By John McDevitt

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Honoring ethnic diversity, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia held its 16th annual cultural heritage mass Saturday at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul.

Many faithful representing about 20 different counties were in ethnic clothing . Scripture, readings, prayers and hymns were in several different languages including Swahili, Vietnamese, Indonesian and Polish.

Mary Giampietro was in a traditional Slovakian kroj dress with a wreath of flowers crowned on her head. She with members of her parish St. Agnes-St. John Nepomucene.

“As much as this is a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate what a universal church we have, there is beauty in the individual identities that we bring because all of those individual traits add to the colorful tapestry of the Catholic church. If you don’t maintain that identity at the individual parish level, that will disintegrate.”

Archbishop Charles Chaput was the celebrant of the mass.

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