‘Hearts’ deals with hot topics

20 Hearts

Hearts Aflame 2019 started on January 4 in a spirit of expectation with a weekend retreat themed as “Called”, led by Hearts Aflame “old-boy” Fr Jeremy Palman from Auckland.

This year, “Hearts” – as if is commonly called – attracted 95 participants from around the country for the annual 10 days of prayer and formation. Lecturers from New Zealand and Australia came to share their expertise and wisdom. Some 2000 young people have experienced this Catholic summer school since it was established 27 years ago. It remains as strong as ever.

Designed for the 18-35 age group, participants have become the promoters themselves, encouraging their friends that they’ve got to go.

Held in the beautiful grounds of Nga Tawa Diocesan School in Marton, the summer school is handy to the main bus routes, near State Highway 1 and Palmerston North Airport, which is only 30 minutes away.

“Young people live extremely busy lives. The world is busy and yet the inner hunger still remains for stillness, peace, healing and introspection. They come to receive and grow in knowledge and faith,” said Jemma Brunton, head of the national leadership team.

The rhythm of the day at Hearts is set around morning/evening prayer, lectures, Mass and meals, with time for one-on-one talks with priests and adults and space to relax.

Key to the success of Hearts Aflame is the leadership team continually communicating and reflecting on topics.

This year, a new session called “Hot-Topics” was introduced, with the idea to help participants understand Catholic teaching, thereby enabling them to engage in conversations with love and compassion.

“One of the topics covered was divorce and remarriage and Fr Michael Therese, CSJ (Congregation of St John) from Christchurch looked at philosophy of freedom, nature and gender,” said Jemma. “They [the sessions] were hugely popular.”

A variety of other topics was available too.

To mention just a few of them – Grace Carroll from Wellington presented a two-part seminar on Pope Francis’s statement on the theology of the Revolution of Tenderness. Peter Holmes, a lecturer from Notre Dame University in Sydney, spoke about men of God – the theology of masculinity. Fr Robert Krishna, OP, the chaplain at Melbourne University, spoke on “Called to be Body of Christ” and Fr Neil Vaney, SM, from Wellington spoke on holiness.

Of the participants this year, first-time “Hearts” participant Katherine Abbott from Tauranga said she loved the summer school and would be back next year. Sandy Marks, from Whanganui, said he received a great deal of grace during his first time experience.  It was a source of spiritual renewal for him. Chris Blackford, from Wellington, has been to “Hearts” four times and he said the atmosphere rekindles his faith.

 

 

 

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Rowena Orejana

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