On Thursday, January 12, Cardinal Newman held a Multicultural Prayer Service
involving all the different cultures of the students who participated in the service. The
different languages spoken in the prayer service were Creole, Italian, Portuguese,
Ukrainian, Spanish, and Tagalog. This prayer service was a great way to not only
introduce some of these new students but also get students familiar with all the different
languages and cultures that make up our Cardinal Newman community.
The first reading was proclaimed in Creole by Iveline Exantus. The second reading
was proclaimed in Italian by Julian Silvestri. The gospel was proclaimed in Portuguese
by Laura Lima de Carvalho. The Prayers of the Faithful was proclaimed in Ukrainian by
Sasha Chernyshenko. The Petitions were proclaimed in Spanish by Miguel, Italian by
Julian, Creole by Iveline, Ukrainian by Sasha, Portuguese by Laura, and Tagalog by
Isabel. The readers were not the only students who participated. During the service, the
right and left side of the gym alternated reading out loud. Other parts of the service
included the school reading together as one body.
The purpose of this prayer service was to inform the Cardinal Newman community of
all the different cultures and languages we have here and to unite all of the students as
one no matter what your ethnic background is. This prayer service really joined Cardinal
Newman as one with not only the students who participated in the mass but the whole
school too. I hope Cardinal Newman does more prayer services and or masses like this
in the future. It not only opened me up to some of these new students but also to their
different cultures and backgrounds.