St Peter’s College OBU & Holy Family Convent PPA Hold Emotional Memorial Service – By Lawrence Machado
St Peter’s College OBU NSW and the Holy Family Convent PPA Sydney remembered their late classmates, schoolmates, family members and staff of the two schools at a solemn and emotional All Souls’ Day Mass on Saturday, November 3.
Even though the years may have gone by since they left this world, reading out their names during our All Souls Day service at St Agatha’s Catholic Church, Pennant Hills, still brought a tear to many of us.
It’s always emotional hearing the names of our late college mates, family members, sports mates, priests, nuns, teachers and loyal staff as many evoke long memories of our days back in school and beyond. The list keeps growing each year, but we never grow weary of reading them in the presence of families and friends. The mass readers included the evergreen Ms Barbara Joachim, who is a regular participant at our masses.
Yes, time does not erase the memories of our school days as it laid the foundation for our lives, even though we would not have realised it at that time.
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Remembering the ones who are no longer with us means we cherish those rectors, teachers, staff, classmates, college mates and family members during our annual Memorial Masses. Our schools may not always hold the best of memories but they did shape how we live our lives.
Life is too short indeed, but thank God we are still able to keep their memories alive in our hearts.
Our gratitude goes out to everyone who made this a very meaningful service, specially our priests, Rev Fr Shansana Samarasinghe and Rev Fr Treesen Silva, our efficient altar server Amal Wahab, our amazing choir featuring Roshi, Dinease, Harsha, Saumya, Roderick, Suzy, Nipuna, Jerome, and Malith. The choir, made up of former Holy Familians and Peterites, always rises to the occasion.
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Special mention to Sonja Gunasekera and Malith de Silva for their moving PowerPoint presentation featuring the names of the dearly departed, and John and Marie Fernando for their support.
The service was attended by many family members and schoolmates, making it a truly emotional service while giving us closure and a sense of connection to our loved ones.
The mass was followed by a lovely fellowship at the church hall with an array of delicious homemade snacks and desserts served up by many of the participants. This was a time to reconnect with college mates and family members across both schools.
St Peter’s College NSW OBU President Roshara Alles thanked everyone who attended the service, saying this is an important part of our annual events. The service was organised by committee members of both associations, including Amal Wahab, Sonja Gunasekera and Malith De Silva.
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