Priests end retreat

CATHOLIC priests attending the weeklong national retreat for priests at the Holy Spirit Seminary in Bomana have been urged to become intimate with Christ and be faithful to their commitments in order to become effective in what they do.
Visiting Australian priest and guest speaker Monsignor Peter Jeffery had called on priests to show Christ-likeness in their service as preachers of the word and healers of souls.
“Priesthood is all about doing whatever Christ tells us to do, it is permanent and will never change,” Fr Jeffery from the Sunhust Diocese of Australia said.
He said while they celebrated the theme for the retreat “faithfulness to Christ and faithfulness to priesthood,” they must have in mind that as priest they must not asked to be successful but to be faithful to their commitment.
“Our priesthood is a call not a career, it is a definition in itself not a ministry, it is a way of life and not a job and lifelong commitment not a temporary lifestyle,” Fr Jeffery said urging participations to act as priest, serve and function as priest during their everyday lives.
He added that priests were promoters of unity of people with God through the sacraments as a sign of initimate union with God and human.
More than 60 priests including bishops from Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands gathered for the retreat at the Bomana in the outskirts of Port Moresby.
The Catholic Bishops of PNG and SI through the Catholic Bishop Conference Secretariat organised the International Retreat for Priests which is in view of the declaration of June 2009 to June 2010 as the “Year of Priests” by Pope
Benedict XVI.