Holy Trinity on the move

Today marks the 175th anniversary of the Holy Trinity parish in Arouca and environs, one of the oldest in the Roman Catholic archdiocese.

The parish consists of six churches serving several communities: Holy Trinity, Arouca, Our Lady of Lourdes, Tacarigua, La Veronica, Lopinot, La Pastora, La Pastora, Our Lady Queen of Peace, Surrey, and Oropune where mass is celebrated monthly in a savannah as no church has been built there as yet.

Priest Fr Dexter Bereton shared with Sunday Newsday a history of the Holy Trinity parish, its development and significance of today's anniversary.

The parish, he said, was established in Arouca in 1843 by Irish priests Fr O’ Reilly and Fr Mc Elroy.

"Tacarigua and Arouca were old Amerindian settlements and the first registered baptism at the church (Holy Trinity) was that of a baby boy named Joseph Nanton, his mother was 14-years-old at the time. We are still conducting research on this church’s history,” said Bereton.

Since the 19th century, Holy Trinity has adjusted to the needs of the parish in its outreach programmes. There is the Committee for the Poor, similar to the mission of the St Vincent de Paul Society.

“This group deals with the people who live on the margins of life, people who need the church’s assistance for food, money and other kinds of support,” said Brereton.

Instead of a youth group, there is a youth promotion team.

"The youth promotion team has a mission in the parish to advertise the parish’s various events. The young people are also very good at stage management, theatre, spoken word. We have even started a YouTube page which will be used solely for making videos on the teachings of the Catholic church. We are also active on social media,” he said.

The parish also caters to senior parishioners with the 55 Plus Ministry.

“This group is on fire, they have aerobics on Tuesday at our parish centre and they have organised events like tea parties and self-defence classes. So we not only look at nourishing the souls of the congregation but on holistic development,” said Brereton.

Holy Trinity recently started a legal aid clinic where a lawyer is present at the pastoral centre on alternate Saturdays for consultations. A mediation centre is also being developed.

“The church is there to serve the entire human being, not only their souls, salvation means a betterment of one's social conditions, salvation means living a life that is worthy of dignity as a human being, salvation means an end to domestic violence,” said Brereton.

He said one of the things the church tackles in a practical way is the nature of TT society.

"We are fragmented whether it’s on race or party politics and we have had to fight this insularity and division for decades as a parish and as the parish has grown and developed we have had to face that battle on multiple fronts," he said.

The parish is focussed on helping young people address these challenges as the future of society.

“The problems that we experience on a parish level also affect us on a national level as well. Our Holy Trinity parish is a microcosm of the whole, TT. and that is what we celebrate. We come together in unity to make a better and stronger community.”

Archbishop Jason Gordon will be the main celebrant at today's mass and harvest at Holy Trinity church on the Eastern Main Road.

A plaque listing the 38 priests who have served the parish, including Gordon's predecessor Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Harris, will be installed.

Jabari Young, a 16-year-old parishioner, sees the occasion as a celebration of how the church uplifts people.

"All the groups I am involved in allow me to do as much as I can and they appreciate my efforts,” he said. Young, an altar server, is in the choir, hospitality and youth promotion team.

“Groups in our parish do not segregate and we work together as one. I am looking forward to spending time with people who I not only consider as friends but as family.”

Ariel Alexis, 29, a parishioner at La Veronica, shared her experience of coming out of her shell and gaining increased faith through prayer and trust in God.

“I was really an introvert, kept to myself but then the confirmation programme in 2004 opened me up to experiencing so much and now I do everything, such as announcements in church. I have grown a lot because I am now able to express myself better and I have been given the opportunity to build healthy relationships with others."

Kareem Murray, 20, who attends Our Lady of Lourdes, said as a boy his parents instilled in him the importance of having a relationship with God. “Initially I was a shy child who would never go out and help people and as I grew in the fellowship of the altar servers I was able to give of my time and increase my faith. Now as I go to church it has a deeper meaning to me," he said.

And 15-year-old Alectra Ramsubhaj said young people are finding their space in the faith.

“They have activities and they do not leave us out, our input is appreciated. We have unity and that’s what my country needs,” she said.

A revered elder in the parish is 91-year-old Carl Sutherland, a retired newspaper photographer, who is a parishioner at Holy Trinity and stalwart in the men’s group.

“There are a lot of people joining the church now, people are bringing their babies to be baptised and becoming active members as well. The most important thing is to come and worship God, priest come and priest go, God remains,” said Sutherland.

The parish, he observed, has grown in recent years, especially with the addition of Oropune, the newest community near Piarco.

"Fr Bereton has been bringing the communities together, for the family day each community gets the opportunity to host the family day each year so that no one gets left out.”

Jacqueline Timothy, 77, a Holy Trinity parishioner has been involved in coordinating events, teaching first communion and confirmation classes for more than 38 years, and is founding member of the Committee for the Poor which was established by former parish priest Fr Neil Rodriguez. Although, the parish has grown and there is a youth presence, Timothy said there is a need for more young people to come forward.

“There still remains a gap between them and young adults who are equipped to teach religious classes like confirmation and first communion,” said Timothy.

She makes it her duty to visit the other parishes with the Committee for the Poor.

“We do outreach where we go to different harvests and we bring our stalls and when we leave, we leave the funds we have made with the church. We go to churches as far as Toco, Blanchisseuse, Rio Claro, Carenage, we more or less go to the parishes most in need.”

Merlene Salina, 53, from La Veronica sees the parish's 175th anniversary as an example of unity, where six communities are able to come together and contribute to the development of the country by enriching the lives of the young people and the young at heart.