Church's International Festival Reflects Colorful Inclusive Community

March 1, 2024 | By Lee Nessel, EverythingBrevard Managing Editor

Share by Email

View Full Image

At one point in my life, I declared the gym my church. After going through a divorce, a crappy follow-up relationship, intense career changes and too many losses of immediate family members, escaping into exercise has been a lifelong solace.

But as for an actual place of worship, that’s also been a lifelong journey of seeking, which started when my youngest brother was born with severe cerebral palsy, attributed to doctor error. A perfectly good potential of a life wasted. Matthew died at age 6 (I was 13).

So religion morphed into a mystery — the title of one of my 7th-grade papers was “God: Creator of the Universe or Creation of our Minds?” Curious young Lee wanted to know. I wanted evidence. Beyond the obvious questions, I also wondered why Matthew’s short life played out the way it did, and why a family should have to contend with such intense grief.

In college, I went on to double major in journalism and religion. I couldn’t get enough of studying various cultures and their motivations and manifestations of faith. It seemed the more learning I could soak up, the more tolerant, understanding and open-minded I would remain. Sometimes confused. To this day, I find it fascinating to listen to and learn about what motivates and comforts people.

I enjoyed visiting others “houses.”

So, I’d like to celebrate and thank the amazing people who call St. John the Evangelist Catholic Community in Viera home. What started as an invitation for my daughter, Ella Grace Helton, to sing the national anthem at a fundraiser hosted at the church has turned into more invitations for her (and me) to be a part of more wonderful and inclusive events.

They’ve never asked if we are catholic (we are not) and have never implied we need to join the church. But we sure feel a part of their amazing community.

The perfect example of this was their recent International Festival. When I started to learn the background and the heart and soul behind the volunteer power going into it, I wanted to sing their praises in our magazine. But the team conferred and said, “No.” They did not need publicity. It’s extremely rare for an organization to turn down an offer to have an article written publicizing their upcoming event, but once I attended the festival, I realized why.

I felt like the entire world had shrunk into that one large banquet hall because so many countries were represented, and the energy that flowed as about 1,500 people migrated from country to country felt like the ocean currents traversing the globe.

Parishioners paraded gorgeous large homemade banners representing 34 countries to their respective tables, with 30 countries sponsoring food and 29 donating baskets to the raffle. The entertainment portion (for which Ella was invited to perform on behalf of the United States) represented 12 countries.

More than 350 volunteers made it all happen, including the planning committee that began work about 6 months prior, and members of the Boy Scouts, church youth groups and Melbourne Central Catholic School Key Club.

We dined in Greece, Ireland, Italy, Belize, Argentina, Germany, France and several more countries — food all prepared by the parishioners and volunteers.

St. John's launched its first International Festival in 2018, with the guidance of parishioners from Ascension Catholic Church, which had been running the festival for years. The plan, I hear, is for the festival to run every two years, despite how much I, and surely many others, wish it could happen yearly. It was a pleasure to be surrounded and embraced by everyone across the world in one room.

And it was a proud moment as mom getting to watch Ella sing “America the Beautiful” and dance the jive in her red, white and blue alongside performers in garb representing their countries. Those few hours were an example of how the world could, and should, be.

Meet Our Managing Editor

EverythingBrevard Managing Editor and proud word nerd Lee Nessel is an award-winning journalist. She thinks best through her fingertips and started churning out iambic pentameter as a kid. She embraces last-minute cross-country travel and also works as a junior publicist thanks to her daughter Ella Grace Helton’s child acting adventures. She prefers to operate behind the scenes, shining the spotlight on the uplifting stories of the people making an impact on the Space Coast. Lee loves the barbell, home cooking and can’t stop tapping her foot to the great rhythms of being a ballroom dance mom.