South FLUs host forum for married couples

Family Life Units from the Cluster of La Romaine, Mon Repos, Pointe-a-Pierre, and San Fernando pooled their resources and talents to host ‘We are here for You’, a forum for couples married 15 years and under. The venue was St Benedict’s Parish Hall, La Romaine on Sunday, October 28, from 3–6 p.m.

Couples were invited to submit questions anonymously during pre-registration, via an online site and in-church facilities, on areas such as Relationship, Money Management, Children, and Religion. These were then passed to the team of panellists involved in different aspects of Family Life Ministry.

According to one couple on the panel, “While we are not experts, we have a strong desire to help couples and their families by sharing both our experiences, and information about the many programmes available through the Archdiocesan Family Life Commission.”

Couples were greeted by the Hospitality Team with smiles and a glass of wine as they took their seats. The evening’s proceedings began with Praise and Worship led by Roger and Judithann Scott followed by an opening prayer led by Deacon Harold Woodroffe for Marriage and Family Life.

Michael Ali, Coordinator of the Cluster FLUs, then introduced the moderator for the evening, Roger Bertrand. Fr David Khan, Moderator of the Cluster and Vicar of the Southern Vicariate, shared words of welcome and support to the couples in attendance and expressed his heartfelt pleasure at this initiative. Msgr Christian Pereira, parish priest of St Benedict’s RC joined later in the forum and also shared welcoming words.

The panellists did a great job of answering questions and dealing with issues as challenging as the effect of social media on marriage relationships, infidelity in marriage and money management in these difficult times. There were several valuable insights provided from FLU members present, and many subsidiary questions were submitted from the audience to the moderator, to be discussed by the panel. There were also quite a few animated comments/submissions from the couples in the audience.

An icebreaker demonstrating the qualities needed for a good marriage was facilitated by Indira Kissoon and Lakiesha Coudray. Literature on some of the services/programmes offered by the AFLC was handed out. All couples were lastly treated to delicious refreshments, served by the Hospitality Team.

From the feedback received, the couples benefitted from the session and they expressed an interest to have further sessions hosted where the number of topics would be limited and allow for longer and more in-depth discussions.

Special mention was made of the excellent facilitation by Bertrand. A special thank you is extended to the FLUs of the cluster, the Sound Crew and all those whose efforts contributed to staging of this forum. – Carole Woodroffe