Catholic Professionals Society members attend annual retreat

The Catholic Professional Society-PNG (CPS) in the Archdiocese of Port Moresby gathered for a prayerful retreat over the weekend at the Sivarai Namona Pastoral Center outside Port

Moresby from the 14th to the16th March 2025.

CPS attendees of the retreat take a group picture

The annual retreat was special in two-fold. It was timely that it falls within the Lenten period in the Church’s liturgical calendar during the jubilee year, where Catholics everywhere stop to recall what Jesus did to save us from our sinful ways through his passion, death, and resurrection. A time to listen more, a time to empty oneself, and a time to think about others.

For CPS members, it was a personal journey of discernment, commitment, and challenges.

The opportunity for renewal and re-think of the hope as a group within the Church journeying from the darkness to light, particularly the socio-economic and political conditions we find today. A call to giving more individually and collectively as Catholic professionals.

‘You have to be a disciple of Christ first before you take up the mission’, said President Paul Harricknen.

The retreatants were also taken through induction on the ‘Way of Life’ for the Society. A life

that one has to commit oneself and to take up the plough in the Lord’s vineyard. It identifies

specific moral and social teachings of the Church, the charism and spirituality that binds us

together as sons and daughters of the light, sharing the kingly, priestly and prophetic mission of Christ. The key to the mission is prayer. A branch cannot bear much fruit without the stem, as there cannot be mission without the discipleship of Jesus.

Mr. Dominic To Mar, the moderator of the retreat, highlighted the Bible and the Catechism of

the Church as the source to draw from to deepen one’s faith and to intimately communicate

with God. The Gospel reading on the “Transfiguration’ of Christ on the mountain, at the closing Holy Mass summed up the retreat. In his homily Fr. Edward Ante, of the Catholic Theological Institute, highlighted the lenten season as a time to spend with Christ and find the mountain top experience of the transfiguration as the three disciples did. Peter said Lord it is good that we are here! So, we make three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah. Peter feels so touched that he did not want to go back down. For the CPS members, it is time to go back into the real world of the families and communities with renewed strength. This encounter should re-kindle the three-fold mission of Christ received during the baptism, to be priest, prophet and king in our lives, families and in all we do in the communities.

A special thank you to Mr. Dominic To Mar who moderated the retreat with contributions from President Paul Harricknen and Fr Edward Ante, for the inspiring reflections and the motivation sharing by everyone.