On Sunday, March 18, Archbishop Edward Gilbert celebrated Holy Mass with 500 youths of the Central Vicariate at the start of their annual Lenten retreat at St Benet’s Hall in Mt St Benedict.

In his homily, the Archbishop congratulated the youths present on their attendance and declared his support for all the work and initiatives of the Central Vicariate Youth Council.

Altar servers. Centre is Christophe Cole of Vision

Retreatants

He encouraged them to be active participants in their Church advising them, “You will not be young forever” and “the decisions you make today, show the decisions you will make in later life”.

The 500 youths represented Couva, Chaguanas, Carapichaima, Gran Couva/Tabaquite, Tortuga and all the worshiping communities of the vicariate.

A cash presentation was made to the archbishop on behalf of the Vicariate Youth Council.

Archbishop Gilbert graciously returned the contribution saying, “I support your initiatives, and therefore I will give this in support of your initiatives.” This gesture received an astounding ovation from all present.

After Holy Mass the Vicar, Fr Ken Assing, opened the retreat, congratulating and thanking all those who had contributed to making the day possible. 

The first speaker for the morning was Sr Felicity Fannoh a Carmelite Sister who rallied the youth on the topic of solidarity and enlightened many on the power of solidarity in faith.

Her presentation was filled with delightful stories that amused the gathering. She ended her presentation singing an enchanting folk melody that received full crowd participation.

After lunch, Fr Ashton Pierre, CSSp spoke to the youthful gathering about the concept of communion and the meaning of communion for us as Church; the crowd ranging from 13 -22 year olds with a vibrant mixture of males and females alike joined in the discussion answering the questions posed to them by Fr Ashton.

During the afternoon session, various Religious, shared about their personal journeys and made a call for vocations from the participants present. The retreated ended at 4.00 p.m.