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Living Water Flows
”The Lord works in mysterious ways," said Bishop
Malcolm Galt, Bishop of Bridgetown, as he reflected on the events which
brought the Trinidad-based Living Water Community (LWC) to Barbados.
 Just
about one year earlier, LWC Foundress and Leader, Rhonda Maingot, found it
necessary to visit Barbados regularly. Co-foundress Rose Jackman accompanied
her on one of those visits.
”Fr Harcourt Blackett,
the administrator of our Cathedral parish, hearing that Rhonda and Rose
would be in Barbados during Lent, invited them to give the Women’s
Mission,”
recalled the Bishop.
That retreat was held at
the St Patrick’s Cathedral parish, and the following week, a similar retreat
for men was conducted by LWC Priest, Fr Jason Gordon, and other community
members.
Retreatants from both
missions arrived at the same conclusion: they wanted Living Water Community
to work in Barbados. They gathered to pray and determine a course of action,
and consulted Bishop Galt and Fr Harcourt.
”I met with the group
and then briefed the clergy of plans being worked out in Barbados and
Trinidad,” said Bishop Galt. ”It was on a visit to Trinidad that I visited
the Living Water Community to present
 our
invitation to come and minister in Barbados.”
The Community accepted.
And the little steering
committee of just 15 set about putting things in place.
”Like getting a house
and furnishings and getting finances in place,” said committee member, John
Shearn. A project which would involve countless people contributing time,
treasure, and talent to making the dream take shape.
And which came to
fruition on a cool, windy Sunday morning.
On January 12, 2003,
Rhonda Maingot and three missionaries - Rosemary Scott, Louie Cockburn, and
Laura Ann Phillips - disembarked at the Grantley Adams International
Airport.
From left: Louie, Laura Ann & Rosemary
Bishop Galt and three
members of their ready-made family - Shearn, his wife, Sally, and John
Maskell - were there to welcome them.
”I’m particularly
happy,” said Bishop Galt, “that having lost the services four years ago of
the Madonna House Apostolate - a group of consecrated laywomen, who served
here for over 20 years - that we once again have the presence of consecrated
lay persons in the diocese. It is an important dimension in the life of the
Church today.”
 They
were whisked off to their new home, the centre of so much activity for so
many months, and which would continue to be so for some time to come.
There, in the front
porch, they found committee member, Gail Maskell, who had been instrumental
in pulling together the steering committee.
She had long wanted a
Living Water presence in Barbados.
”Many years I’ve been
behind Rhonda for Living Water to come, but she kept saying, ‘When the Lord
is ready’. "Now, it seems,” she said, “The Lord past ready! He in a hurry!”
So, when the mission
team finally arrived, she recalled, “My first impression was, Praise the
Lord! We reach!”
’We’ has been the
prevailing pronoun around the ‘centre’.
Even though it’s home to
the mission team, it’s also the centre from which its pastoral ministry
takes place.
Since its arrival, the
Community’s ministry has been largely pastoral, much like its beginnings in
Trinidad.
LWC’s hallmark, daily
weekday masses at noon and Wednesday night prayer meetings were the first
ministries to be established.
At present, Fr Harcourt
celebrates daily mass three times a week at the house, and a Eucharistic
service held on the other days.
And many, many persons
from all walks of life, nationalities, and faiths - some previously
unfamiliar with the Community’s work in Trinidad - have gathered to share in
their ministry.
 ”I
think it’s what Barbadians have been looking for,” said Charmaine Cox, a
young wife and mother, who attends the prayer meetings and other events.
"It’s somewhere where you can get all your teachings. And my kids are
learning so much about how to be Catholic.”
Businesswoman Marion
FedŽe also attends various LWC events, and maintained that the Community has
helped us to grow in spirituality and teaches us the real truth about God
and the wonder of God. ”Every time we go to prayer meeting we learn
something different!” she said.
"It is a very healthy
sign,” noted Fr Harcourt, “to have so many persons associated, and feel part
of Living Water Community, and want to be part of the work of the
Community.”
Work which also includes
spirituality meetings for women, children,
teens and young adults, and an intercessory group.
The most recent addition
is a ministry to men, co-ordinated by LWC member, Alan Lyder.
The men’s ministry may
also have had its genesis in the 2002 Lenten retreats and the preparations
to get the community to Barbados, suggested John Maskell.
”For the first time in
Barbados
we saw a lot of men come forward to do physical work and give advice and
produce something,” said Maskell, who is also involved in the ministry.
”Ministry to men has
always been a tricky thing,’ he said, “and has not had a positive history in
Barbados.
I was extremely reluctant to have a men’s meeting because I had seen so many
fail, and I was trying to avoid failure again.” But the signs
have been positive, he noted. Twenty
men attended the first meeting, and, by the second, they insisted that the
monthly meetings be held fortnightly.
”It’s awesome to have seen how God is moving and working here with the men,”
said Lyder. “I have seen such tremendous openness. ”It’s the start of a new
journey for me with the men in Barbados.”
The Community’s social ministry has begun through service within the
education system and with disadvantaged families and individuals.
”It has been of particular interest in our Community,” said mission leader,
Rosemary Scott, “because of our beginnings in Trinidad, to be involved in
social ministry and, therefore, look forward to this ministry developing and
growing to where we can truly serve the poor.”
 Living
Water, however, will continue to be a spiritual oasis to those
who need it.
”A special area is needed, a place where people could come and experience
decent spirituality,” said Fr Harcourt, “and work, which has already begun,
in helping Catholics, communities, and the pastoral life of the parish.
Living Water could be the place where much could happen. I don’t think
we could have a better bunch of people.”
WHAT THEY SAY
Comments from LWC Barbados
Here are other reflections from persons who have experienced Living Water’s
ministry in Barbados.
”It has lived up to our expectations! We have certainly benefitted
spiritually and you’ve only just come!” - Mary Humphrey
”I see a calmness in my everyday living, how I deal with things, which is a
big improvement in my life. I can deal with the stresses of life.” -Colleen
Mahy
”I continue to be awestruck at the amazing generosity of people toward the
community and their openness to God’s work in our midst. It is
wonderful to see the coming together of all walks of life.” -Rosemary
Scott -Leader, LWC Barbados Mission
”I am overwhelmed at the eagerness of the men and women here, and even the
children, to want to know more about their faith and how to serve God where
they are. I was happy and amazed to see, at our Lenten retreat in St Philip,
that we had Catholics, Anglicans and Methodists participating.” -
Louie Cockburn - LWC Barbados
”I’ve had the tremendous opportunity of seeing, up close, the Spirit in the
raw really working! You’re very aware that you’re really just an
instrument, a clumsy instrument through which God executes beautiful work,
so it is evident to you - and everybody else - that it is all His work.
- Laura Ann Phillips - LWC Barbados
(Feb 2003)
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