{"id":38131,"date":"2026-06-25T05:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T05:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/38131\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T05:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T05:21:08","slug":"all-hallows-parish-youth-group-saving-sydney-with-sandwiches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/38131\/","title":{"rendered":"All Hallows parish youth group saving Sydney with sandwiches"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Chris Gatto and Justin Speranza. Photo: Tara Kennedy<\/p>\n

On a Saturday evening in Five Dock in\u00a0Sydney\u2019s inner\u00a0west, the\u00a0All Hallows<\/a>\u00a0parish youth group\u00a0is\u00a0working hard\u00a0preparing meals and snacks for\u00a0the\u00a0city\u2019s\u00a0less fortunate.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The team led by Chris Gatto and Justin Speranza\u00a0are making sandwiches and spaghetti bolognese\u00a0for the\u00a0St Vincent de Paul\u00a0Society to\u00a0distribute.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Each sandwich,\u00a0using donations from local charity Gift of Bread,<\/a>\u00a0is\u00a0carefully\u00a0wrapped\u00a0and\u00a0adorned with\u00a0a\u00a0sticker bearing a Scripture\u00a0verse,\u00a0offering not\u00a0only\u00a0physical but spiritual sustenance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With several others\u00a0Gatto\u00a0and\u00a0Speranza\u00a0revitalised\u00a0the\u00a0youth group\u00a0and\u00a0launched\u00a0its\u00a0Vinnies\u00a0partnership\u00a0about a year ago\u00a0\u2013\u00a0bolstered by donations of muffins by Gatto\u2019s mother.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI was inspired by a group of Protestants, actually, because I noticed they have such a good welcoming spirit whenever I go see them,\u201d\u00a0Gatto\u00a0tells\u00a0The Catholic Weekly.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re\u00a0all good friends with each other, and the charitable work is part of it. Making sandwiches is\u00a0a very important\u00a0part because we need to put into practice what\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0learning in the\u00a0Gospels.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Food prep. Photo: Tara Kennedy.<\/p>\n

Parishioner\u00a0Elena Garcia-Araujo is passionate about the\u00a0outreach. Having grown up in a family which\u00a0drew upon Vinnies for support, she is keen to \u201cgive back\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She is also moved by the\u00a0Gospel\u00a0parable of the poor woman who gave all she had to the\u00a0temple treasury.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though I\u2019m\u00a0on the disability support pension\u00a0myself, I think that it\u2019s always good to give what little you have,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All Hallows parish priest Fr Sebastian Savarimuthu says\u00a0the group, which also provided food for the parish Christmas and Easter celebrations,\u00a0engages in\u00a0\u201cprayer and action.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a group they come\u00a0to\u00a0pray\u00a0the rosary before Mass, they attend Mass, and\u00a0then do\u00a0the youth group,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

After Mass, every alternate gathering\u00a0is for discussing Scripture and other\u00a0faith\u00a0topics, sometimes with guest speakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking to\u00a0The Catholic Weekly, All Hallows\u2019\u00a0parishioner\u00a0and\u00a0Canada Bay mayor Michael Megna, praised\u00a0the group\u00a0and\u00a0said the parish\u2019s future \u201cis in\u00a0safe\u00a0hands\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He\u00a0said today\u2019s young people\u00a0are\u00a0often\u00a0disparaged\u00a0for being disengaged\u00a0from society and each other\u00a0but\u00a0that\u00a0this group is full of \u201cself-starters.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey see something that needs doing and they do it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chris Gatto and Justin Speranza. Photo: Tara Kennedy On a Saturday evening in Five Dock in\u00a0Sydney\u2019s inner\u00a0west, the\u00a0All…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[31642,7791,31643,247,2033],"class_list":["post-38131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sydney","tag-five-dock","tag-hero","tag-parishes","tag-sydney","tag-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}