Tortuga Family Life Unit being re–established

On Sunday, April 14, the Tortuga Parish Family Life Unit (FLU) presented a booth in the Mayo Harvest to invite couples in common law and civil marriages to consider sacramental marriage, and to bring awareness to parishioners about the support services provided through the Archdiocesan Family Life Commission (AFLC).

Under the support and guidance of Tricia Syms, Episcopal Delegate of the Archdiocesan Family Life Commission, the team – which comprised Gemma Thompson, Shane and Kris-Ann Kissoondath, Allister and Nikki Hankey along with their parish priest Fr Shijo Abraham Zacharias MSFS – was able to distribute information on the Pathways programme.

Pathways is geared towards providing couples who are not yet sacramentally married with accurate information and accompaniment towards their sacramental marriage.

Parishioners would have also received information on Common Sense Parenting, the Billings Ovulation Method, Worldwide Marriage Encounter and Teams of Our Lady just to name a few.

Persons who visited the booth were intrigued by the range of support services available to them and their loved ones. Some persons eagerly gave their contact information and enquired about how soon they would hear from the FLU.

Amid the sharing of information, through conversations, the team would have also gathered information and realised that there are quite a number of persons in the community who fall into the category of separated, divorced, and widowed.

Coming out of the pandemic, this is the parish’s first attempt at re-establishing its FLU. In the upcoming weeks, the team intends to conduct further information gathering exercises at the churches in the parish, more sensitisation and skills training.

—Kris-Ann Kissoondath, member, FLU, Our Lady of Montserrat, Tortuga Parish