After a long day at our various places of work, we anxiously began our two hour long drive to New Amsterdam, a town in the “Ancient” county of Berbice. Having been invited by Msgr. Montrose to spend the weekend of March 2 – 4, 2012, we arrived at the huge St. Therese Pastoral Centre on Friday afternoon. As the Diocesan Stewardship Council this is the first time we are spending the weekend with a community. This was new to us and we didn’t know what to expect.
On Friday evening we began our Stewardship weekend encounter with a rap session with the young people of the parish. For our session we looked at a video presentation followed by discussion. Initially shy, the young people were eventually very engaged and invited us to return. As part of the reason for inviting us to spend the weekend, Msgr. Montrose pointed out where parishioners lived and we set out on a journey to visit them in their homes. With directions in hand we set out on foot, street by street. People were pleasantly surprised and in one case even moved to tears. As one member of the Council shared in his presentation later that day, we came to minister to the people of New Amsterdam but ended up being the ones ministered to. The experience of visiting people in their places was truly enriching. Once the hustle and bustle of the town settled down at the end of the day, parishioners met with us for a presentation on Discipleship.
Early next morning we joined the community for their Sunday morning Mass. After Mass the program continued until mid-afternoon. A presentation on Stewards of the Church and the World was followed by a much animated workshop. After an enjoyable lunch the team challenged parishioners to look at the sharing of their Time, Talent and Treasure as a way of being grateful to God for his many blessings and because it was our duty to share our blessings with others. For the final session, parishioners were given the opportunity of expressing their views and dreams for their parish.
