By Vernon Khelawan

Today marks the start of this year’s Marian Devotions at the Laventille Shrine*. This annual exercise in faith has continued for more than half century and can be regarded as one of the greatest public methods of evangelisation in the archdiocese.

Over the years the organisers, trying to keep the devotions relevant to today’s changing religious and societal environment, have gone through several metamorphoses, but always taking great care not to dilute the substance of the mission in so far as it continued to impact on the process of evangelisation.

From its inception, the devotions have been recognised as one of the most potent evangelisation tools of the Roman Catholic Church in Trinidad and Tobago, since it cuts across every strata and age group of the society. It brings out the young and the elderly, the healthy and the infirm, the deeply religious and those not so inclined, but simply curious to experience the event.

This public show of faith, devotion and intense participation of the laity in the devotions has made it one of the premier evangelisation events in the Church’s annual calendar. Of course this is not to diminish the importance of the Good Friday re-enactments of Christ’s passion, which has grown in popularity in recent times; the annual Corpus Christi procession in downtown Port of Spain and the Charismatic rallies.

Today’s devotions on the Laventille Hill will pray specifically for more vocations not only to the priesthood and the religious life, but also for an overall improvement in the quality of marriages or any of those things which involve lifelong commitments.

This weekend also, the Couples for Christ (CFC) ministry will raise the level of the evangelisation process with its rally at the Holy Name Convent. Those expected to speak were Fr Cornelius Phillip on “Send Us Out” and Joe Duran on “Evangelisation in the Modern World”. Several workshops and periods for praise and worship were scheduled.

So as we near the end of the first Pastoral Priority – New Evangelisation – we can reflect on last year’s theme and assess whether or not any significant progress has been made over the period. However it must be remembered that the process cannot now be halted.

*There will be no Eucharistic procession as previously advertised at this Sunday’s Laventille Devotions. There will be an hour of prayer for “Nurturing Vocations” from 2.00 – 3.00 p.m. followed by the usual Holy Hour from 3.00 – 4.00 p.m.