Ecumenical Parish Dinner

IMAGE: (L-R) Sorubi Thararatnam, Deacon Patrick Whale, and Kathy Mason.

On Saturday 25th of June, an ecumenical parish dinner was held at St John’s Anglican Church Hall.

The dinner, which was chiefly organised by Kathy Mason from the Anglican Church, saw 30 people join together to enjoy good food, great company, and join in community singing.

Participants also had the opportunity to learn from the special guest, Sorubi Thararatnam, who is the school counsellor at Boorowa Central School as well as several other schools in the district. Sorubi spoke about her Christian journey. She explained that her name, which has been shortened, is a Sanskrit name from Sri Lanka that means “The joy and beauty of God”.

Sorubi comes from a strong Christian background and became a Christian herself at the age of 14 after a period of searching. In Year 12 she led an Inter-Christian Faith Group that started off with just two members, but by the end of the year all students in Year 12 had become Christian and had joined the group.

At age 28, Sorubi felt God calling her into service and so she commenced teacher training and psychology studies. This led her in 2021 to come to Boorowa to commence her school counselling role.

A couple of weeks after her arrival she became ill, but found that she had a daily visitor from the school community for the three weeks she was in recovery.

This was the beginning of her warm regard for Boorowa, which she described as “A very special place. Somewhere that you come to, and want to give back to.”

With this in mind, Sorubi and Kathy Mason have plans to turn the disused tennis court at St John’s into a “Kindness Garden” to grow kindness in Boorowa.

The idea is that the garden will be informed by a crucifix, which will be lined with trees. Each quadrant will be filled with plants and flowers. The garden will be a place for children and their families to feel peace, comfort, and safety.

Following Sorubi’s presentation, there was a rousing singing session, with participants enjoying songs such as “These boots were made for walking”, “Give me a home among the gum trees”, the theme song from “F Troop”, and even the infamous Lumberjack song.

Participants all agreed that it was a wonderful night and thanked the organisers, cooks, and bottle-washers for their contributions.