Women of the Sunday experience: Debra Bartholomew

What defines your Sunday experience? Research has shown that in many parishes in Trinidad and Tobago, our music ministry comes second only to the homily. We decided to bring the Sunday experience alive for you.

Begin by closing your eyes and imagining yourself in meditation at Mass and listen to the hypnotic notes being shared by the women of our Sunday experience. If it moves you, and only if it moves you, share it with friends and let us reverberate that connection with the divine in our world.

I believe if this is done in sincerity if you meditate on the words of these traditional Catholic hymns which have been re-imagined by some dynamic, female Catholic singers and musicians, then we can help each other heal in many ways.

Today we feature Debra Bartholomew.

Debra is a multi-talented Catholic woman and a true treasure to the faith. She is a burst of energy and a ball of creativity. What an amazing blessing she is to the two parishes to which she belongs. Today she is performing “I am the vine and you are the branches” an old favourite, re- imagined. The fun fact about this particular piece is it was done at Mass Church of the Assumption Maraval on April 25, and the theme was I am the vine. Debra turned to the keyboardist and said, “slow it down and drop the key” and when they were finished, they were both in tears. When Mass was over, Debra asked the videographer if she could do a recording to which he replied, “the meditation hymn right?”. Everyone knew that this piece was special.

Women of the Sunday experience also pays tribute to our ancestors who centuries before penned the words of songs that can touch our souls even today and those songs are delivered to you by some of the most awesome female singers in the Catholic Church in Trinidad and Tobago.

This piece would not have reached our ears if it were not for the following persons who also made it possible

· Reynold Woodruff on keyboard

· Wendell Constantine and Andre Burton on videography

· And Fr Ashton Pierre, parish priest of Assumption RC Church in Maraval.