Liturgy School had a different look this year as it was held at St Joseph's Convent, St Joseph, instead of its usual venue – Mount St Benedict. On Monday August 6, 150 participants gathered to begin their week’s experience.

The theme for this year was Celebrating the Word and the six-day programme showed that, by the end of the week, those who attended would have explored the Word of God in a great variety of ways – from its application in the liturgy to its use in popular literature.

The lecturers themselves comprised experts with a wide range of literary experiences, with liturgist Msgr Michael de Verteuil, Rector of the seminary, at one end of the spectrum and novelist Earl Lovelace at the other. Also instructing and guiding the participants in exploring the theme were Dr Everard Johnston, Rose-Ann Walker and Linda Wyke.

To complement the morning lectures were afternoon workshops, ten in all, again adding more variety and interest to the programme. Lectio Divina, which is becoming more and more popular in parishes, was one of the more important workshops and  was led by a team of people trained over the years by Fr Michel de Verteuil.

Cross section of the participants at Liturgy School

On Monday morning, the School began with its traditional Morning Prayer, followed by opening remarks and the official welcome by Msgr de Verteuil, the Vicar for Liturgy in the archdiocese.

Gary Tagallie then gave the welcome address and, in commenting on the theme, remarked, “If not for the Word we would not be here. We would not know about Jesus Christ.” Tagallie reminded his audience that Liturgy School was a community or parish effort.

According to him, “Liturgy School is an experience of Church in Trinidad and Tobago; it is a school that services the parishes – and the parish is where we celebrate life.” He told participants that they had a duty to take all that they learn back to their parishes.

The first lecture was given by Msgr de Verteuil, who underlined the fact that “Without the Word there is nothing. How would we know how to live? How would we know about baptism and all the sacraments? It is only through the Word.”

Citing various Church texts, he further emphasised his point saying, “It is the Word of God that will rejuvenate the Church.  If it is through the Word of God that we are going to be renewed, then we need to pay particular attention to the Word (of God).”

Liturgy School, initially called the Antilles School of Liturgy, started in the 70s as a joint project of the Benedictine monastery (Fr Ildefons, Bro Paschal Jordan) the Seminary and Pastoral Centre (Fr Michel de Verteuil). It runs for one week in August each year.

The main aims of the school today are to facilitate a better understanding of the liturgy and its celebration in the contemporary Caribbean context and to create and maintain a spirit of togetherness within parishes of the archdiocese.

It is now organised by a team (Helena Allum, Felix Edinborough, Sr Jean Devenish-Huggins, Everard Johnston, Suzanne Roget, Bernadette Salandy and Gary Tagallie) under the auspices of the Archdiocesan Liturgical Commission.

In addition to daily Morning Prayer and Evening Liturgy, a Liturgy of Reconciliation was held, as well as a concert and a number of exciting workshops.