Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Brisbane Catholic dad Steven Bird invites Christians to put palms outside their homes this Sunday

byEmilie Ng
2 April 2020
Reading Time: 3 mins read
AA

Faith palmed: Steven Bird and his family are putting palm branches outside their homes to publicly demonstrate their faith on the streets. Photo: Supplied.

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Faith palmed: Steven Bird and his family are putting palm branches outside their homes to publicly demonstrate their faith on the streets. Photo: Supplied.

SINCE churches can’t be adorned with palms branches this Sunday, Steven Bird has a plan to cover the front of his home instead.

The father of three is among millions of Catholics who will enter Holy Week, which starts on Palm Sunday, with a heavy heart because of the unforeseen closure of churches nationwide.

Palm Sunday, this year celebrated on April 5, is also one of Mr Bird’s favourite feast days.

When he was a youth minister at Our Lady of Lourdes church, Sunnybank, he would plaster palm branches all over the driveway and outside wall of the church, creating a stunning contrast from the full-on red interior.

But this year, without a church to adorn, Mr Bird is plucking up his courage to show his love for the faith by putting palm branches outside his home.

The Bird family house is already covered with coronavirus boredom busters – last week Mr Bird put his Christmas lights back up for some well-needed cheer, and he rustled his two sons to perch teddy bears on their four front windows.

But four days ago Mr Bird had an idea for Christians who were struggling to “get out of that desert before Easter” – why not put palm branches outside their homes as a type of “modern-day evangelisation”?

“I thought that on the weekend, maybe we should put palms outside our houses to represent, as one Christian community, our unity in sharing with others the struggle that we can’t get to our communities to celebrate together,” Mr Bird said.

“I thought, ‘How cool would it be to see palms on letterboxes?’”

Mr Bird wasn’t alone in his thinking.

Related Stories

Faithful Mary’s testament to Christ’s resurrection

The truth of Easter shines brightly and brings abundant healing

Let us move forward in faith as disciples of the risen Lord

On March 30, the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit in Oregon posted a similar idea on their Facebook page, calling Christians to put branches on their doors.

The idea was eventually shared by a Brisbane priest earlier this week.

Mr Bird said this motivated him to start an Australian Facebook event, Palm Your Place, to encourage Christians Down Under to share their faith on the streets.

Within 24 hours, Mr Bird had more than 120 people confirmed to put palms or any green bush out the front of their house.

“Initially it was an idea of celebrating running into Easter together from our homes,” Mr Bird said.

“Also for the kids, it’s a bit of something to do – the boys said they want to walk down the hallway of our home before Mass which we’ll be watching on the live stream.”

Mr Bird is now waiting to see how many streets are lined with palms leaves, the way it was when Jesus entered Jerusalem.

“And I would love to see people taking photos of the letterboxes and using the hashtag #PalmYourPlace just to try and get into sharing Christian community,” Mr Bird said.

Mr Bird said this pandemic was a time for Christians to strengthen and share their faith, especially in isolation.

“At a time like this, maybe that’s what we need, to trust in God more,” he said.

“It’s the Job or Noah moment, we can’t keep ignoring it, we need to get on the boat.

“In this time of doubt and uncertainty, we can be evangelising to that neighbour over the fence, or the person across the road.”

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Church properties could be made available to limit COVID-19 in Australia

Next Post

Deacon Adam Walk says ‘new normal’ in sight for future of Australian economy and churches

Emilie Ng

Emilie Ng is a Brisbane-based journalist for The Catholic Leader.

Related Posts

Faithful Mary’s testament to Christ’s resurrection
Faith

Faithful Mary’s testament to Christ’s resurrection

19 April 2022
‘Society will never be the same’ – Queensland bishop warns against abandoning vulnerable people to euthanasia
Faith

The truth of Easter shines brightly and brings abundant healing

18 April 2022
The season of ‘anticipation, hope, love and family’
Faith

Let us move forward in faith as disciples of the risen Lord

17 April 2022
Next Post

Deacon Adam Walk says ‘new normal’ in sight for future of Australian economy and churches

Seafarer pastoral workers are reaching out to crews stuck on board ships amid COVID-19

Families can use self-isolation to bolster domestic church with Catechesis of the Good Shepherd

Popular News

  • Celebration marks Sister Angela Mary’s 75 years’ service to Mater and Queensland

    Celebration marks Sister Angela Mary’s 75 years’ service to Mater and Queensland

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Confraternity Carnival ready for a full return in Mackay next week

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Three Queensland deacons preparing for priestly ordinations in the next week

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • US states start banning abortion following historic Supreme Court ruling

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Parents of young mother considered for sainthood share powerful testimony at World Meeting of Families

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Abdallah family deliver powerful Vatican speech
Family

Abdallah family deliver powerful Vatican speech

by Guest Contributor
27 June 2022
0

By Agencies including CNS, Vatican News and staff writers Danny and Leila Abdallah used a speech during...

Look to the future, not the past, pope tells families

Look to the future, not the past, pope tells families

27 June 2022
US states start banning abortion following historic Supreme Court ruling

US states start banning abortion following historic Supreme Court ruling

27 June 2022

Why you should go on a pilgrimage — more than once

25 June 2022
Celebration marks Sister Angela Mary’s 75 years’ service to Mater and Queensland

Celebration marks Sister Angela Mary’s 75 years’ service to Mater and Queensland

25 June 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping