Dear Fr. Luke:
I write to express my heartfelt gratitude and thanks to you and the Pallottine Community and the parish members for your generous assistance and dependability in the hosting of His Excellency Archbishop Girasoli and the presbyterate today (Wednesday).

My thanks are also extended to your staff and anyone who would have assisted not only in the preparation but who supplied or contributed in any way. The time spent in communion was a most enjoyable one for all those present; it afforded the opportunity to have open and frank: conversation with the Nuncio, all facilitated by your generosity.

Yours fraternally,
+Jason Gordon, Bishop of Bridgetown

Having listened to many people and groups and the vital statistics for the Diocese of Bridgetown, we present a report of where we are to date, the aspirations of the parish and the theological foundations of the Church moving forward.
+ Bishop Gordon

The 'Finance' section of the attached St. Dominic's report was edited and approved by Philip McKeever and Rey Royer.  Kindly print 250 additional copies for parishioner's who do not have access to a computer for distribution at all Masses this weekend.

The Report is available to download here:

The idea of the program is to provide basic information. There will be time for discussions too. Literally , ALL are invited to participate, all is free. Sessions take place on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at     6.30 pm in our pastoral centre.

2012, V, 16, WED, SOCIAL TEACHING,
FR. LESLIE LETT
2012, V, 21, MON, MORAL THEOLOGY,
FR. ARTHUR
2012, V, 22, TUE, SACRAMENTOLOGY,
M. SMITH & A. FERREIRA
2012, V, 23, WED, SPIRITUALITY,
SR. TERESA MARY
2012, V, 28, MON, CATECHISM,
STEPHEN SCOTT
2012, V, 29, TUE, CATECHISM,
STEPHEN SCOTT
2012, V, 30, WED, CATHOLIC LAW,

Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC, a convert to Catholicism, is a member of the Congregation of Marians of the Immaculate Conception. Before his conversion to Catholicism, he was a high school dropout who had been kicked out of a foreign country, institutionalized twice and thrown in jail multiple times. After his radical conversion he earned a B.A. in Philosophy and Theology from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, OH, M.Div. and S.T.B. degrees from the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC, and an S.T.L. in Mariology from the International Marian Research Institute in Dayton, Ohio. He has written many academic articles and is the editor of two books: The Immaculate Conception in the Life of the Church (Marian Press, 2004) and The Virgin Mary and Theology of the Body (Marian Press, 2005). He also is the author of the book Purest of All Lilies: The Virgin Mary in the Spirituality of St. Faustina (Marian Press, 2008). His radical conversion story is now shared in his latest book, No Turning Back: A Witness to Mercy

Fr. Calloway's website
http://www.fathercalloway.com/index.php

Matthew 25, verses 35-36: 
“For I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me drink.  I was a stranger and you welcomed me into your house. I was naked and you clothed me.  I was sick and you visited me.  I was in prison and you came to see me”.

“In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets“.  Matt. 7:12

Contact for more information
Telephone: (246) 260-1987
email: carematt253536@gmail.com

_ LIFE COUNSELLLING
4:30-6:30 p.m.   Walk-in (no appointment) 1st and 3rd Mondays
4:30-6:30 p.m. Appointments only 2nd and 4th Mondays

11-PLUS LESSONS
4:00-5:00 p.m. Mondays

CXC MATHEMATICS
5:00-6:00 p.m. Tuesdays

LEGAL CLINIC
3:00-6:30 p.m. Appointments only 2nd and 4th Wednesdays

SOUP KITCHEN
3:30-4:30 p.m. Wednesdays

JOB SEARCH
3:00-6:30 p.m. Appointments only 2nd and 4th Wednesdays
9:30-11:30 a.m. Walk-in (no appointment) 2nd and 4th Saturdays

SIGN LANGUAGE
6:15-7:45 p.m. Thursdays

Other services available based on demand
- Learn to Read for adults and children
- Medical Screening and Health Information
- Self Defence and Exercise Classes

CALL 260-1987

Community Centre located at the back of St. Dominic’s RC Church,
Maxwell, Christ Church

All services are provided free of cost. We do however welcome donations in cash or “in-kind” at the discretion of users.

COMMENTARY
TO THE OFFERTORY GIFTS

1. The Rosary: – St. Dominic is synonymous with the Rosary he is credited with the introduction of the Rosary in its present form in 1208 after being visited by our Holy Mother Mary.  The Rosary is a meditation on Jesus’ life, death and resurrection originally consisting of The Joyful Mysteries, The Sorrowful Mysteries and The Glorious Mysteries.  It included The Apostle Creed and The Lord’s Prayer.  In 1568 The Hail Mary was added and over time so were The Luminous Mysteries, The Glory Be, The Hail Holy Queen, The Fatima Prayer and The Rosary Prayer until we have the Rosary as we know it today.  It is one of the strongest prayers of the Catholic Church and as is always the case with Mary, she points the way to her Son Jesus Christ.

2. The Church: – In this instance we are referring to the actual building.  Take a moment to look around you.  In the 1970s a need for a church in Christ Church was seen as necessary by the Roman Catholics residence of the parish.  Fr. Taylor, a Dominican, and these early parishioners took up the challenge and built a structure with an eye to the future.  The church was fittingly called St. Dominic’s for the Dominican order.

The Corner Stone was laid on May 10, 1972. The first Mass was said on March 4, 1973 at 7:30 a.m, The Blessing took place on April 26, 1973.

3. The Parish Priest: – In its short history our parish has been blessed with wonderful priests.  They have cared for the souls of their parishioners and have been there on both the joyful and the sorrowful occasions that have crossed the paths of our lives.  Each has given of their talents, their time and their efforts as they worked for, in and with the parish in all its endeavors.  We honour Fr. Taylor, Fr. Raphael may he rest in peace, Fr. Dick, Fr. Iraneaus and our present parish priest Fr. Luke.

4. The Parish Centre: – Is a realization of a long held dream.  Always part of the plan for St. Dominic it is now a reality.  It is our hope that with it a stronger community will be forged by using it for numerous outreach programs to both the parishioners and the community at large.

>>>

5. The Parishioners: – Also called ‘The Church’.  Without the parishioners, the community of the faithful, the church building is only a building.  The parishioners, we are the family and community that make up St. Dominic Roman Catholic Church.

6. The Ministries.  In this basket is an article representing each of our ministries.  A Styrofoam container with food for the poor representing our Care Ministry; a pyx representing our Eucharistic ministers; a missal representing our readers; a hymn book representing our choir; a newsletter representing our ushers; a corporal representing the Liturgical group; a garment representing our Altar servers; a red t-shirt representing Friends in Faith; a pet bottle representing our Fellowship ministry; the recognizable blue shirt worn by the St. Vincent de Paul society; a crucifix representing the Cursillo movement and a statue of the Good Shepherd representing our catechists.  These ministries represent many of the ways in which we all give of our time, talent and treasure. Please join us, everyone is welcome.

7. One of the greatest gifts that we have is Our children... (a child walks up and sits in a small chair).  Our children are our future and we must do our best to nurture them and lead them to realize the richness of our faith and most of all the love that Jesus has for us by being true examples of his mercy and love.

8. The Future: – Like this piece of paper the future ahead of us is clean, clear and pristine.  It is filled with the what might be and the what could be and it waits for us to make our mark on it.  Let the things that influence our future be of God so that our marks will be honourable, strong, deep, indelible, loving and caring, hopeful and full of faith.  Let us, when we look back see most of the things we did with joy rather than regret.

9. Bread & Wine and the Collection Box: – These items say much about the church, it shows that we are a place and people of faith that are in the world.  The bread and wine will be concentrated on the altar and will become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.  This is our faith and this we profess.  But we are also in the world and are required to conform to public governance hence the need for the collection.  As Jesus himself told us in Mark 12: 17 “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar …”.  We are in the world but we must strive not to be ‘of the world’.

Good evening Sisters and Brothers,

The purpose of the St. Dominic’s RC Church Care Ministry is to expand the charitable outreach of the church by offering help, support and guidance to those in need and to strengthen Catholic identity and Catholic presence in the immediate community.

The Ministry has two broad aims.  Firstly, to offer help to those in need, regardless of religion, ethnicity or gender.   Secondly, to promote a culture of volunteerism and to help to improve the quality of parish life by offering a variety of avenues through which parishioners and other interested persons can use their gifts and skills, in a myriad of different ways, in a framework which seeks to embrace diversity and encourage deeper fellowship.

For these very reasons, we promote the Care Ministry as “the Ministry Without Walls”.    We have literally operated “without physical walls” because we have not had a permanent home from which to operate our flagship outreach, the St Vincent Pallotti Kitchen, which serves 100 cooked meals every Wednesday.  We are therefore, extremely pleased that we will now have access to the Parish Centre kitchen and facilities.

Figuratively, we are proud to profess that the Ministry does not have

walls of exclusion.   The Kitchen is a wonderful example of parishioners, who hardly knew each other previously, and friends of the parish, regardless of social class or ethnicity, working together to make sure that groceries and provisions are made available, through donations in cash and in kind; meals prepared; packed and distributed.  This is done with precision on a weekly basis in an atmosphere of caring and love.

The Care Ministry looks to Matthew’s gospel, Chapter 25, verses 35-36, for guidance:  “For I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me drink.  I was a stranger and you welcomed me into your house. I was naked and you clothed me.  I was sick and you visited me.  I was in prison and you came to see me”.

The Ministry’s way of helping is to provide access to skills and opportunities that will improve the quality of life of those who need help.  We are therefore pleased to announce a series of clinics and programmes, staffed by volunteers, which will commence in September at the new Parish Centre.   

Wellness Counselling - Trained Psychologists and Counsellors will provide a walk-in clinic for assessment and evaluation of matters.  The Coordinator for this clinic is parishioner, Dr. Deanne Ford, supported by professionals of the Barbados Association of Psychologists.

Literacy Programme - Consisting of Basic literacy skills (reading, writing, maths) for children and adults; an After School Care & Lessons Programme, and later Basic Computer skills for children and adults.  The Coordinator for this programme is parishioner, Mrs. Alexandra Noel-Bowen, working with a team of teachers.

Medical Screening Clinic - This will provide routine checks for Hypertension, Diabetes, Cholesterol and periodic Breast screening, Nutrition Counselling and Exercise Classes.  

Financial Guidance - This will offer one-on-one sessions on managing credit cards, budgeting, debt consolidation, mortgages, balancing cheque book etc.  A workshop will be offered for persons interested in self-employment or generating income from a hobby/skill.

Employment Counselling & Preparation - This will involve counselling sessions and workshops for the unemployed and displaced workers, career changers and first time job seekers.
This programme will provide guidance on matters relating to job hunting, attending interviews, negotiating job offers, job related issues, career advice etc.
It is hoped that we will also be able to periodically provide a Legal Clinic to deal specific legal matters.

The harvest is plenty but the workers are few.  We continue to look for volunteers and in the upcoming months we will be communicating the ways in which persons can volunteer and get involved.
 Thank you for your attention.
Lynette Andrew

A committee was chosen to plan the opening and choose a name for the Centre.  The members all agreed that the official name of the Centre should remain the ‘St. Dominic’s Parish Pastoral Centre’; what was needed was a patron saint.

Of the 71 proposals submitted, 5 were chosen for deeper consideration: Our Lady, St Dominic, St. Vincent Pallotti, Divine Mercy and John Paul 11.  Why those five?    

One of the first planning meetings took place on the feast of the Immaculate Conception.  The town planning approval was granted on the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and today, the feast of our Lady of Fatima, our Centre is being blessed.  Coincidence?  Or was a higher hand at work?

St Vincent Pallotti is the founder of the Pallottine Fathers.  Credit for the Centre goes to the ones working in Barbados, especially to Fr. Luke.  He took the necessary steps to provide the parish with a much needed centre, thus finally fulfilling the dream of St. Dominic’s parishioners.  The Pallottines intend retaining the name ‘St. Vincent Pallotti Mission House’ for their home, which will be the top story of the building. 

Divine Mercy was the next proposal.  Before the Pallottines’ arrival, the Centre had been in the pipeline for a considerable length of time; plans had been drawn but nothing had come of it.  The Centre therefore seemed divinely orchestrated.  Also, quite a few of the projects planned for the Centre are works of mercy; Divine Mercy therefore, appeared to be an appropriate patron.  

We come now to the last of the five proposals, John Paul 11.  He was deeply affiliated with the Divine Mercy and Catholics have him to thank for the feast of Divine Mercy.  He died on the Saturday before Divine Mercy Sunday and was beatified on Divine Mercy Sunday of 2011.  His devotion to Our Blessed Lady was deep.  At one point in his youth he thought of joining the Pallottine Fathers and spent some time at their Mother Home.   John Paul was a man of our times, a man everyone can relate to.  He was very much loved by peoples of all denominations and since non-Catholics will also benefit from some of the projects intended for the Centre, this is fitting.

So which proposal was chosen?  I’ll tell you right now.  One proposal encompasses Divine Mercy, St. Vincent Pallotti and Our Lady.  That submission was thought to be the most appropriate.  

The Centre will therefore have Blessed John Paul 11 for its patron

Mrs. Mara Thompson MP – As the wife of Prime Minister David Thompson, Mrs. Thompson performed the ground-breaking
The Hon. John Boyce & Mrs. Boyce, 
MP for Christ Church
Captain Randolph Straughan – The Betting and Gaming Committee Prime Minister’s Office
Mr. Mark Cummings – Chief Town Planner
Bishop of Antilles Episcopal Conference
Fr. Zenon Hanas – Pallottine Superior
Faithful from other Catholic churches
with local Clergy, Religious and Consecrated.
Representatives of our neighboring religious communities,
Moravian Church, Methodist Church, Christ Church Anglican Parish Church
Representatives of Architects, Engineers and Contractors.
Benefactors and supporters
Parish Council and Building Committees
St. Dominic’s Parish Community

Dear Sisters and Brothers of St. Dominic’s and Friends!
“This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
(Psalm 118, 24)
Friday night May 13th is going to be a joyful and historical moment for our St. Dominic's Community and for the Catholic Church in Barbados. We have invited many guests to the opening of the pastoral centre. Please, come and be a part of history. The thanksgiving Mass and votes of thanks begins at 6 pm, the blessing and dinner follows, the entire building will be open for viewing.
We were dreaming and waiting for 38 years for facilities to accommodate all of our pastoral needs. Today the pastoral centre is ready for blessing. The building is not only going to serve our community needs but also the needs of our Barbadian society. We are proud of the social outreach programme we will introduce on Friday night.
There are not many Catholic churches in the Caribbean that have been privileged to host the Episcopal Conference. The bishops who are attending the plenary conference in Barbados accepted our invitation and will join our celebration.
[...]
Your Parish Priests

O Holy Trinity,
we thank you
for having given to the Church
Pope John Paul II,
and for having made him shine with your fatherly tenderness,
the glory of the Cross of Christ and the splendour of the Spirit of love
He, trusting completely
in your infinite mercy
and in the maternal intercession of Mary, has shown himself in the likeness
of Jesus the Good Shepherd
and has pointed out to us holiness
as the path to reach eternal
communion with You.
Grant us, through his intercession,
according to your will,
the grace that we implore,
in the hope that he will soon
be numbered among your saints.
Amen.
[EWTN]

O Lord our God and Father, who gives rain and sunshine to your children, we ask you, in this rainy season. to up-hold us, and provide for our needs.
You try our patience and test our faith and reliance on you; forgive our sin of ingratitude. So often have we forgotten to thank you for your goodness and acts of mercy.
Teach us to look up to you each day, appreciative of rain and sunshine as you, in your wisdom, through any kind of weather do feed us all.
In your mercy, protect us against hurricanes and tropical storms. Pour out your blessings upon our nation and our people, and make us grateful for weather we receive from your bountiful hand.
We make this prayer through Christ our lord.
Amen.

Almighty and ever living God, you glorified Vincent Pallotti and made him a powerful intercessor in heaven. We come before you with our petitions and place before you all our needs and cares. We declare our readiness to accept whatever you send us. Trusting in your divine providence, we cast ourselves like Vincent Pallotti in your loving arms seeking your protection. O God of all consolations, have compassion on all those who suffer and are in need. We beg you today through the intercession of St. Vincent Pallotti to inspire all Christians to join in the apostolic endeavours of the Union of the Catholic Apostolate. Remind them of their duty to be apostles everywhere and to bring the whole humanity as one flock under the one Shepherd Jesus Christ. May your kingdom extend to the ends of the earth. Above all we place before you this our special need (mention)

O glorious St Vincent, intercede for us before the Lord and obtain for us all the graces we ask for. Merciful Father, St Vincent glorified you before men while here on earth. Now glorify him, by answering his prayers on our behalf. We make this prayer through Christ Our Lord. Amen

Dear Sisters and Brothers,
The Community of St. Dominic’s is honoured by your presence, especially the bishops of our Antilles Episcopal Conference. Thank you for responding to our invitation to the opening of our pastoral centre. Your presence and prayers mean a lot to us. This is one more sign that God’s blessing is upon us. We wouldn’t be able to finalize our project if God did want it. It is a miracle that everything has happened so quickly, and that we were able to happily overcome the challenges we met on our way. Along with the opening of our church in 1973, today marks another great step towards the development of our relatively young community.

We wouldn’t be able to complete the project without being a community, that is really what we are celebrating today. For the last couple of months we got to know each other better, we were more united in our ideas and in prayer. Jesus was at the centre of our actions. We were building not only walls but the living Church (with the capital C). We lived the words of St. Paul “God's temple is holy; and we are that temple” (v 17). We are the Church!

St. Paul the Apostle was an expert at building the Church. He laid the solid foundation for Christianity, for the Catholic Church. The structure he had started is still solid and developing, resisting trials and hard times.

In his first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 3, St. Paul writes to the community in Corinth: “There is one that says, 'I belong to Paul' and another that says, 'I belong to Apollos” (v 4). Are we not sometimes like the Corinthians dividing our emotions and identity?  St. Dominic’s Community throughout its relatively short history has experienced different orders and priests, Dominicans, Jesuits, Spiritians and now Pallottines. The community itself consist of people of different cultures, backgrounds and expectations. This variety became a significant part of our heritage on which we build our Catholic identity. I would like to pay a tribute today to all our predecessors. I want to mention the name of Fr. Theodore Taylor who at the beginning with a small group of enthusiastic parishioners completed this church. Obedient to God’s call we are continuing the mission. “I did the planting, Apollos did the watering, but God gave growth” (v 6)

God has used many people to accomplish our building project. There are many benefactors; their names were presented in the offertory procession. This is only a draft list and it continues to expand. There were small, large and very large donations, all coming straight from the heart, there was help in kind, prayers and assistance. St. Paul wrote:  “On this foundation, different people may build in gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay or straw” (v. 12) Today I would like to thank you all for every donation.

This work would not be completed without assistance of my closest companions whom I could completely trust and share my responsibility with. Let me mention fist the name of the architect, Saskia Hardt and her husband Brent who unfortunately are out of the island due to Brent’s new diplomatic appointment. I would like to thank the team of TWA Architect Office with Andrew Voss, engineers with David Guppy, and Markham Construction with John Still and Heath Hazel.

There were many other experts who willingly supported the project, Ron Davis and Philip McKeever, Richard Edgehill and Mario Hall, members of various committees and volunteers. I cannot omit the name of our secretary who for the same salary has worked in our parish office and for the building project. Thank you Bernadette!

Ron Davis and Richard Edgehill were leading the building committees and have done a tremendous job, never asking for recognition. Richard only asked his sins to be forgiven, I am sure God will grant this humble petition. I cannot keep Ron and Richard quiet tonight, they certainly have many things to say, but they have only 5 minutes each.

We still have to finish some details before we can move into the new centre, pay the mortgage and then what, relax on the beach? Not at all, the real mission begins right now. We constructed the building in order to serve better, to meet the needs of our Barbadian society and our Community. We have prepared an outreach programme, which we are proud of. The programme is centred on Jesus Christ. “For nobody can lay down any other foundation than the one which is there already, namely Jesus Christ” (v 11). The programme leader Lynette Andrew is going to give us a brief presentation about it.

After much community consultation and deliberation we have chosen a Patron Saint for our pastoral centre. Maria Squires will reveal the name and how we made this choice from the many proposals that were submitted.

The most important persons are usually mentioned at the beginning or at the end of a speech. I would like to thank our Archbishop Robert Rivas who mobilized us to undertake this project, approved the plan with his advisors and has supported us all the way to this point. I am also very grateful to my Pallottine brother priests, and my superiors. On behalf of them will speak Fr. Zenon Hanas, who arrived from Poland just for this occasion.

Before I conclude my words I would like to thank everyone who helped to organize today’s celebration, liturgy, blessing of the building and dinner including generous food donors. I do not want to omit anyone so please accept my general “Thank you”. I will offer a Mass for you and keep you in my prayers.

“After all, we do share in God's work; you are God's farm, God's building. By the grace of God, which was given to me, I laid the foundation like a trained master-builder, and someone else is building on them. Now each one must be careful how he does the building.” (v 10-11)

(I was citing the 1st letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 3)
Parish Priest

The celebration is divided into four parts: Thanksgiving Mass, Vote of thanks, Blessing of the new building and Dinner.
The prayers of the Mass are taken from the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. The readings are from the day.
We will now proceed to the main entrance. After the bell rings, the lector will read the commentary, the choir will begin the entrance hymn, please see your booklets, then the procession will start. The order of procession: Cross, candles, incense, Deacon with the book of the Gospel, altar servers, lectors, priests and bishops. We will walk down the main aisle to the altar, in pairs we bow and kiss the altar. The seats for bishops are in the sanctuary, for priests in the second pew by the left side looking from the entrance. All the seats are labelled. After arriving at the altar the main celebrant will incense it. When the choir finishes the hymn all take their seats. Archbishop Rivas will welcome us to the celebration from the pulpit.
The liturgy then proceeds as usual.
There is the Gloria, but no Creed. After the Homily the Intercessory Prayers follow, then the hymn and collection. After, the lector will read the commentary, and the offertory procession begins. The main celebrant receives the gifts at his seat and the master of ceremonies helps to place them in front of the altar, the congregation remains seated. The offertory hymn follows to give time to prepare the altar and incense it. We stand for the incense.
Only the main celebrant and assisting bishops go to the altar for the Eucharistic prayer.  The rest of bishops and clergy remain in their seats. We will use the Eucharistic Prayer III, please see your booklet for the text.
Order of Holy Communion: bishops, priests, deacon. Servers will lead the Communion procession down the main aisle. The main celebrant and one of the assisting bishops will distribute the Body of Jesus in front of the altar, two priests will assist them with the chalice standing further to the right and left. Two other bishops will go to both sides of the church to distribute Holy Communion either on the hand or by intinction on the tongue. If necessary one of the priests will go with the ciborium to serve outside the church. Customarily not everyone receives communion on the tongue so please observe the sign of the communicant.
A mime reflection after Communion in the  darkened church will be performed by a group of Sunday School children from Our Lady Queen of the Universe.
After the reflection, the prayer after Holy Communion, and the Blessing follows, but we don’t leave the church.
We remain seated for the Vote of Thanks by the local Parish Priest and the laity, Fr. Hanas the Pallottine Superior is invited to say a few words at the end. After the votes the recessional hymn is sung and in the usual order, we process to the hall of the new building, the congregation follows us.
In the hall, the choir continues singing. When the majority of the congregation have arrived, the blessing of the Holy Water, the prayer of Blessing of the new building, prayer over the food, and sprinkling follows. There are three designated bishops to go through each floor. The rest of the celebrants can take their vests off in the offices on the ground floor.
The last part of the celebration is the dinner. The entire building is open for viewing. There are three posts to serve dinner, 2 downstairs and 1 upstairs.  There are not enough tables for everyone, chairs will be available on each floor and outside. For official guests and bishops, there will be tables reserved on the balcony but if they prefer they can mix with congregation.
There are tokens of appreciation that we would like to present to the official guests and bishops during our dinner.

Offertory Commentry:
  “One Church-Our mission, Disciples, United , Active and Alive.” The Assembly 2010 motto accurately reflects the act of offering made at this mass.

The children  in our  offertory procession this evening  are wearing sashes  with the names  of all  the islands (Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica,  Grenada, Nassau, Martinique,Fr. Guyana, Guyana, Suriname, Dominica, Cayman Islands, Curacao, Belize, Bermuda, Guadeloupe and Barbados) here represented tonight by the Bishops attending the 55th annual plenary Antilles  Episcopal conference. Our  offertory  gifts are in the following order:

-We first have the St. Dominic’s logo:  -Our logo  is the symbol of our Parish community of St. Dominic’s. It is a white cross in the middle of a black background, which has an outer circle in white and further embraced by  petals in the colours of yellow, green and blue.  These petals represents our vibrate, alive and multiracial community, our unity and openness . The circular shape is  the shape of our Church.  The black and white of the logo represents the Dominican order, of which St. Dominic is our patron saint. 

- We then have sand. This represents  the yellow coloured petal of our logo. This yellow denotes the sun/sand of our island. We are surrounded by this daily and sometimes forget to be thankful that we are blessed by this natural resource.

-We then have water;  representing  the blue coloured petal of our logo. This bowl is actually filled with sea water which will be blessed tonight and be used in the blessing of our new parish hall.  The blue of our logo represents  the sea surrounding our island.  This too is another natural resource of we are blessed.

-the last aspect of our logo is the fruit and foliage which is the green of our logo. The basket of fruit and basket of  foliage is a symbol of the environment and nature around us which we see every day.   Together all three colours/petals  form the outside of the logo. The logic is that that we depend on all three together.

- We next have the sealed box which contains all the names of all benefactors for our parish centre. These people are prayed for daily and are included among our divine mercy intentions.

We also have the first donation , a $5 dollar bill  given to start our pastoral centre by a visitor who heard of what we intended and offered what she could.  She was like our little angel

-Our  brown collection box which is now locked will be placed in an area for all to see as it contains all the generous donations from you our parishioners, visitors and friends. These donations tonight will be used towards the pastoral centre.

-The most important of our process ion is the bread and wine.  These are presented to God before they are consecrated to become the body and blood of Christ; which when received in the Eucharist make us one with God, one with each other and one with creation.

We bring all these gifts to the altar to offer them to Jesus to transform them and us.  We offer them in our prayers and  give thanks for what we have received.
(Katrina Fereira)