July 26th, 2008
Festival of Nations Celebration with the Missionary Alliance

Honoring The Services of The Archdiocese of Boston Missionary Alliance of Orders and Societies, by Msgr. Finbarr O'Leary
Taken from friends, August, 2008.
The weekend of the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the St. James Society seemed an ideal time to launch the work of the Missionary Alliance which has been working quietly for the past six months. St. Stephen’s Church was decorated with national flags hanging from the gallery. The celebration began with a march of the missionaries from St. Leonard’s to the Church on the feast of St. James. The following day’s program consisted of the participation of various choirs, and a display of photographs and some fair trade products from various missionary countries throughout the world. The day ended with a concelebrated Mass, with Bishop Robert Hennessey the principal celebrant.

Throughout the 200 years of the history of the Archdiocese of Boston hundreds of men and women left these shores to proclaim the good news of the gospel. Their work has bourn fruit and now migrant Catholic people of many nations are coming to Boston to strengthen the local church. The gospel has now become enculturated in their native language and customs. The first reading was read in Bangladeshi with the provision of a written translation of the text in English. Everyone agreed that the cultural highlights were the offertory, and post communion liturgical dances provided by the women. Among the gifts presented at the offertory was a piece of broken sculpture from a church in Nagasaki.

The principal message of this Festival of Nations is that we belong to the same family of God, and it is the same Spirit as at the first Pentecost that unites us all in one great Catholic family. It’s only on occasions such as this, that one becomes aware of our unity and richess in diversity.

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