by Deborah Singh-Boos

The firing of the cannon on August 1, at 6.00 a.m. at Calvary Hill View Park, Arima, heralded the start of the celebrations for the Patronal Feast of Santa Rosa which will be celebrated on Sunday, August 23. Firing of the cannon, a gift from Governor Hollis, replaced the blowing of the conch shell by the Santa Rosa Carib Community which traditionally called the community together to prepare for and celebrate the Feast of Santa Rosa.

The cannon will be fired at various times during the month of August as preparations for the Feast continue: on Friday, August 14 at 6.00 p.m. - the first day of the novena; on Friday, August 21 at 1.00 p.m. together with the ringing of the bells at the church when the dressing of the statue of Santa Rosa is completed and on the actual Feast Day at 6.00 a.m., noon and 6.00 p.m.

Cannon at Calvary Hill View Park, Arima

Planning for the celebration began in June when we held our parish meeting with representatives of the Santa Rosa Carib Community and the Hispanic Catholic Community of the Archdiocese. At this meeting we began to broaden the concept of our feast as we invited the Hispanic Catholic Community to join with the First Peoples and the Family Santa Rosa to plan for and celebrate together this longest continuous festival in our country.

During the year we celebrated the perpetual Novena to Santa Rosa on the 23^rd day of each month from September 2008 to July 2009 (omitting the Lenten months of February and March). After the Mass on this day of each month the Carib Community led the Rosary and the prayers. On Friday, August 14, we began the novena in preparation for the feast. The novena continues until Saturday, August 22 with the Angelus, Rosary, novena prayers and Holy Mass. The devotions will be led by the members of the Carib Community and parish groups on alternate days and the Mass will be celebrated by one of the parish priests who will use the opportunity to speak on an aspect of the theme Called to be Catholic as we continue to share the journey of the Archdiocesan Synod.

Fr Joseph Harris CSSp, newly appointed Episcopal Vicar for the Clergy, Chaplain to the Hispanic Community, Judicial Vicar of the Archdiocese, Lecturer at the Regional Seminary and Parish Priest of St Ann’s will be the chief celebrant and homilist at the Mass on Sunday, August 23 which begins at 8.45 a.m. with the entrance of the Carib Community. Fr Harris will be assisted by the parish priests, Msgr Christian Pereira and Fr Rudy Mohammed and we also expect Msgr Urban Peschier to be with us for this special occasion.

The event will be transmitted live to persons seated outside the church and under the tents to the north and south of the church by the Balroop’s Sound and Audio Engineers. The celebration will also be carried live on Radio Vision, Power 102 FM and will be rebroadcast on Catholic television [Channel 10 - TCN] later in the day courtesy CAMSEL. The radio broadcast will be supplemented by teachings on various aspects of our celebrations and our faith traditions as we keep alive the theme for our celebration.

Fr Rudy Mohammed and a parishioner at last year's event

Following the Mass, there will be the sacred procession through the streets of Arima. The procession will move through the streets of the borough as follows: from the Church onto Woodford Street, forming around the Park, proceeding along Church Street across to Queen Street; south on Queen Street past the Dial to the Market and westward along Hollis Avenue and north onto Woodford Street

To help the procession keep in a prayerful mood, the vehicles of David Bally will air the radio broadcast so that at all times the leaders of prayer and song based at the church will guide those in procession. We will end with the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament at the foot of the main altar in the church.

During the procession there will be teams of young people positioned at strategic locations to distribute chilled bottled water to those in the procession. All the water for distribution has been donated by various corporate bodies. However we have not been so fortunate with the rental of the chairs, tents, and the video and audio services. It is our hope that some corporate bodies will follow the lead of the sponsors of our radio broadcast and come to assist us financially. Payments can be made directly to our RBTT Bank account # 7911023005 or by cheque payment to “Santa Rosa Parish –Feast Day 2009”.

The Family Santa Rosa invites all Catholics and descendants of our First Peoples who are called to be Catholic, to celebrate our heritage and to build our family by joining with us for the celebration of the Feast of Santa Rosa.