A group of 27 priests from several congregations along with two Notre Dame nuns and a Protestant pastor have begun a month-long program in Sleman district aimed at improving pastoral care for parishioners. The program, titled “Developing the Church in the World: From Actual Challenges to Professional Pastoral Work,” began on Monday with a Holy Mass and will continue through August 8. Archbishop Johannes Maria Trilaksyanta Pujasumarta led a concelebrated mass with Jesuit Provincial Father Robertus Bellarminus Riyo Mursanto and Jesuit Father Johannes de Brito Mardikartono, director of pastoral care in Yogyakarta in the chapel of Major Seminary of Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Condongcatur village. Archbishop Pujasumarta said in his homily that his pastoral staff depicts two images symbolizing the hard and flexible parts of his ministry.