By Guest Writers
Thirteen Indonesian Australian married Catholic couples and a Perth based Indonesian Australian Catholic priest enjoyed a weekend of fully immersed love and devotion led by a presenting team from Worldwide Marriage Encounter Indonesia.
On what was one of the hottest weekends of Perth’s summer – the 17 and 18 February – all couples were fully engaged in learning from the experiences of the presenting team.
They weren’t preached to; they were able to listen and relate to the real life and authentic sharing of the team.
This was a “Weekend” – Marriage Encounter’s term for a couple retreat – that came out of a meeting only seven months before.
Local WWME coordinators Max & Annie Mayes were having a chat with Dwi Suseno and Sandra Wibawanta over a coffee. Sandra was sharing her real and heartfelt concern for Indonesian Australian couples in Perth who she knew needed help to make their marriages better.
Annie said, “I have a dream for you.” The room was silent for a moment then “the penny dropped” and a plan was made to have the first Indonesian language Weekend to be in Perth. It would be a first in Australia!
Every stage of the approval process was passed with no setbacks. The Holy Spirit put wind in the sails of that effort.
So, in that short space of time with Christmas and the New Year in the middle 14 couples and Fr Yosep Remi Asnabun registered for the February Weekend. They all overcame obstacles to clear those two days for each other. Babysitters arranged, jobs on hold, other engagements cancelled or postponed …. Fr Remi had to arrange for his usual busy weekend to be taken care of by other priests.
One couple arrived from Indonesian on an early morning flight on Saturday 17 February. They went home to freshen up and drove straight to the weekend venue at Corpus Christi College, Bateman.
They arrived in time for the Mass which started the Weekend at 8.00 am.
The weekend was a live-out weekend meaning couples go home on Saturday night and return Sunday morning to complete the weekend. All meals were provided by the local WWME community. Such was the generosity and love that went into the meals and serving that only very positive comments were heard. Some participants were heard to say the food was 5-star.
The best thing about the weekend though was the way the couples shone more and more as the weekend continued. Saturday was a big day so there were a few tired faces on Saturday night, but everyone returned refreshed on Sunday morning to continue to learn about themselves and each other. They worked on their communications and experienced breakthroughs they had never experienced before. So much so that by the end of the day on Sunday with a concluding Mass there were outpourings of joyful emotion as couples shared what the Weekend had meant for them.
This was a dream that became a reality. An amazing experience for all the couples and Fr Remi. An experience they will probably never forget and a new reality that they are now living as all of them accept the call to stay in the WWME community and “continue the journey”.
Given the success of the inaugural Indonesian language weekend, WWME Australia will be looking at what can be done next. Already this group is called “Batch 1”. So hopefully we will see at least annual Indonesian language weekends. But, what about other Catholic ethnic groups in Australia? Vietnamese, Filipinos, East Timorese, Spanish speaking …. The same miracle could be available to them.
Another very positive outcome from the Indonesian language Weekend will be the welcoming into the broader WWME community of those couples. Meeting regularly to “continue the journey” started by their weekend, they will be doing that with other couples from across the spectrum of ethnic and social backgrounds. This will be unifying and bonding, further enriching our Church, already culturally diverse but united in faith and mission.