The Feast of Corpus Christi 2007 brought many graces in the life of the Archdiocese of Port of Spain, including the Pastoral Letter of Archbishop Gilbert, “Deepening the spirit of Solidarity”.

In the letter, the Archbishop says that he believes the archdiocese will experience, within a generation, what John Paul II prayed for: A New Springtime in the Church.

Well, the New Springtime has begun! Longer standing religious communities (like the Carmelites) are on a thrust for new vocations, ecclesial communities (such as Living Water) are broadening their ministries locally and in the Caribbean, new ministries to the youth are arising in parishes and communities (e.g. Holy Rosary Parish) and many youth are considering the vocation of lay consecrated and lay missionary life.

Today we wish to highlight another beacon, in our local Church, of this New Springtime that Pope John Paul II prophesied. In the Jubilee Year 2000, God called three young men, Shad Seaton, Mikkel Trestrail and Kyle Dardaine together to prayer and companionship.

The first day these three young men made an attempt to get together was on August 6, 2000, the Feast of the Transfiguration. For the first year and a half of their companionship the guys journeyed with Fr Christian Pineau FMI as their Spiritual Director.

As these three young men companioned each other through good times and some very rough times too, their love for God and for each other deepened. Gradually, a few other young men began to ask them to join into what was meant to be their private prayer partnership (or so they thought).

While all of this was happening, the group started running retreats specifically designed to minister to the needs of adolescent and young adult men especially those who were not in Church and those searching for deeper meaning in their lives.

Looking at the energy and excitement taking place in the main group of young men, and probably sensing that God had more in store for our lives, Fr Pineau advised one year later that we needed a serious retreat for us to ask God what He wanted of us. So we gathered for three days in prayer and dialogue about what God had been doing for and in us.

Finally we came up with a mission, “to allow the Word made flesh to become flesh in the hearts of men” and the scripture text God wanted our ministry to be built on was from Ezekiel 36:26, “I shall give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I shall remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh”.

Incidentally (or not) that retreat was held in the first week of August 2001 just days before the Feast of the Transfiguration. In fact the day before the feast, in the chapel of the FMI Community, Kyle and Shad privately made an act of covenant; a commitment to God to

1. Meet once per week (on a Thursday) and adore the Blessed Sacrament together and
2. Support and companion each other in the Christian life journey, whatever the cost.

They had no idea what they were doing that day and what the power of such a commitment to Jesus would yield! As the group of young men gazed on Our Lord in the Eucharist and “listened to His voice” in Scripture using Lectio Divina methods, more young men were drawn to this new movement in the life of the Church.

We could feel the radiance of the Transfigured Christ in the Eucharist whenever we gathered and we could see the progressive growth in the life of any young man who came before Him.

Soon enough the chapel in San Juan would not be big enough to hold our meetings and God opened another space for the meeting in the chapel of the Sanctuary of the Holy Family, Diego Martin.

The retreats for young men, the prayer meetings at the Sanctuary and the group gathered around the three founders became known as God’s Anointed New Generation or more fondly, GANG.

CTC group at this year's Corpus Christi celebrations in Port of Spain

GANG grew and grew over the years as a peer ministry to youth in the archdiocese. As our ministry to youth developed, we offered our programmes to youth groups and Confirmation classes all over the archdiocese working in collaboration with the then Youth Coordinator Sr Rose Mary Carvalho.

These and other circumstances led to the desire in one of our founders, Kyle, to give his life to Christ and the Church in a more tangible way. After eight months of prayer and discernment under the guidance of a trained spiritual director, Kyle left his job in the secular world and started the process to make GANG a full time ministry. Little did Kyle know this was only the beginning of an exciting new journey into an unimaginable future.

Within this time Kyle made private vows to live the three evangelical counsels of chastity, simplicity and obedience in service of GANG and in fidelity to the Church.

One year later another founder, Mikkel started feeling the fire of God’s call, left his job and joined Kyle in full time ministry.

 They both decided to begin living as a community would by sharing in a common way of life at intervals in the year. Three years later, after several meetings with Archbishop Gilbert, Kyle and Mikkel made public their professions of the evangelical councils and their commitment to the Church at our annual Covenant Mass, on the Feast of Transfiguration 2006.

The entire GANG ministry and our families embrace the call to nurture a consecrated community of young brothers. Joining Kyle and Mikkel on that momentous occasion was our brother in the ministry for five years to that date.

Our brother, Avinesh made commitments at the same Mass to be formed as a disciple of the consecrated way and to live as a brother in the community household with the other brothers, for one year initially.   

The Archbishop also states in the pastoral letter that “the observation I have made about the challenges we must face together as an Archdiocese should not be a reason for discouragement. It can be seen as an invitation for a deeper level of discipleship.”

In response to God’s invitation through our local shepherd, GANG has made a further step in this already eventful and anointed journey. The community has made a bold decision to transform its identity so as to publicly establish a deeper level of discipleship to Christ and to His Church.

On the Feast of Corpus Christi 2007, we contributed to the new graces in the archdiocese by dedicating the seven years of the above history and journey and our future to the Transfigured Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

So after two years of contemplation on all that has happened with and in us and extensive dialogue with the Archbishop, GANG will now be known as a ministry to young men sponsored by our Community of Consecrated brothers called, THE COMPANIONS OF THE TRANSFIGURED CHRIST (CTC Community).

We are proud to declare that the Transfigured Christ is reigning in the hearts of young men in Trinidad and Tobago. He continues to invite us to ascend the mountain with Him so we can see His radiance in our lives and so we can listen to His voice.

In turn we invite others to experience his power and glory through our many ministries other than our GANG ministry to young men.

Young men who desire to journey as a brother in our community will have the opportunity to be involved in the following ministries:

• Catholic Media – working with cameras, video production, radio programmes
• FIRE –  our ministry where we travel on mission to the Caribbean islands to spread God’s word and evangelise
• Watchmen – our ministry of Intercession and formation in prayer
• Be Strong! – our annual Catholic Conference for young men
• Rehabilitation – we have an outreach ministry at the New Life Ministries Drug Rehabilitation Centre
• Youth Ministry and Training – we conduct very exciting and youth friendly workshops all over this country (including schools) and we conduct leadership training for Parish Youth Ministry as certified by the AEC Bishops.
• GANG Prayer Meetings – we have two satellite meetings for young men living in South and East Trinidad other than our Western base.  

These are just some of the ministries, as the CTC Community that we offer young men desiring to grow in Christ and serve the Church. So if you are interested in becoming a lay consecrated brother in our community or in getting involved in any of our ministries (part or full time) for one year or more, please contact us! – Kyle (747-0118) or Mikkel (756-5242).

As the Companions of the Transfigured Christ we have seen and can testify to the whole Church, ChristusNobiscumState! - Christ is with us, Stand Firm! Yes, brothers and sisters, the New Springtime is here!