Generous Contribution by The Chinese Catholic Community for St Mary's Cathedral

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
4 Mar 2010

Pictures by Peter Wong

The Chinese Catholic Community organised a special fundraising dinner last week for the conservation of St Mary's Cathedral.

Held at a Haymarket restaurant, the initiative, headed by Ben Tsang, Fundraising Chairman and his committee helped raise $40,000.

This will go towards the design and production of the Oleo Sacra – an ornate timber cabinet for Holy Oils at St Mary's Cathedral.

Joining the banquet and nearly 400 other guests were the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell; Auxiliary Bishop Julian Porteous and the Dean of St Mary's Cathedral, Fr Paul Hilder.

Apart from  members of the Australian Catholic Chinese Community, other guests from the Asian Centre; Chinese Catholic Pastoral Centre; Happy Family Group (Carlingford); St Michael's Church Mandarin Group; Hurstville Chinese Catholic Community and Our Lady of Fatima Parish Kingsgrove Chinese Outreach Group also helped to make the night a great success.

The fundraising activities included a raffle, a performance programme and general donations.

One of the performers was Cardinal Pell who joined the Chinese Catholic Community Youth Choir singing "Go Tell Everyone".

He later accepted the cheque saying he was extremely grateful and thanked the Chinese Catholic Community for their generosity and on-going support.