Bishop Robert Mphiwe: Retreats offer renewal and sabbatical for priests in need

By Sheila Pires – The renewal programmes offered to Diocesan and Religious Priests by the Clergy Department of the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) are meant to help Priests integrate and it’s an opportunity for growth, the Southern African Council of Priests (SACOP) Liaison Bishop has said.

In an interview with the SACBC communications office, Bishop Robert Mphiwe of Rustenburg Diocese said, “The ongoing formation focuses really on priests and as well as religious who are in need of some kind of a sabbatical or a renewal programme.”

He added, “The main purpose of this is really to continue to help priests to integrate… to better understand their own identity as priests with the work that they do. And together with the mission of Christ and the mission of the church because all of us need to continue to grow. So that is why these programmes are given to give an opportunity for that growth, that integration.”

Bishop Mphiwe said the two-week programme held at Coolock House in Melville, KwaZulu Natal is offered once a year to “ordained priests, whether he is in a parish or doing any other pastoral work within the diocese, who, after a number of years of service, may need a bit of a break and some kind of a renewal.”

He explained that the ongoing formation programme “is offered to any priest who needs to be away for some time, to connect with himself and then to use this opportunity to rest, as well as to be intellectually informed and also to interact with other priests. We try to make the programme as relaxed as possible while it also includes intellectual input.”

The SACBC Liaison Bishop for Ongoing Formation of Priests went on to say that the programme gives priests an opportunity to share experiences about their ministry. According to Bishop Mphiwe, it would be “very important and helpful if priests themselves were able to make us aware of the areas where they need help, areas of their interest and areas that they believe will be very helpful in their own ministry.”

“I think we would love to hear a lot from priests because it is their programme. It’s not the bishop’s program, it is their programme,” said Bishop Mphiwe, and added, “We encourage priests to take advantage of programmes like this because they are very important not only for priests personally but it also benefits the Church.”

He continued, “One of the characteristics of ongoing formation is that it is ecclesial in a sense that, it benefits the Church. When a priest goes on renewal a programme, it is the people that he serves who benefit from his renewal and his ongoing formation.”

The two-week programme includes presentations on human development, communion in ministry, financial management, the synoptic Gospels as well as public health emergency preparedness.

According to Bishop Mphiwe, the SACBC is “working towards sabbaticals for clergy and religious.”

“We hope that very soon we’ll be able to put a programme together and get the right facilitators. And we hope that there will also be a very positive response to it,” said Bishop Mphiwe.