On Wednesday, October 18, 2006, the Church in Siparia began a series entitled “Touching Jesus Through the Church”.

The series ran for seven weeks, with meetings once per week. The objective was to make the average parishioner-in-the-pew more knowledgeable about the Church, its beliefs, teachings and practices, and how these draw us closer to the Lord.

Participants at the 'Touching Jesus through the Church' series

The series comprised of seven videotaped lectures by Dr Marcellino D’Ambrosio, a Professor of Theology at a Texas University.

After viewing each lecture, there were small group discussions on the presentation, and during that activity, light refreshments were shared.

Afterwards, each group presented the fruits of their discussions to the gathering, or asked for clarification on some aspect/s of the topic.

Topics explored included: Who or What is the Church?, The Sacraments (with special emphasis on Baptism and Confirmation); Prayer, The Mass and Keeping a Pure Heart.

Among the concepts grasped were that the Church is the Body of Christ, the Family of God; therefore we, the members of the Church are all brothers and sisters since we share the same Father – God; that Jesus is our elder brother and Mary, our Mother. And the greatest authority of the Church on earth is the Pope – a title that means Papa or Father.

That we baptise infants because they are no less God’s children and members of the Family of God simply because they are small; that we do not allow children to grow up and then make up their minds whether or not they want to be members of this family, because we did not give them that option in any of the other important decisions of life – which family they would like to be born into, whether they like drinking milk, whether they want to have an education, etc. Many other concepts were explained.

What is very significant about the series is that, at first, participants were extremely shy about expressing their thoughts, and asking questions, but as the series progressed, the group drew closer and people forgot their inhibitions in their quest for a deeper understanding of the Faith, and their desire to grow closer to God.

For many, the experience of light breaking through the darkness as an explanation was given or a question answered were pearls to be treasured.

Often people were convicted of wrong paths followed unknowingly, or mistaken beliefs held, and the decision was made to turn around and follow more directly in the footsteps of the Lord.

It is hoped that the series will be repeated so that those who missed it the first time would have the opportunity to share in its blessings.