Recollection and Catechetical Gathering for Penampang Zone

Sep 04, 2014

By Judith Dunsia
Some 150 Sunday School and RCIA facilitators from Penampang zone (comprising Penampang, Terawi and Dontozidon Parishes) attended a Recollection and Catechetical Conference which was held at Pace Bene, Papar. This programme was organised to strengthen the Catholic faith of the participants in preparation for Catechetical Sunday that will be celebrated on September 21, 2014 (which will also be based on the same theme) and to strengthen the communion among faith formators from the three parishes. This programme was held at the retreat and spiritual formation FSIC Pace Bene, Papar organized jointly by the three parishes’ Catechetical Committee and Archdiocesan Catechetical Commission. Among the activities carried out on the first day was a Holy Mass followed by the opening of the first session of a talk entitled Be courageous! I have conquered the world which was presented by Fr Nicholas Stephen as the Commission Adviser. Participants were divided into groups for discussion after the talk finished.

On the second day, four talks were delivered in three different sessions. In the second session, a talk entitled, The Current Challenges that Threaten Our Faith was delivered by Brother Thomas Paul from the Montfort Brothers. This was then followed by three more talks entitled, Evangelization and Life Testimony, The beauty of the Catholic Faith and the final talk entitled, The Spirit of Mission. All three talks were presented in three different sessions and Fr Nick presented each talk on the second day.

Talks by both speakers were very effective and had a good impact on the participants. In a group sharing session after each talk, the participants realized that human life is very fragile. In the talk delivered by Bro Thomas, he encouraged the participants to be very thankful for having Christ with them because, without Him, human life would be in constant danger. Bro Thomas said that lifestyle of modern societies need to be understood and realized by the participants. The aim was to enable participants to understand the trend of present day adolescents or children and adjust their teaching to the students’ thought processes.

Fr Nick helped the participants to realize the importance of evangelizating creatively to find new parishioners or draw back those who have grown away from the Church. Various methods should be used to coax the students to know the Lord Jesus. Fr Nick also provided a variety of suggestions to evangelism such as setting up stalls to sell items with names that are in the Bible. In addition, he also urged that the Catechetical group visit the homes of the catholic community who rarely go to church or who live far from the Catholic Church, to build relationships between the catholic families.

On the second night, Fr Nick guided participants in the Holy Hour/Adoration & Reconciliation. This act was very special as all participants could feel the presence of the Lord Jesus. The Peace that was felt by participants at the time was a wonderful ending to the day’s programme.

On the third day, the sixth session entitled Jesus The Way, the Truth, and the Life was presented by Bro Thomas. In it, all the participants in each group shared very meaningful experiences which they could now take and share in their respective parishes. Overall, this retreat has succeeded in opening the minds of the participants to guide the learners and catechumens under their guidance and has refreshed their faith as well as renewed their commitment to serve. AMEN.