Final Week and Closing of the School of Mission 2016

The School of Mission in Wellington, New Zealand, began on 23 October 2016 with 18 participants offering a clean slate to Jesus in order for Him to have the freedom to fill it in. The School ran under the leadership of Brian Suhada. 

In the last 5 months God has worked in each of the participant's lives uniquely. Some of their experiences would last a lifetime. They have experienced joy & laughter; pain & tears; struggles & challenges; all of which enabled them in some way to seek Christ, lean on Him and find their identity in Him.

The first part of the school involved teachings on the Catholic understanding of our faith. The latter part was the application of those teachings where ​the participants were given the opportunity to share what they have received to the people they met during a time of outreach around New Zealand.  The weeks were brought to a close with a week of retreat led by Fr. Neil Vaney, a Marist Priest and Pastoral Director of Catholic Enquiry Centre, NZ. He gave them additional tools for discernment for when they arrive back to their home countries.

The School came to an official end on Sunday, 12 March with the closing mass celebrated by Fr. Bernard Espiritu, the director of the Pontifical Missions Societies, New Zealand.  Fr. Bernard’s words were truly encouraging. Although things in life may seem burdensome to us, it is the burden that will unravel itself into wings and gives us the strength to fly. When the yoke is put on the bull, it means that it is time for the bull to get to work. We are to remember that when a yoke is placed on us there is always a farmer behind. In our lives, the farmer is Jesus and together with Him we are to move forward. The third point he shared was that God uses the simple and ordinary to make extraordinary things like a curtain material being made into a priest’s stole. God works through each of us no matter how ordinary we may thing we are. 

The celebrations continued in the evening with a formal ‘Agape Meal’. On this joyous occasion, we had the privilege of having Mario and Anna Cappello - the founders of the ICPE Mission - join us by Skype to share their words of wisdom with the staff and the participants of the school. Their message focused on persevering in cultivating the seeds that are planted in their lives by God through the staff of the school. After the school, the participatns would need God's grace to persevere in learning to walk with God. In the end their life's purpose would give God the greater glory. 

Hearing some testimonies, we truly believe that God has done something marvelous in the lives of the participants of the School. We pray that God continues to journey with each of them wherever the Lord calls them to and that they be God's light to all whom they encounter in their journey ahead.

Participants of the School of Mission 2016

We, the ICPE Mission Team, sincerely thank each of you who have supported the participants and the staff of the school with your prayers. Much graces have been received during this time. 

We pray that God's abundant blessings be also on you and your family at all times.

South Island Outreach – Week 3 (25 Feb – 4 Mar) @ Christchurch

The final week had the South Island team seeing that God can change things up. Even if we thought things would be similar to the past 2 weeks, He kept us on our feet by allowing us to grow in our flexibility to change. On Sunday, we spontaneously visited a meeting of disabled/handicap people and shared with them God's love through a sign language song and a short sharing by Fr Francis. In the evening, we met with the two youth groups of the parish and touched upon the issue of their identity as a child of God in this day and age. The team had a good time mingling with the different groups and it was a good start to the week in Christchurch. 

 From the presentations during the different masses in St Gregory's Church, the team was invited three other groups during the week. On the 27th of Feb, we shared our joy of music with young children under the age of 5 and their parents through the presentation of 2 sign language songs. On Tuesday, we continued with our primary school program at St Joseph's primary with various teachings around God's love and friendship with Him. All the children from the different classes were encouraged to share the love they have received from God to others around. The same message was shared with the students of St Patrick's primary in Kaiapoi on Thursday. While on Friday, the team was invited to the school assembly of New Brighton Catholic School (Mary Immaculate) where in following the school's theme of the year of 'knowing you, knowing me', we presented skits and sign language song that revolved around one's identity as a beautiful child of God.

1st of March marked the start of Lent and the team was invited to participate in the ecumenical service for Ash Wednesday. It was an eye-opening experience for the team as we saw Catholics and Anglicans coming to start lent together. During the service, the team also presented a sign language song to all in attendance and it was well-received with some saying to the team that they will attend the parish seminars as well. 

The parish seminars held for St Joseph's Parish, Papanui, ran for 3 days. Each day's seminar was so well received that members of the congregation invited others to join for the following seminars. Fr Francis focused on the topics of 'knowing the light, receiving the light and being the light' in his sharing of God's love and compassion and the acceptance of all into the kingdom of heaven is regardless of past deeds. And that God uses our failures and setbacks to glorify His name and we should not be laden down by these past setbacks. 

In this final week of outreach, we hope that that 'spark' we created in the parish would start something new and stir up the hearts of the parishioners to do even more for the kingdom of God!

North Island Outreach – Week 3 (25 Feb – 3 Mar) @ Whanganui

We presented a sign language piece entitle ‘You are my father’ and presented our cardboard testimonies at Holy Family Church as soon as we arrived at Whanganui and it was well received.

We had a great time with the children at St. Mary’s. We did a selection of mimes, skits, and teachings centered on God’s love and True Friendship. The teachers related all teachings to the theme of our mission which is ‘Light.’

We were truly blessed to meet all senior grades at Cullinane College in one day. It was a very fruitful experience with many teachings centred on the topic of identity. The topic was well received and students participated actively in our action songs.

We were privilege to have Rex delivering a sensational teaching on “How to be a Saint”, bringing into the picture the very patron saint of the school, St. Marcelin. The young students were very intrigued by the stories of the saints and enjoyed the mimes and actions songs.

The other primary school we get to reach out to is St. Anne’s School. Half the North Island team catered to a group of 80 young students on 03 March while the rest of the team engaged 100 younger children at the other end of the school.

We had the pleasure of visiting our first and last rest home, Nazareth Home during the outreach on 03 March. The aged residents actively participated in singing old hymns and most reacted positively to the cardboard testimony mime. Rachel also shared a moving talk about her experience of Jesus.

 

Parish seminar has also been really amazing. The first night witnessed Mateusz leading us into a time of worship singing classic songs entitled ‘Amazing grace’ and ‘As we gather.’ The parishioners participated actively and appreciated the testimony shared by Amanda later that evening.  In the second night, the parishioners participated in an action song entitled ‘This little light of mine’ and sang along to some of the older hymns ‘What a friend we have in Jesus’ and ‘Amazing Love.’  The second evening also saw most parishioners availing of the sacrament of reconciliation. On the last evening of parish seminar, we presented a mime titled ‘Where can I go from your spirit?’. The parishioners were moved by the praise and worship session, the mime and the talk given by Susilo on the Holy Spirit. The seminar concluded with a time of laying of hands by the parish priests and Father Alliston.

We found it hard to leave Whanganui after the care and concern shown to us by the entire parish. There were a few tears as we parted ways and made our final trip to Wellington. 

South Island Outreach – Week 2 @ Church of the Holy Family, Wanaka and Church of St. John the Baptist, Alexandra

The team entered into the beautiful towns of Wanaka and Alexandra this week. On Sunday, the team joined the congregation at Wanaka, Cromwell, Alexandra and Roxburgh for the celebration of the Eucharist as well as presenting a sign language song as an invitation to join us for the seminars of the week. In the evening, at the youth gathering, the team ended up spending some time with the older parishioners who showed that they were very much young-at-heart. All present were reminded that the Bible was God's love letter to us, and He is always there to reach out to us. He is always there to pick us up and help us along the way. And no matter how old we are, He will always be our father and the love letter will always be relevant in all seasons of life.

While in Wanaka, we visited Holy Family Primary and shared the joy that Jesus is everyone's friend and has given His love regardless of whether we have been good or naughty. The same message was passed on to the students of St Gerard's primary, where we also shared the interesting fact that the missionaries were living in the very first church named after St Gerard Majella. Both students and teachers appreciated the messages shared and took part whole-heartedly in all the creativity, especially with the dancing!

  

 

 Positive feedback was received from the seminars held at both parishes and the most impressionable comment was when a parishioner stated that even with the mission team leaving, she hoped that the no matter how small a 'spark' that was created in the parish, it would somehow create a bigger fire somewhere. We pray that this statement becomes fulfilled with the amazing graces from our Lord! 

North Island Outreach – Week 2 @ St. Mary Star of the Sea, Gisborne

We arrived at Gisborne at 6 pm on 18 February. At mass, we presented a sign language piece entitled ‘You are my father” with our cardboard testimonies. On the next day we had the opportunity to reach out to the youth group at St. Mary Star of the Sea. We led them through games, praise and worship session and group discussion which appealed to the youth and some have decided to be more regular and attend mass each week.



On 20 Feb, we spent some time with the Filipino Community through teaching, sign language and praise and worship session with the adult. Simultaneously we had a session on identity with the youth. Both sessions were well received and the youth especially were very open during the group discussion.

Special mass with Year 13 at St. Mary Star of the Sea on the 21^st were well received with ‘Testify to Love’ Skit and Father Alliston’s homily also followed the theme of the Love of God. We participated in singing hymns in the Maori language along with the students.On the 22^nd, we ministered to Year 10 classes at Campion College. The topic was Identity and the students revealed their major identity concerns during our group sessions. Some have asked to stay in touch to learn more about Jesus.

Having fun with year 1 to 6 students at the primary school on the same day would be a “light” moment for us as it was for them as we spoke about Jesus being the Light and being a true friend. Three hours special on “Friendship with Jesus and “How to be a Saint” was well spent on the 23^rd with the students at St. Mary Star of the Sea. The students were asked to prepare a 5 minute skit on saints and did remarkably well in a short time frame. The students left feeling extremely excited to proclaim the name of Jesus.  Parish seminar kicked started with the sign language piece “So You Would Come” and Sylvia shared her testimony which she concluded by explaining how she received the Love of the Father. We lead the parishioners through a prayer ministry session, inviting them to be prayed over to receive the love of the Father. Similar to the seminar at Whangarei, we had a session on sin and salvation and all parishioners were invited to write down their sins and place those papers at the foot of the cross. The Sacrament of Reconciliation was also made available to all parishioners. Parish Seminar concluded with the night on the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

South Island Outreach – Week 1 (12 – 18 Feb) @ St. Patrick’s, Greymouth and St. Mary’s, Hokitika

16 missionaries (including 1 toddler) took to the roads of the South Island and over the past week have been reaching out to the people of 2 parishes; namely, St Patrick's parish in Greymouth and St Mary's parish in Hokitika. Sunday was a day full of activities with the team going to 5 different Churches between the 2 parishes to invite the congregations down for the week of seminars.

In the evening, the team was joined by the junior and senior youths of St Patrick's Church for a beautiful time of fun and adoration. In the realization that Jesus is a Friend, they were asked to write a letter to Him and to light a candle as a representation of us being the light of the world.

The following Monday started the school outreaches to St Patrick's primary school and John Paul II high school in Greymouth as well as St Mary's primary school in Hokitika. In the high school, we focused on the topic of identity and the students were asked to look at the masks they wear in life and were then challenged to take it off, for when they do so, Jesus would then be able to work in their lives. With the primary schools, the team kept things fun and interesting with skits, dancing and teachings - on God's love, his friendship with us and the characteristics the Jesus holds. 

Tuesday and Wednesday had the team conducting parish seminars in Hokitika while on Thursday and Friday, we held the seminars in Greymouth. At both places, we focused on the love of the Heavenly Father and His compassion. There was time of adoration and reconciliation and the team brought the event to a deeper meaning with their sign language songs and testimonies.

We thank the hospitality of both the host parishes and believe that God is continuing to work wonders in the two parishes.

North Island Outreach – Week 1 @ St. Francis Xavier Church, Whangarei

A team of 16 missionaries started the journey to the north on Friday, 10 Feb 2017. The journey was long and awesome.  On the next day upon arrival, we presented our cardboard testimonies at the Youth Mass and it was a true blessing to witness the positive response of the parishioners as many were moved to tears by what God has done in our lives.

We were blessed to present to a group of 300 primary school students (Years 1-4) at St. Francis Xavier School on the third day of outreach through action songs, a mime and a fun dance. The students kept asking for more!

We were also privileged to reach out to the students at Pompallier College on the fourth day during their school assembly with the skit “Testify to Love”. This short skit that spoke of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross was well received by the students

Parish Seminar started off with the talk on the Father Heart of God and we ministered to the parishioners of St. Francis Xavier’s Church in pairs, comforting them by representing their parents. The first night ended with the parishioners queuing for personal prayer and to receive the Father’s love. The second night’s topic was Jesus, the Son of God. It was a time of deep reflection with the availability of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Parish Seminar ended with the topic on the Holy Spirit on the third night where parishioners were invited to the altar to receive prayer.

We also got a chance to spend some amazing time with the youth of the parish. We engaged with them through action songs, praise and worship. It is a joy to see them responding positively to the name of Jesus.

ONE DAY YOUTH RETREAT

On the 11 March, a team of three ICPE staffs headed by Fr. Alliston conducted a one day retreat for the youth organized by the Missionary of Charities congregation sisters. We started of with a fun filled sing-a-long song to warm them up before we led them to a time of praise and worship. 

This was followed by a teaching on Father's Heart of God delivered by Fr. Alliston, and worksheets were given to them to reflect on their responses in terms of commitments for this Lenten season in view of the teaching they have received. It was later followed by a guided adoration by Sr. Hanah from Missionary of Charities with Sacrament of Reconciliation made available by our priest.  

We had a lunch break once we finished with the adoration session before we resumed with an Eucharistic Mass celebrated by Fr. Alliston. During the mass a testimony was delivered by Bibiana and all those who were present were touched by her life story. 

All in all we ended the sessions with a short message of thanks delivered by the youth representative.