About 50 young people and 10 adults from St Maximilian Kolbe Parish, Kingston-Marsden and the surrounding community rugged up for a cold night sleeping in the parish carpark as part of the Vinnies Winter Sleepout 2016.
The Sleepout, which took the theme, ‘Compassion in Action, was an initiative of the parish youth group, called Kolbe Youth, and was part of a series of activities held throughout the year to promote faith formation based on the action-reflection model.
Parish Priest, Fr Sunil Paul Nagothu SVD says the decision to sleep out in the cold for a night was a sign of solidarity with local people who are forced to sleep rough.
“Our Parish is located in the Logan City area, which is deemed to be one of the low socio-economic regions in Brisbane,” says Fr Sunil.
“The group decided to organise an event to help its members identify with the challenges faced by those in the community who have no home or shelter to call their own.”
The youth group coordinated with the St Vincent de Paul Society of the parish to organise the event.
“The main aim of the event was to raise awareness and understanding of what it means to be homeless, under challenging circumstances, while at the same time raising funds for the Parish’s St Vincent de Paul Society’s charitable initiatives, such as the provision of grocery parcels, baby formula, and utility and rent assistance for the needy,” says Fr Sunil.
A group of young seminarians from the Holy Spirit Seminary in Brisbane helped get the night off to a great start by leading a beautiful reflection and sharing on the Holy Trinity.
The night also featured games and plenty of laughs before cardboard ‘beds’ were handed out and lights were eventually put out at 11pm.
The next morning everyone gathered in prayer to give thanks to God and to share something of the impact of their experience of sleeping out.
One parishioner, Christine Lapalapa, said that although she didn’t get much sleep during the night, it made her all the more aware and deeply thankful for all that she has.
Many of the adults said it was heartening to witness the faith and commitment of the young people who immersed themselves in the spirit of the occasion, in order to experience a measure of what homelessness was about.
“The young people who braved the cold night showed they were committed to identifying with those less fortunate amongst us in the community and to understanding what homelessness means,” says Fr Sunil.
The Winter Sleepout at St Maximilian Kolbe Parish raised $6,000 for the parish’s St Vincent de Paul Society.