St Clare’s Parish Retreat Involves Police, Community Discussion
(Left) Sacred Heart Sodality members. (Right) Police spokesperson addresses the parish
By Bricks Mokolo – St Clare’s parish in Orange Farm, Gauteng, hosted a retreat led by the Sodality of Sacred Heart and preached by Fr Emmanuel Mosoeu OMI.
The theme of the retreat was: Sharing experiences about the current situation in Orange Farm through the Spirituality of the Cross. Eight challenges facing the Orange Farm community were the focus: drugs, unemployment, crime, poverty, Covid-19, GBV, xenophobia and mental health.
Fr Mosoeu guided the retreat in five parts: First, there was the Way of the Cross with stations outside the church. This was followed by robust and honest discussions on how individuals in a parish community can fight these ills in Orange Farm. Next was input from the police, who were invited to speak to the parish. This was followed by Holy Mass and Confessions.
The police appreciated that they were invited to give input in partnership with the Church to fight crime in the area. They said that the Church is the conscience of society and that they wish that all churches would imitate St Clare’s parish. The police said that were the churches to join the police to tackle crime in the area, much would be achieved because churches have a great influence on thousands of citizens of Orange Farm on Sundays.
Police challenged parents to discipline their children and not expect the police to do it for them. A partnership between parents and police is necessary; it’s a sine qua non, they said.
Fr Kgomotso Sebopela MCCJ celebrated Mass filled with spiritual enrichment through ululating, dance and step. The spirituality of St Francis featured much during the Mass and during the entire retreat. The retreat touched many with deep spiritual renewal.
St Clare’s parish thanks Fr Kifle Kirba MCCJ and Sebopela, Parish Priests, for allowing and organising this sacred event and the Sodality of Sacred Heart for leading the day.
The parish prays: May God help us to get rid of these ills in our society of Orange Farm. May our parish, as individuals and as a community, put a definite hand into being Community Serving Humanity in the people of Orange Farm.
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