St. Bernadette Church in Prospect, Ky., held an international fair during the Christmas season that highlighted the parish’s diversity while at the same time underscoring the oneness of parishioners.
Parishioners from various countries, including India, Vietnam, Poland, Croatia, Haiti, Cameroon and Congo, displayed information about their country of origin and discussed how they celebrate Advent and Christmas in their homelands, according to an announcement from the church.
Gary Montgomery, a member of the parish’s Moving Towards Oneness team, said the event helped parishioners create a “common bond.”
“The event was enjoyed, but most enjoyable and beneficial to our St. Bernadette community was the fact that we were growing as a family,” said Montgomery. “We grew to know the people who sat in the pew behind us, in front of us and the family across the aisle. We’ve seen them in church for months, or years, but now we were getting to know them because we had a venue which made it easy to say hello.”
The event — held after a weekend liturgy — was part of St. Bernadette’s ongoing effort to live the mission of Moving Towards Oneness, the announcement said.
Moving Towards Oneness is an initiative of the Archdiocese of Louisville’s Office of Multicultural Ministry meant to improve race relations by helping parish groups build relationships across cultures.
