Passionist group leaders bring youth closer to God

by ROWENA OREJANA
Three Palmerston North youth workers were recognised for their outstanding service in evangelising
to young people through the Passionist retreats that they have held every year for the past 10
years.

Norma Bellamy and Paul and Darbyshire, all members of the Passionist Family group, had been bringing young people closer to God using the Passionist charism.
“It’s nice to get acknowledgement from New Zealand bishops. And it was an opportunity for us
to acknowledge all those who have helped us. We have had a lot of support in our diocese and in our region,” said Mrs Darbyshire.
Norma Bellamy started the retreat 10 years ago. She said her friend’s children at the time went
to a Passionist retreat, and she wanted that experience for her own children.
Her oldest son loved it. “Really, the ball was in my court. I thought then that we needed someone to organise the retreat, and I started that just because I believed in it. It’s a good way of evangelising our children,” Mrs Bellamy said.
Fortunately, she said, the Darbyshires brought their boy along in one of the retreats and they also saw the importance of evangelising to young people and committed themselves to the retreat.
Mrs Darbyshire said she and husband had attended Passionist retreats and thought it was a good
idea to hold a version of the same for young people.
“There were two reasons why we did it. We thought it was too good to keep. We wanted to share
it, really,” she said.
The enthusiasm and openness of young people to the Holy Spirit during the retreat had made it imperative for them to keep it going.
“Its the kind of environment where they can go just a little bit deeper than they can in real life
out there in the world,” said Mrs Darbyshire.
She added that it has been the first retreat for some where they get to explore who they are in
relation to others, God and themselves.
“At that time in their lives is a really good opportunity to know they’re okay and they’re not
alone and to learn a process from which they can learn how to deal with problems and [to know] that they’ve got choices and power in themselves regardless of what they’ve gone through up to that point in their lives,” she said.
Mrs Bellamy said they are enriched just seeing the young people go through the process. “It’s
hard to put into words, really, but the Spirit is there. In every camp, something comes up and you just get blown away by it,” she said.
The three, however, are getting ready to hand over the reins to the next generation. Some of
the young people who have gone through the first retreats are being trained to give the retreats
themselves.
“What we are going to do now is to build up a team in New Zealand who are learning how to do
a Passionist retreat. And so we are hoping that in the next few years that we can support a group
of people who can carry on,” Mrs Darbyshire said.