St. Mary’s Syro-Malabar Parish, Adelaide celebrated the joint feasts of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and St. Sebastian on Saturday the 6th of May at St Therese’s Catholic Church, Colonel Light Gardens. The 9 day Novena of St. Sebastian and Holy Mass were celebrated from April 27th to May 5th. The traditional flag hoisting ceremony called “Kodiyettu” was done on May 5th.

On each of the Novena days, the community was graced with the presence of celebrants who are Syro-Malabar priests serving in different parishes of the Adelaide Archdiocese. On each day of the Novena, a different intention was brought to focus on the offering of the Holy Mass and in the rosaries that were offered up during this time.

Each day’s service was led by family units, Sunday school students, Syro-Malabar Youth, Nurses Ministry, International Students and Catholic Congress.

About 113 families joined in the Feast Day celebrations also supported by the Archdiocese of Adelaide.

There were also many families joining from St. Alphonsa and St. Euphrasia Syro-Malabar Parishes as well as the Emmaus Catholic Parish. The main celebrant for the Feast Day Holy Mass was Rev. Dr. Siby Kurian Pulickal.

Rev. Frs. John Shanahan and Josy Sebastian also joined us for the Procession and Cultural programs that followed the Holy Mass. It was a great honour to express such a pinnacle moment of our faith and culture through this celebration. In India, a great devotion to St. Sebastian is seen with his intercession being efficacious against pestilence and diseases.   

Upon seeing the diverse exhibition of culture and tradition seen on the Feast Day, many of the faithful were able to reminisce memories of participating in this feast throughout their own childhood. The Church was decorated with magnificent floral decorations and traditional garlands.

Furthermore, the faithful were all dressed in traditional clothing holding the papal umbrellas and ornamental umbrellas followed by the traditional Kerala band sets.

The youth also performed a flash mob with Sunday School students and ran many stalls including balloon animals, ring toss, henna and face painting. It truly was a day of nostalgia. We are beyond grateful to our Mother Mary for blessing this celebration and thankful to everyone who joined us to celebrate this feast of our Patroness and St. Sebastian.

Angel Joshy

Syro-Malabar Youth Movement