As early as September, the new Vicar of the Suburban Vicariate, Fr Ferdinand Warner gathered the members of his Vicariate Pastoral Council to begin preparations for Assembly 2007.

The event was carded for November 24, the Saturday before the feast of Christ the King, the same time as Assembly 2006. Fatima Parish, Curepe, as the host parish would be responsible for site preparations and lunch service.

Letters of invitation were sent to each ministry in each of the ten parishes inviting the participation of their membership. Letters were also sent to parish priests inviting their entire parishes.

Of the five reporting ministries, Communications, Stewardship, Social Justice, Youth and Evangelisation, only Communications boasted a Vicariate Coordinator. Teams of two were therefore appointed to collect, collate and present the reports, as well as facilitate the relevant workshops.

At 8.00 a.m. on November 24, registration began. At 9.00 a.m. sharp Fr Ferdinand led the Morning Prayer and welcomed everyone. We were off to a timely start as our moderator for the day, Celia Regis, took to the podium.

Each of the five ministries had been allotted 30 minutes for presentation and whatever clarification/questions were required.

Praise and worship led by the youth of Bourg Mulatresse and their leaders, husband and wife team Nicholas and Allyson Roberts, and guitarist Dawn Newton of the St Joseph Parish.

Presentations following the given guidelines – achievements, challenges and the way forward – were well received and many questions and much discussion took place in preparation for the upcoming workshops.

Having been physically refuelled by lunch we were spiritually refuelled by the praise and worship led by the youth of Bourg Mulatresse and their leaders, husband and wife team Nicholas and Allyson Roberts, and guitarist Dawn Newton of the St Joseph parish.

Our moderator allocated workshop areas and explained the colour-coded system, which determined which workshop each participant would contribute to. Everyone quickly proceeded to their respective workshops and our moderator led the prayer requesting the participation and guidance of the Holy Spirit in the deliberations. She then asked that the workshops produce workable short-term suggestions for the way forward.

All workshops needed more than the allocated half hour, so our understanding moderator granted us an extra 15 minutes. When the scribes reported, the main issues dealt with were human and financial resources and education.

Participants were then invited to briefly add any suggestions they might have for the way forward in any given ministry. We hope that by this method we have tapped into everyone’s ideas for ministry, although we appreciate some people’s suggestions that they would have done better in their chosen workshops.

By December 8, 2007, all new ideas emanating from our Assembly will be incorporated into the reports and presented to our Vicar as we journey toward Synod 2008.