Much study has been done on the phenomenon of the cell phone: its impact on today’s culture has been well established.

When members of communication teams and catechists met on December 8 for training in the art of facilitating they also came to see it as a vehicle for disruptive “side conservations”.

Lisa Boodhan, Mayaro catechist and graduate of the ACC’s “Communicating for Success” programme shares on her group’s findings.

Participants of the workshop “Deepening the Spirit of Solidarity” gather into groups for practical exercises.

Some 70 participants from parishes all over the Archdiocese gathered at Holy Faith Convent, Couva, to prepare themselves for leading formal conversations on the Pastoral Letter Deepening the Spirit of Solidarity in the Archdiocese of Port of Spain.

Dr Yvette Guy of the Archdiocesan Communication Commission (ACC) conducted the session on facilitation, identifying the role of the facilitator and the advantages of group facilitation as well as several of the problems that those who lead discussion groups may encounter.

As part of their training, participants broke into groups to practice their skill and to suggest ways of dealing with the problems that are sure to arise. It was one of these groups that identified the cell phone as a new means of “side conversations” with which the facilitator must reckon.

The morning’s programme, organised jointly by the ACC and the Catechetical Office, was opened by ACC head Msgr Cuthbert Alexander who stressed the importance of the parish conversations as a means of bringing all to a place of greater clarity and commitment to deepening solidarity in the Archdiocese.

Feedback forms were distributed to participants who as facilitators are expected to report back to the ACC by February 15.