Macau Retreat 16-23 March 2015

This year the Catholic deaf group in Macau organized a weekend retreat for 21-22 March 2015. Charlie Dittmeier was invited to lead it and went to Hong Kong on Monday, 16 March, and came back to Cambodia, Monday morning, 23 March.

Travel Day 16 March 2015

There is a nonstop flight from Phnom Penh to Hong Kong twice a day, and Charlie took the morning flight. While waiting to push back, it was possible to see the new construction going on at the Phnom Penh airport, a view from the air side.
In Hong Kong, it was a switch from an Airbus to the airport bus. It's a much cheaper way to travel from the airport to the city but most tourists don't know where the buses go or where to get off. Charlie was able to take a bus to the Kowloon side and then take a taxi a short distance to the Maryknoll Sisters house at Boundary Street.
To celebrate St. Patrick's Day and their common Maryknoll roots, the Maryknoll Sisters invited the Maryknoll priests and brothers to a special dinner held at the Maryknoll Convent School in Kowloon. It was a nice pleasant evening with a lot of good food.

A Day in Hong Kong 17 March 2015

This morning Sr. Arlene Trant and I went to visit a sick deaf woman, an active member of the Catholic community. Accompanying us were Wut Ka and Leung Mei Ha.
After the visit we had lunch together and then did a little shopping in a Kowloon street for a shirt for me. There's not much overhead for these street stalls so the prices are lower.
Then Arlene and I went to the Maryknoll Convent School to work on preparations for the coming weekend retreat. I had dinner there and then made my way back to the Maryknoll Stanley house on Hong Kong Island. This is the Hong Kong waterfront from the Star Ferry on a night with low clouds and thick fog over the sea.

Preparation Day in Macau 19 March 2015

After traveling to Macau on Wednesday, on Thursday morning we went to visit the retreat center we would be using on the weekend. It is located on the top floor of a Jesuit school and turned out to be really nice.
This is a typical Macau street in the more touristy area where the atmosphere greatly reflects Macau's European heritage as a colony of Portugal. Macau was returned to Chinese control a few years after Hong Kong reverted to Chinese control in 1997.
This is Macau's most famous landmark, the ruins of St. Paul Church. The facade, several centuries old, is all that remains of a church built by the Portuguese in their small enclave.
On the same square as the ruins, is a St. Paul's Bookstore, run by the St. Paul Sisters who have similar stores around the world to provide Catholic and religious books and materials. Sr. Arlene is asking the sister in charge about a book we were looking for.
A pleasant surprise was meeting this deaf couple on the street as we left the St. Paul Bookstore. I have known them for about twenty-five years.
In the evening, we had a meeting with all the staff and volunteers who would be working on the weekend retreat. We went through schedules and activities and decided who would do what.

Retreat Day 1 21 March 2015

The Hong Kong group arrived in Macau late Saturday morning and came to the retreat center about 2:00 PM and at 3:00 we began. Here Wong Kam Chi leads the Hong Kong and Macau groups in an opening song.
Sr. Arlene Trant was the driving force behind this retreat and prepared the outline and a lot of the content. Here she gives an introduction to what lies ahead during the retreat.
Watching sign language demands a great deal of concentration and the breaks are always appreciated, especially when friends haven't seen each other for a long time.
Simon Chan, one of the leaders of the Hong Kong group, gave one of the presentations on the opening night.
All those who came to the retreat really wanted to be there, and there was no problem holding their attention.
One of the retreat activities was filling out a life line, a graphic showing the ups and downs of our lives at different ages.
Some of the group have differing levels of education and literacy so the exercises depended on sign language and simple graphics rather than a lot of written material.
Another part of the retreat day was a reflection period in the center chapel. Participants were asked to reflect and pray on the ups and downs of their lives and the presence of God with them at those times.
At dusk the Ruins of St Paul take on another appearance as darkness starts to spread and the tourists decrease in numbers.
The retreat center is just one floor of a Jesuit school and does not have a separate dining room so some of the retreatants used the tables in the meeting room for supper.

Retreat Day 2 22 March 2015

The weather was cool enough that sleeping was comfortable at the center. In the morning the retreat focused on the idea of reconciliation. Here Charlie demonstrates the concept of reconciliation with the help of some volunteers in a skit.
The celebration of the sacrament of reconciliation was followed by the closing mass of the retreat, with both Fr. Yves, from St. Joseph Parish in Macau, and Fr. Charlie both presiding.
The gospel was the story of Jesus encountering two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and we acted out the story with the help of Wong Kam Chi and Lo Yih Fan.
After mass, while we had everyone together, we took a group photo of this year's retreat participants.
Fr. Dominic (right), a Jesuit from Macau, is friends with two of our participants who came from China, and he graced us with his presence two different times during the retreat.
After mass we went through the rooms to make sure everything was in order. The Jesuits were very generous in letting us use their center. It was a real blessing for us.
Then it was time to eat together for the last time. Three of our four meals were catered and the food brought to us. There was plenty to eat!
After the retreat, I went back to the church in Macau and got my suitcase and then went with Wong Wing Yum (right) to Hong Kong where we had a pizza dinner with a family of deaf friends.

Different Things... 23 March 2015

This is a photo an aerial view of Macau. You see basically the whole enclave, all 6.2 square miles of it--with 32 casinos.
This is a statue of Mary and Jesus in the rectory of St. Joseph the Worker Church in Macau. The figures are dressed Chinese style but their features aren't very Chinese.
There are morning masses each day in a small chapel at St. Joseph Church, with about ten people attending. There is nice community of priests living there.
I left Macau at 9:00 AM and after a 2.5 hour flight, I was back in the no-rules chaos of Phnom Penh traffic--and the heat.