November Clergy Days

November 6, 2024

Monday and Tuesday, November 4 & 5th, the clergy of the Diocese gathered at Our Lady of Hope Retreat Centre for clergy days.

The first hour and a half was the annual meeting of the membership of the Priest Benevolent Fund. These men are the incardinated priests of the diocese who contribute to and draw benefits from the retirement plan. Among other things that were discussed it was agreed by the active priests to increase their monthly contribution to the fund. This will help to provide for the retired priests of the diocese.

Then we moved into the real meat of the Clergy Days.

We began as all good things do with Evening Prayer .

Men @ Prayer

Followed by a wonderful supper of Breaded Pork Chops, mashed potatoes, carrots, with strawberry shortcake for dessert. All prepared by the skilled staff of the Retreat Centre.

Priests Getting ready for work. Gathered in small groups to reflect and discuss in a synodial manner.

Then we had the first session on the topic. An Update on Renewal

Bishop Joseph Dabrowski CSMA through all the Clergy Days shared his reflections on his first year and some of his hopes for the future.
Bishop Joseph & Fr. Chris Sheeren working tirelessly to prepare and execute all aspects of this gathering.
Charlene Peters, the Diocesan Catechetical Director and member of the Renewal Committee reported on the Summer meetings and provided the discussion questions for the three working sessions.

In Charleen’s report on the Summer meetings held at Jack Blanchard Hall in Charlottetown it was mentioned that the 100 people attending provided 13 full pages of feedback that have been studied by the Renewal Committee.

Then Charlene gave 3 Questions to the priests to answer and discuss around the individual tables:

  • 1) What do you think was the most important message Jesus incardinated and preached?
  • 2) What are your doubts and fears about Diocesan Renewal?
  • 3) What are your hopes for Diocesan Renewal?
Fr. Andrew Handrahan sharing his concerns, fears and hopes to Bishop Joseph, Fr. Frank Jay, Fr. Andrew MacDonald, Fr. Walter Flynn and Fr. Tim Broderick

Fr. Piotr Wojakiewicz CSMA, takes a selfie with his table. Fr. Peter provided all of the photos for this article.
Fr. Brian MacDougall, Fr. Albin Arsenault, Fr. Danny Wilson, and Fr. Krzysztof Stanula, CSMA answering the questions and sharing their views.
The spirit of good feeling, mutual respect and understanding among the priests accented the presence of The Holy Spirit. (Fr. Jacques holds his head so that the ideas do not come out too fast.)
Fr. John Lacey, Fr. Dasu Gorre and Fr. Kishore kept a very neat table. (Thumbs up from Fr. John)

There was a good amount of laughter around the tables mixed with the honest sharing of fears and hopes.

Fr. Krys reflecting the brighter side of pastoral care.

Following the first session there was a time for socializing and building fraternity an after a good night’s sleep we reconvened for Breakfast.

Fr. Jim Willick prepared the music for the prayer sessions and Mass
Tuesday after breakfast, Morning Prayer was lead by Fr. Andrew Handrahan.

Tuesday’s first session question was drawn from the Book by Fr. James Mallon; Divine Renovation

Fr. Chris presented the question to the priests: “What drives you CRAZY about your ministry.”

This was of course bad crazy not happy crazy.

That sparked very good sharing and a real appreciation for the differing perspectives of our presbyterate drawn from around the world.

That was followed by Mass with Bishop Joseph and all priests present concelebrating.

Followed by a scrumptious lunch of hamburger soup, garlic bread with ice cream with banana slices for dessert

Then back for the third session question: Dream Big.

“What would you do in your parish with unlimited resources of funds and personnel ?”

This tapped into the dreams of the clergy and a vision of what they would like their priestly ministry to be if there were no limitations.

After a short break Bishop Joseph shared some information about the upcoming Year of Jubilee and Fr. Chris passed out the conditions for the Jubilee Year Indulgences here on Prince Edward Island. Priests shared some ideas of things we can do as a diocese and in our individual parishes to promote and celebrate the Year of Hope.

Then we considered how we might build more effective communication among the clergy and it was resolved to have an additional working clergy day in June as well as local gatherings of clergy. Further details will be worked out as time progresses.

All and all it was a very successful and encouraging two days.