A group of 50 young adults from Sydney’s Vietnamese community came together recently for a retreat where they explored the theme: “Me, Myself and God”.
It’s the 74th year that the retreat has been held and the guest speaker was Fr Manh Le SVD, a Vietnamese Australian priest currently ministering with the Indigenous community of Palm Island, off the coast of Townsville.
Fr Manh, who used to be chaplain for the Thanh Nien Cong Giao group when he was living in Sydney, said the retreat was an important time for the young people to examine their cultural heritage, their own identity, and their relationship with God.
“These young people are mostly born in Australia of Vietnamese parents and in some ways they are caught between two cultures,” he said.
“So, it’s good that they come together and they keep struggling to find their own voice and their own faith journey with God.”
As part of his presentations over the three days, Fr Manh drew links between the Vietnamese young people and the Indigenous peoples of Australia, who he said were also caught between two cultures. He explained how the Voice to Parliament would help the voice of First Nations people be heard by all Australians.
One of the organisers of the Vietnamese youth gathering, Ann Pham, said the theme of the retreat was explored from different perspectives over the three days.
“The retreat looked at how we are living in a world that is quite secular and very focused on your self, your life, your career and happiness,” she said.
“We are a young adult ministry and that mindset is quite big, because at this stage we are without husband or wife or children. We’re mostly at university or just fresh out into our career and there’s a lot of focus on ourselves.
“So Fr Manh helped us think about how we can make God be the centre of our life again, how we can bring God back to the centre.”
The first day focused on the ‘Me’ in ‘Me, Myself and God’, with participants looking at who they are as a person and how they project themselves to the world.
“We wanted our members to own who they are and be proud of who they are,” Ann said.
On Day Two, attention turned to the ‘Myself’ aspect of the theme.
“We looked at how God intended us to be, how we were made by God in an intentional way and that we are so important that even before we were born, God knew us. God knew us before we knew ourselves and God wants us to go deeper in our relationship with him.”
The third day was a reflective one, focused on the presence of God in the Eucharist.
“The Pope’s prayer intention for July was on the Eucharist and our reflections focused on the true presence of Jesus during Mass and we ended with a fantastic Adoration night,” Ann said.
She said the retreat helped the participants to know themselves better and to deepen their personal relationship with God.
“Our ministry group is based in a Vietnamese parish and because of that we attend Vietnamese Mass with our families, but we have a language barrier problem because we are not as fluent in Vietnamese as our parents are,” she said.
“So, God feels like a big part of our culture, but for us, it can often be a very passive process.
“That’s part of what our ministry is about. We’re like-minded in that we have come from the same sort of cultural background and experience, but now we are at an age where it’s important to explore our own relationship with God, to ask ‘Who is my God?’ and to be reminded that we were created to be in relationship with him.”
PHOTOS
TOP RIGHT: Fr Manh Le SVD gave presentations on the theme, 'Me, Myself and God'.
MIDDLE and BOTTOM: The retreat included a range of faith-building activities and liturgies, including Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.