Sydney, Australia, Jan 13, 2020 / 18:18 pm
Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney urged Mass attendees Sunday to pray for an end to the Australia fires, which have destroyed thousands of homes, and to donate to those affected.
The bushfires in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia have killed at least 28, and destroyed more than 2,000 homes. More than 2,400 square miles are now on fire, and some 38,600 square miles have burned.
"We gather in the shadow of a drought that has now lasted for three years and a bushfire season already the most intense in our country's history," Archbishop Fisher said during his homily at Mass in St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney Jan. 12.
"[We] stand with all those suffering the destruction of drought and fire, and all those assisting them."