More than 80 women came together on Saturday 15 August to participate in the inaugural Women’s Discernment Retreat Day – a day of prayer, reflection and conversation about vocation and God’s call in their lives.
Called to Be More provided young Catholic women with an opportunity to step away from the busyness of everyday life and discover more about God’s call in their lives.
Perth Vocations Committee members Sr Chitra Justin MSSM, Catherine Nguyen and Rosa West created a welcoming and inclusive program that combined prayer, personal testimony, formation, fellowship and individual reflection.
As they described it, “We wanted to create a day where women could simply come as they are, step away from the noise, spend time with God, hear the experiences of other women and have space to reflect on where He might be calling them. It was beautiful to see women from different backgrounds and stages of life come together, pray together and share in those conversations.”
Rather than focusing on vocation as a single destination, the retreat explored the breadth of Catholic vocation and how God’s call can be lived through marriage and family, professional and lay life, ministry, service and consecrated religious life.
In her presentation, Tara Peters, Chief Mission Integration Officer at St John of God Health Care, reflected on vocation through faith, marriage, family, professional life, leadership and lay ministry.
Sr Margaret Scharf OP shared her experiences from almost five decades of consecrated religious life, while Dr Pina Ford helped participants bring the experiences of the day together and consider how God’s invitation might be discerned with freedom, trust and faithfulness.
Dr Ford also generously volunteered her time as a spiritual director, offering individual accompaniment to participants; an opportunity warmly received and deeply appreciated by those who took part.
Prayer remained at the heart of the retreat. Sr Chitra led Eucharistic Adoration and Lectio Divina, while participants were also given time for Reconciliation, personal reflection and a contemplative river walk inspired by the Gospel encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman.
The day concluded with Mass celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Nelson Po.
The relevance of and appreciation for the day was highlighted in the feedback whereby 76 per cent of participants said it exceeded their expectations, while 89 per cent said they would attend future Perth Vocations events.
Prayer and Eucharistic Adoration emerged as the most valued element of the day, followed by the guest speakers, personal reflection and testimony.
Participants spoke of being encouraged to slow down, listen more closely to God, deepen their prayer life and trust His direction. Others identified practical next steps including seeking spiritual direction and becoming more active in their faith.
The connections formed have already extended beyond the retreat itself and some participants have expressed a desire for further accompaniment in their discernment.
Paying tribute to those who brought the initiative to life, Perth Vocations Director Fr Joseph Laundy said the response was very encouraging and showed “the value of continuing to create opportunities for women to pray, reflect and explore God’s call in their lives.”
“We are very grateful to Sr Chitra, Catherine, Rosa and the wider committee for the care and generosity they brought to developing this new initiative,” he added.
“My thanks also extend to every woman who entered so openly into the day, to our speakers, volunteers and the generous support and hospitality of our host, Trinity College.”For more information about future Perth Vocations events, visit: https://vocations.perthcatholic.org.au/events-conferences/
