Eighth Week of the School of Mission

The week’s topic was on Catholic Church and Sacraments. Beautifully Fr. Francis began the week by sharing on the Sacraments. The Sacraments enable us to be born, to grow, to be healed, and to recover. The Sacraments are from God and lead us to God for they are Gods actions. Statements help us to celebrate life that Jesus brings us. We were enlightened as Fr. Francis shared a little about church history, about persecutions in the church and the importance of the first four councils of the church.

Fr. Alliston then explained to us how the Church was founded by Christ Himself as he then highlighted the four major marks of the Church; that of being One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. 

We concluded the week with an explanation on who Mary of Nazareth is: mother of God and our mother. We covered the four Marian dogmas: Mary as Mother of God, the Immaculate Conception, the Perpetual Virginity and the Assumption of Mary to heaven. Mary not only journeyed with Jesus through His life but continues to journey with the Church even after Jesus’ ascension. 

Christmas Street Outreach

The Staff and Participants of the School of Mission were blessed with the opportunity to reach out to people in the heart of Wellington CBD during this Christmas season. 

The skits, mimes, testimonials, short talks and meeting people one on one gave the participants firsthand experience of outreach as a community. It was an opportunity for all to share in the love and joy that Christ brings at this Christmas time.

Seventh Week of the School of Mission

This week was on the topic Spiritual Warfare. The speaker for the week was Fr. John Rea who is gifted in healing and deliverance. Fr. John shared on the topics intercession, spiritual warfare, inner healing including healing of memories and defending oneself spiritually. He also spoke about the harmful effects of dwelling into practices of some of the new age philosophies such as yoga, palm reading, horoscope etc. It was indeed a new revelation for some.

The week’s teachings were challenging. The key message was that the deepest desire in all of us is to be loved and when we fail to receive pure love due to our past wounds and hurts, we are lost, and we are affected physically and spiritually. It is only through Jesus who is the supreme intercessor, through His sanctifying love we have life and are set free.  

Sharing by one of the participants:

The week has been a real eye opener for me and I have loved every minute of it.  Spiritual warfare has always been a surreal topic to me but Fr. John Rea really made it personal. I have realised that spiritual warfare is real and powerful and have also learned about the power of interceding for others. I feel like Fr. John Rea’s talk on intercession has brought all the participants closer together. We are learning to submit to God and resist the devil. Thank you ICPE and Fr. John Rea for a wonderful life-changing week.

 - Amanda Abraham
   (United Arab Emirates)

Sixth Week of the School of Mission.

This week, the participants embarked on a time to grow in holiness as they had sessions on Christian Character. The participants were asked to look at the self and see the power of the tongue in the tearing down or up-building of our brothers and sisters. They saw the importance of practicing words of encouragement and also to respond to the call of being good stewards of God as God wishes for us to be collaborators in the work of creation, redemption and sanctification.

Participants were also reminded to be grateful of their daily experiences, to show gratitude to God’s daily blessings in their personal prayers, no matter how small they might be. They were shown the dangers of pride and how to ‘combat’ it through the virtue of humility.

We thank the speakers who shared God’s word along with their personal walk with the Lord. We thank Susilo, Wimpie, Fr. Alliston, Susan and Brian for their valuable teachings.

Please continue to pray for our participants as they enter into the week of Spiritual Warfare as they learn the power of intercessory prayers.

Sharing by one of the participants of the School of Mission 2016:

As compared to the previous weeks, this week was all about self-reflection, understanding and evaluating my own distinct character as a Christian. While at first I thought I knew the necessary virtues to be a true Christian, an in depth study of myself helped me see that I have to put in more practice and conscious efforts to develop a Christ-like character. I have begun this journey through the teachings on the virtues of stewardship, holiness, gratitude, humility and learning the power of words. It is humbling to see how God is using different circumstances to help develop my character. These circumstances always leave me with different choices and making the right choice is a matter of discernment, taking me one step closer to Jesus each time.

 - Michelle Almeida (India)

Fifth Week of the School of Mission

The fourth teaching week of the School of mission shifted our focus from God the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit to ourselves and the nature of the human person. As the participants were encouraged to look at their personal journey, there was only one place they could go with all their fears and brokenness… to the feet of Jesus.

While the sessions enabled them to comprehend their human behavior with all its emotions, the evening sessions of prayer ministry enabled them to come face to face with their pain.

Fr. Francis gave the participants an introductory session on the significance of inner healing on the first day and from the second day onwards, Diana Mascarenhas shared insights and experiences about the stages of human development, our self-image and self- acceptance, emotional well-being, identity and certain aspects of our human sexuality. The main message given by Diana all through the week was, “The journey towards healing and wholeness has begun. Do not be afraid to take off your mask.” 





Sharing by one of the participants of the School:

The week of inner healing was an important one for me. I didn't realize the impact of the early life experiences such as the prenatal period, my point of birth and my early childhood on me. All of these had the absence of my earthly father both physically and emotionally. It gave me answers as to why I felt and behaved in a certain way. Most importantly I experienced that truly all things are possible with God because He has healed areas in my life where I thought healing could never take place. Praise the Lord God Almighty!

- Bernadette Vidya