Holy Ghost Provincial Superior Fr Gregory Augustine displays the Key to the City of Port of Spain after it was presented to him by POS Mayor Louis Lee Sing. Also in photo: Deputy Mayor Keron Valentine, St Mary’s College principal Fr Ronald Mendes and Archbishop Joseph Harris. Photo: Raymond Syms

Already around for 150 years, the Holy Ghost Fathers (Spiritans) have pledged to continue forming “leaders in Church and society” through their work in education and in the social and pastoral fields.

The Port of Spain City Corporation broke with tradition and presented the Key to the City to the Spiritans and St Mary’s College – the school they established upon their arrival in T&T. The award is usually made to an individual, with this being the first time the Key has been presented to an educational institution and its founders.

At the joint presentation last Wednesday at a civic reception at Lord Harris Square, Port of Spain Mayor Louis Lee Sing commented that the two – congregation and college – were inseparable in their contribution to the development of Trinidad and Tobago.

On hand to witness the historic award were several leaders in Church and society who were formed by the work of the Spiritans and St Mary’s College (aka CIC), including Archbishop Joseph Harris, who led the gathering in an opening prayer.

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The Antilles Episcopal Conference (AEC), at its 57^th Annual Plenary Meeting in Guadeloupe last month, identified new evangelisation as its pastoral priority for the period 2013 to 2015, placing “specific emphasis on deepening the appreciation and understanding of the Word of God, and the profession of faith of the whole people of God”.

Fr Dexter Brereton CSSp

The joy that matters comes from God – not people.

Fr Dexter Brereton CSSp, in the homily at the first of the 2013 Marian Devotions at Laventille last Sunday, said: “Our joy is not in the hands of other people. It is not in the hands of our boyfriend or our girlfriend; it is not in the hands of our husbands or our wives. It is a joy that comes directly from the power of the Lord.”

A sizeable crowd turned out for the devotions, which coincided with the celebration of Ascension Sunday. The devotions began with a procession with the Blessed Sacrament from the Eastern Main Road to Our Lady of Fatima, and with volunteers reciting the Divine Mercy Chaplet and the Rosary. It concluded with Mass, at which Archbishop Joseph Harris presided.