Paul Mannion, said the aim was to bring people together and build community.

“The original idea was about book-ending Easter Vigil with the Paschal fire, finishing the Easter season with fire as well at Pentecost,” he said.

“We thought it’s nice to have the soup and it’s an opportunity for people to gather after Mass, network and build community with each other.

“This is the third or fourth year we have held this … and it has now become a regular thing for our parish community.”

Pentecost is an important feast day, ending the Easter season—50 days after Easter Sunday—and celebrating the start of the Church. Acts 2 tells of the Apostles, fired with the Holy Spirit, speaking in foreign tongues to spread the Gospel to people of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

Launceston Parish assistant priest Fr Vinco Muriyadan highlighted that the firepot and soup night was a chance to share and experience Pentecost within the multicultural parish community.

“People from different cultures speaking different languages all come together, and the Holy Spirit empowers us as a parish,” Fr Vinco said.

“The parish hosting that special togetherness brings us a real Pentecost moment.”

He said there was joy in the parish community coming together at a place where everyone is welcome.

“The soup night reminds us we are a family coming together,” he added.

“The disciples at Pentecost felt joy in their heart—the same joy we are spreading as people meet each other, have conversation, talk about the Church and share faith.”

There was a donation box for Vinnies’ winter appeal at the event.

The St Vincent de Paul Society’s northern regional president, Rosie Caelli, thanked parishioners for their generosity.

Meanwhile, Pope Leo celebrated Pentecost by highlighting the role of the Holy Spirit in his calls for peace, saying the spirit also guides the Church to truth amid a world marked by war, division and ideological fragmentation.

During Mass in St Peter’s Basilica, the Pope said the Holy Spirit continues Christ’s work in the world by restoring peace through forgiveness and transforming fear and confusion into communion with God and others, according to a CNS report on the OSV online news site.

“Pentecost truly appears as the feast of the New Covenant, the Covenant between God and all the peoples of the world,” the Pope said on 24 May in his homily marking the end of the Easter season.