Legion Of Mary Pilgrimage To Trinidad
August 8 - 24, 2004
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St. Lucia Legionaries visit Trinidad |
A total of fifty eight (58) legionaries from two (2) curiae and nine (9) praesidia attached to the St. Lucia Comitium and three (3) legionaries from Martinique; left the island on August 8, 2004 on a two-week pilgrimage to Trinidad. The pilgrims were accompanied by Rev. Fr. Ed Masias, who filled the role of our Marian Spiritual Director in the absence of Fr. Clovis. The pilgrims were housed at Credo Retreat House, Holy Faith Convent, Couva Trinidad.
A very intensive program of activities had been thoroughly planned by Sister Marguerite Joseph. The program included prayers, visitation of religious places and Marian Shrines.
The main focus during the pilgrimage was centered on the “youth” of our nation in particular and the world in general. Other prayer intentions were for parents (both mothers and fathers) of our nation, vocations, and recruitment in the Legion as well as for Trinidad.
Every day began with morning devotions, prayers and early morning “rosary walk”. This was usually followed by Morning Mass celebrated by Rev. Fr. Ed at the Convent or at St. Paul’s Church in Couva. Each day’s activity ended with evening prayers.
Listed below are some of the shrines dedicated to Our Lady, other churches and religious places:
. Tortuga - Our Lady of Monsterrat. Siparia - Our Lady of La Divina Pastoral. Trinity Place - Matura - Infant Jesus of Prague
. Divine Mercy - La Vega (Grand Couva)
. Our Lady of Fatima - Laventille
. The Seminary
. The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception - Port of Spain
. Mount St. Benedict
. The Weeping Statue
. Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help - San Fernando
. Church of St. Paul – Couva
At each shrine/church, special devotion and Holy Mass was celebrated. Individual legionaries from Trinidad were assigned the task of presenting a brief history of
each shrine. We received special graces at each shrine we visited, At the St, Benedict Monastery we were addressed by the Abbot Rev, Fr. Pereira, who explained the life of the monks and the need to pray for an increase in vocations to the monastic life. Indeed the experiences gained will have a truly lasting impression on our minds. What a wonderful experience for both young and old alike.
On Sunday August 15, 2004, Feast of the Assumption, we were privileged to be specially invited guests at Laventille as this was the feast of this parish.
Our pilgrimage was well balanced with time for our tours to the Pitch Lake, the Savannah, Bird Reserve, Industrial Estate, UWI Chaplaincy and shopping malls etc.
Lastly to put an end to our pilgrimage, we were graced with a formal invitation from Monsignor Christian Pereira, Vicar General to attend Mass in his parish, as they celebrated the feast of Santa Rosa De Lima on Sunday August 22, 2004 - the patroness of the catholic community of Arima.
Under the guidance, leadership and able hands of Sr. M. Joseph and Fr. Ed we experienced a spirit filled journey as pilgrims of the Comitium of St. Lucia. The experience has left us with more hope, pride, a deep faith, a sense of joy and stronger disciples for Jesus. As legionaries, God has called us as special persons, missionaries for Jesus to serve our sisters and brothers in our individual praesidia in St. Lucia.
May our faith in God give us the zeal, enthusiasm, deep conviction and desire to continue our apostolate as we engage in our service as true legionaries. It is hoped that the fire of the Holy Spirit, spouse of our Lady will ignite us and set us ablaze as we witness for Christ and profess our faith in God through our love of his blessed Mother Mary.
With the experience gained as legionaries it is our hope and firm desire that this pilgrimage has been our new spiritual food to help us face daily the great challenges in our society. May the love of God as expressed through His beloved mother, be translated in our daily living as disciples of Jesus to transform our people. May our prayer life be expressed as a mirror reflecting in our daily lives.
Mary Queen of the Rosary and Queen of Peace. Pray for us.
We give thanks to the Almighty God for a wonderful faith experience in Trinidad. We also thank all the members of the Regia. Legionaries throughout Trinidad, the Vicar General, Parish Priests in the various parishes for their warm welcome, their kind hospitality shown us during our 2-week stay.
May God bless each one of us abundantly.
A Legionary
Caribbean Church Grenada - St. George’s
Bishop Darius after Hurricane Ivan
“Grenada church has not lost faith”
Grenada’s Catholic community may be shaken but “we have not lost our faith”, says Bishop Vincent Darius. “Life has changed, and people are now talking about community living – to revisit how we live as a community.”
He said he made mention of this emergence of community spirit as he preached the sermon at an ecumenical service on the Sunday following the hurricane. This service was carried live on the Grenada Broadcasting Network, which is now the only electronic media house on the island.
The bishop stated that the entire diocese will have to be rebuilt as all Church structures had suffered varying degrees of damage following Hurricane Ivan. “Like all the other buildings here, our churches, presbyteries, convents and schools have received structural damage”, he said.
The roof of the mother church, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, had caved in . Among the Churches damaged were St. Dominic’s, and St. Paul’s and the Dominicans Priory. The bishop’s own residence, known as Bishop’s House, lost its roof, windows and doors.
Bishop Darius said he was currently working on putting together a diocesan disasterrelief committee to coordinate the distribution of incoming relief given directly to the Church or through aid agencies like the Red Cross.
He suggested those wishing to send aid – e.g. water, non perishable goods, lanterns, and clothing – should send it addressed in his name.
Barbados - Bridgetown
Churches used as shelters during Hurricane Ivan
Churches and related institutions in Trinidad, Tobago, Barbados, Grenada and St. Vincent were part of disaster preparations as Hurricane Ivan passed through the region on Tuesday, September 7.
Churches are not officially involved at the national level in assessing the needs after the damage caused by a hurricane, but through the strength of their networks and presence in several communities, they are often able to co-ordinate emergency relief.
In Tobago as well as in Barbados, schools and churches were used as shelters during the hurricane’s onslaught. The Anglican Church in Speyside, Tobago as well as some of the 13 Anglican schools were used as shelters.
Michael Hunte, staff member of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Bridgetown, said churches and church schools such as Dalkeith Methodist Church in St. Michael’s and Harrison’s College respectively were among buildings designated as category one shelters. Shelters in Barbados were opened from Monday evening and some 600 persons used them.
Meanwhile, Provincial Superior of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny, St. Gabriella Mason, told Catholic News of Trinidad & Tobago that Cluny property was damaged in the affected islands. In Tobago, the roof of St. Joseph’s Convent was blown off, while in Trinidad, Emmaus Centre was seriously flooded. In St. Vincent, part of the roof of the Cluny’s school in Mesopotamia, was blown away. In Grenada, the roofs of both the secondary and primary schools in Grenville also blew off. School books and furniture were damaged.
In the capital, St. George’s the roofs of the convent school and the Games House were blown down.
The Grenadines -
Union Island
Ivan in the Grenadines
Fr. Andrew Roache, Parish priest of Union Island in the Grenadines, in a telephone conversation with Catholic News, gave a brief, interesting account of Ivan’s visit to his parish community. The Church building on Union Island is located in the south of the island which was the section most seriously affected by hurricane Ivan. As was the case in many places, the church was used as a shelter by a number of persons from the neighbourhood. However, when it lost part of its roof, the people had to take refuge in the nearby Pastoral Centre, which also houses the priest’s residence.
Although there were moments in which it appeared that the centre too, might lose its roof, it managed to weather the storm and remained intact. As the evening wore on and houses in the area had their roofs blown off, more people came to the Pastoral Center for shelter so that accommodation became quite “tight”.
Electricity supply was lost but the telephone service was not interrupted. On Wednesday, the day after the storm, the clean-up operation began with the removal of mud and debris that had accumulated in the Church. Much work will be needed to restore the buildings and the grounds, which were also badly damaged.
Dominica - Roseau
Cathedral Renovation – A Diocesan Effort
One year ago, Very Rev. Gabriel Malzaire, Bishop of Roseau, launched a two-year fund-raising drive to net in E.C. 2.5 million dollars to carry out renovations to the roof of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Fair Haven located in the capital. To date the Cathedral Renovation Fund has raised approximately $450,000 or just slightly less than one fifth of the required sum.
Faced with the magnitude of the task, as well as the urgency of the need, lest the termites get the better of them. Bishop Malzaire has renewed his appeal, this time with greater urgency to the entire diocese with a front page promotion in the Dominica Catholic issue of August 2004.
Reminding the faithful of the national importance of the Cathedral he has made the following suggestions in order to accelerate the fund-raising drive.
1. that letters he sent to as many families individuals and business places in Dominica, soliciting donations.
2. that proceeds from a “Lebanese Dinner” on October 2 in celebration of the second anniversary of his Episcopal Ordination go towards the Fund.
3. the sale of Christmas cards made available from early November.
4. A Gospel Festival to be staged sometime next year.
5. The pre-sale of crosses to be made out of wood salvaged from the roof.
The renewed appeal concludes as follows: “The Cathedral as you know has great religious, cultural, and social significance. Its rich historical value for the entire nation is well known. This makes its preservation for us a prideful responsibility. It is therefore essential that we regard this project as ours. Overseas agencies are better encouraged to help when they see efforts being made locally.
Let us challenge ourselves into action, encourage others to do likewise, and pray that our plans for the House of God” will become a reality.”
Guyana, Georgetown
Mother Teresa and the Children of Hosororo
“Hosororo” is the name of a village in the hinterland of Guyana. In the local Amerindian language, it means flowing water. It was selected as a site for a village because it has a year-round flowing well. Hosororo has a Catholic Church dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes and a primary school.
A few years ago, the Hosororo Primary School building fell into decay and collapsed and had to be replaced by a new brick-built modern school catering for over 300 students.
Many of these children live some distance away and as many are from families that are not well off. They arrive at school hungry. Bishop Guilly, while he was in charge of the Diocese of Georgetown, asked help from Mother Teresa of Calcutta to take care of the Hosororo Mission. She sent some of her sisters, but after some time, they had to leave Guyana because they had not applied for the right visas.
After the death of Forbes Burnham, Desmond Hoyte took over as President. One day Mr. Hoyte was called to the phone and found himself speaking to Mother Teresa herself, who persuaded him to allow the sisters to remain. The sisters were housed in a new convent close to the school Church and presbytery. Not long afterwards, another convent of the Sisters of Charity was set up in Georgetown and another in Berbice.
The children of Hosororo have benefited immensely from the presence of the Sisters. At 11.00 am each day they feed about 140 students who live too far away to travel home or who are too poor. The Sisters also visit homes, bring Holy Communion to the sick, and prepare the children for First Holy Communion and Confirmation.
Jamaica, Mandeville
Installation of New Bishop postponed
Ivan forced Bishop Gordon D. Bennett, S.J. to change his plans to be installed as bishop of Mandeville, Jamaica on September 26. The former auxiliary bishop of Baltimore attended a farewell prayer service in Baltimore on September 11, the day the hurricane hit Jamaica.
He said he would take over as bishop of Mandeville September 24 but his first focus will now be to assess damage to Church properties, including the Cathedral, and begin to raise funds and make repairs. “All of that while still trying to promote a pastoral agenda that meets the spiritual needs of the people”, he said.
He has postponed the installation ceremony indefinitely. He said he has been told the roof of the Cathedral of St. Paul of the Cross sustained severe damage, as did many of the diocese’s churches and schools. The lack of housing in the diocese for priests. Religious and missionaries was worsened by damage to existing convents and rectories, he said.
Bishop Bennet concluded that the hurricane had brought “a different circumstance than I was hoping for” at the beginning of his new ministry.
Trinidad & Tobago -
Port of Spain
Laywoman challenges Trinidadians to pray and to fast
The co-founder of the Living Water, a community of lay and religious persons in Trinidad & Tobago, has suggested to the Catholic faithful there, a way to help end violent crime and other social ills, and so transform the country.
“For this time, to be able to overcome what we experience in our country, we need to fast and pray”, said Rose Jackman, in a sermon at the country’s national shrine in Laventille on Sunday, August 15. Bishop John Mendes presided in the absence of Archbishop Gilbert.
Reminding all of Mary and Joseph searching in the temple for Jesus, she told those who have lost loved ones to kidnapping that Mary understands “your pain and still give you the grace and the strength to go through the most difficult time in your life.” She added that it was time to change the “wishy-washy” way some Catholics attend church and live their lives, and become “people of fervour, people of love.”
“Mary invites us to fast because some evils and difficulties can only be overcome by prayer and fasting….” Rose explained that while some may not be able to fast from food for health reasons, delaying gratification and experiencing some inconvenience, so that others may have, is another form of fasting.
“We need to bring this discipline back into our lives. The crime and violence that we experience, the loss of children to drugs and corruption, the culture of death that is hovering over us in abortion, can be overcome by prayer and fasting.”
These Marian Devotions, are held at the Laventille Shrine once per month, and on this occasion the Trinidadians were delighted to have with them a group of Legionaries from St. Lucia led by “Fr. Ed” of the Phillipines.
Dear Boys and Girls,
Make the Sign of the Cross: In the Name of the Father and of the son and of the Holy spirit. Amen.
(1) While holding the Crucifix in the hand, recite the Apostles’ Creed.
THE APOSTLES’ CREED
I BELIEVE in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell; the third day He arose again from the dead; He ascended into leaven, sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.
(2) On the first large bead, recite the Our Father.
OUR FATHER
OUR FATHER, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. Amen.
(3) On the three small beads recite the Hail Mary.
HAIL MARY
HAIL, MARY, full of grace; the Lord is with thee; blessed are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
(4) Recite the Glory be to the Father.
GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
(5) Call to mind the first Mystery and reflect upon it; then recite on the same large bead the Our Father.
(6) On the ten small beads, recite the Hail Mary, keeping in mind the mystery.
(7) Recite the Glory be to the Father.
Each of the decades continue as in the first; Recall the Mystery, then say the Our Father, the ten Hail Marys and the Glory be to the Father.
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FATIMA EJACULATION
AFTER each decade may be said the Fatima ejaculation: “O Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell; lead all souls to Heaven especially those who are most in need of your mercy.”
Our Lady is known by many titles Complete the following:
Our Lady of the Rosary
Our Lady of --------------------
Our Lady of --------------------
Our Lady of --------------------
Our Lady of --------------------
The Mysteries of the Rosary
THE JOYFUL MYSTERIES
1. The Annunciation
2. Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth
3. The birth of Jesus
4. Jesus is presented in the temple
5. Jesus is found in the temple
THE LUMINUOUS MYSTERIES
1. The baptism of Our Lord in the River Jordan
2. The Wedding at Cana, when Christ manifested Himself
3. The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God
4. The Transfiguration of Our Lord
5. The Last Supper, when Our Lord gave us the
Holy Eucharist
THE SORROWFUL MYSTERIES
1. The agony of Our Lord in the Garden
2. Jesus is scourged at the pillar
3. Jesus is crowned with thorns
4. Jesus carries the heavy cross
5. Jesus is crucified and dies.
THE GLORIOUS MYSTERIES
1. Jesus rises from the dead
2. Jesus ascends into heaven
3. The Holy Spirit descends on the Apostles and Our Lady
4. Mary is assumed into heaven
5. Mary is crowned as Queen of Heaven and earth
Our Lady of Fatima
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Lucia, Francisco
and Jacinta |
On the 13th May, 1917 three children were looking after some sheep in a place called Fatima, a town in Portugal.
They were Lucia, aged ten and her cousins Francisco aged nine and his sister Jacinta aged seven
About mid-day after praying the rosary as was their custom, they were playing games when suddenly they saw a brilliant light; thinking that it was lightening, they decided to go home As they were going down the hill, another flash lit up the place and they saw on top of an oak ‘ tree “a lady more brilliant than the sun” from whose hands hung a white rosary.
The Lady from Heaven said to the children: Jesus wishes you to make me known and loved on earth.” Boys and girls Our Lady wants you to pray the rosary every day and to tell your friends about her.
Ask your Mummy and Daddy to tell you more about the visits of Our Lady of Fatima to the three children in Portugal
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