On the afternoon of Sunday, August 26, the parishioners of Mary Immaculate Queen of the Universe Church (Bourg Mulatresse) and Our Lady of Perpetual Help (El Socorro) hosted a Parish Assembly.

This forum involved representatives from all the various ministries within the Church community, as well as other parishioners who were not members of any ministry. Although the main focus of the discussions centred around   Evangelisation and Communication, in preparation for Synod 2008, other matters relevant to the parish community were also discussed.

The Assembly commenced at 4:30 p.m. and was chaired by our own parish priest Fr Arnold Francis. He began by reviewing the pastoral letter issued by Archbishop Edward Gilbert which focussed on discipleship and solidarity.

As part of the forum, three members of the Communication team, Christopher Gilalta, Steven Taylor and Justin Preddie, reported on aspects of the Vicariate Communication workshop which they had attended.

In their presentation they emphasised the essential correlation between communication and interpretation, as well as the mission, vision and future goals of the communication team. This segment concluded with a Power Point presentation, which showcased statistical data on the parish collected through  questionnaires distributed prior to the Assembly.

Fr Arnold Francis sits among members of the parish community at the Assembly

Overall the presentation gave the parishioners a solid and practical indication of the various sensibilities directing the MIQ parish.

An analysis of the questionnaire revealed that many parishioners experienced total fufillment with the celebration and length of the Mass.

Sixty-five percent of those polled were satisfied with the level of fellowship and friendliness experienced in the parish community, as well as with the homilies preached.

Discussions on the two most important topics: evangelization and communication followed. Approximately thirty minutes were spent in groups, sharing ideas on individual concepts of evangelisation and the solutions to the obvious lack of communication that contributed to the general sense of confusion.

After a member from each ministry had gone through the questionnaires and given their group opinions, Fr Francis took the opportunity to speak about stewardship and common family issues and the importance of proper and frank communication in both.  

The afternoon’s programme came to a fitting end with a presentation by Andre Walker a member of the Men’s Group. He gave a short Power Point presentation which explained the goals, vision, mission and future plans of the Men’s Group.

The goals as stated are to develop men, strengthen family life, the community and the wider society. These goals they hope to achieve through prayer, sacrifice, work and play.

The forum was informative and well-received. Hopefully the information gained will allow the various ministries to establish better channels of communication, not only amongst themselves but also with the wider parish community.

Thanks again to Fr Francis. May God continue to bless him and his efforts.