In an effort to build up the spirituality of its membership, the St Charles Parish Pastoral Council hosted a retreat for all heads of ministries in particular and all those who work towards uplifting the parish.

The event billed “Called to serve” took place in the church on Sunday, February 17 between the hours of 1.00 and 6.00 p.m. with participants going straight in to evening Mass.

Master of ceremonies for the day, none other than Chairperson of the Parish Council Lucy Regis, welcomed everyone and immediately called upon the Legion of Mary group to start the day’s proceedings with the Rosary.

The praying of the Sorrowful mysteries led by Bernadine Drayton and Monica Elder was immediately followed by the Stations of the Cross led by the Men’s ministry.

Speaker for the day, Fr Clyde Harvey was introduced by James Mc Kenzie of the St  Vincent de Paul Society and we all followed his presentation in awe as we identified with what he had to say, gleaned new ideas or had our minds ticking over as to where we had failed.

Fr Harvey, in his open and direct manner raised issues such as competency, commitment, justice, hogging positions, collaborative ministry and team work.

Members of the men's ministry lead Stations of the Cross

He seemed to speak to each person directly. Hospitality minister, Rachael Maharaj, graciously thanked him for his enlightening presentation as well as making the effort to spend his Sunday afternoon with us.

Fr Hezekiah could not resist adding his personal thanks saying that Fr Harvey was one of those he knew he could rely on in situations like these. This evoked loud applause for Fr Harvey.

In the ensuing half hour workshops which followed the break, some serious issues were discussed. One such issue was succession planning. It was recognised that as a parish we do not have the generation between the ages of 20 and 45 in ministry.

Understandably they are busy building careers and raising families, but we need to find some form of motivation to bring them to the service of God in the church.

Even though they may not be visible now, we pray that when the time comes for us to pass on the baton, they would come forward and that their professional training will be of assistance to them.

Other burning issues raised were maintaining the level of commitment required to support effective ministries and actively seeking out the assistance of other ministries where they are more qualified than we are.

Fr Reggie, our beloved parish priest then led us through half an hour of profound healing assisted by a mixed choir led by the Sunday evening choir leader Mary Salina supported by Pamela Theroulde of the Sunday morning choir on the keyboard.

Lucy Regis thanked all who assisted, especially the large number of people who had turned out. Without their participation there could be no programme. She then invited all to Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament until the start of Mass.

The St Charles Parish Pastoral Council would again like to express its deepest appreciation to Fr Clyde Harvey and our own Fr Reggie for their leadership initiatives in making this spiritual growth available to our members.

We thank our members for availing themselves of that which was offered and their sharing with us and each other. We invited our parishioners who are not already in ministry to come forward and identify where they can serve and we pray God’s continued guidance.
Vera Allen, Communications – St Charles, Tunapuna