At the beginning of the new academic year 2023-2024 in Indonesia, a one-day retreat was held at Atambua boarding school. This retreat mainly revolved around the theme of ecology. The main reason for choosing this theme is ecclesial, i.e. it is a way of responding to Pope Francis’ prophetic announcement expressed in the encyclical Laudato Si. It is a document that expresses the Church’s concern about the man-made destruction of Mother Earth. And indeed, it is a worrying issue that is considered urgent and essential in this city and to which young people need to be sensitised.
To this purpose, this retreat was organised by the Piarists and the Ursuline Sisters. The Piarists have a boarding school called “Asrama Calasanz” for boys only and the Ursulines have another for girls in secondary and high school. The retreat was led by a Franciscan who had recently arrived in this mission country. Through this collaboration, it was finally possible to organise retreats in which the boarders of both boarding schools participated.
The retreat was divided into three parts. The first part was the instruction by the Franciscan friar Father Budi OFM. In it, the Christian horizon in relation to caring for the earth was discussed with some strategies based on knowledge and daily practise. These strategies were concretised in some workshops that formed the second part of the retreat. In order to carry them out, the trainees were divided into some groups. In these activities, teamwork, awareness raising, new knowledge about organic care, etc. were encouraged. They were taught about hydroponic farming, switching to plastic with eco-stones, water purification, plastic recycling, etc. At the end of these retreats, there was a moment of reflection with the Eucharist and a meal together.
