(SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA) — Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott attended Good Friday mass at St Charbel Maronite Catholic Church in southeastern Sydney, Australia on Friday.
“It was an honour for Margie and I to attend Bishop Tarabay’s Good Friday Liturgy in Punchbowl this morning,” he wrote on Twitter.
Abbott joined thousands of Maronite Catholics for the traditional Christian holiday, which commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. He also delivered the fifth reading during the service.
“For through the law I die to the law so that I might live to God,” he read from Galatians.”I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I that live, but it is Christ that lives in me.”
Australian media reports say St. Charbel draws one of the largest gathering of Catholics in Australia. It is estimated that 53 percent of Lebanese-Australians are Maronite Catholic.
St. Charbel was first established in Australia in 1972 when Cardinal James Darcy Freeman gave the Lebanese Maronite Order a green light to build a chapel. Since then, the church has become one of the largest Maronite communities in the world.
Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher used his Easter message to discuss the religious persecution of Christians around the world.
“Terrorism and religious persecution are now also major concerns, especially in the Middle East, Africa and Asia,’ he said.
Australian Labor MP Tony Burke also attended and spoke at the service.