St. Martin's Community / Zone

St. Martin's Community as an SCC started in 1986-87 with the beginning of the SCC movement in the parish. However, much before that, there was a small group of people who used to regularly organise an Annual Mass and other small activities (in fact, a souvenir of the Annual Mass dated 1972 is in our possession). Over the years the Community has expanded and we now have 14 animators.

The team of animators consists of the following:-
Ann Coelho (Co-ordinator)	Dolcie Fonseca
Albert Lobo	Dominic Ferreira
Avinash Pereira	Edwiz Gama
Anna Gomes	Elsa D’silva
Allwyn Almeida	Yvonne Ferrreira / Hadrian Ferreira
Blanche Noronha	Maureen Gonsalves
Brenda Pereira	Ross Picardo / Melba Caeiro

The animators meet on the 3rd Friday of the month for their monthly meetings. Each animator takes it in turn to host the meeting in his/her house and likewise the Opening Prayer. We begin and end the meeting with a Prayer. Thereafter we have the Gospel Sharing, news of the community and of the Parish Council Meeting, and the Agenda comprising mainly of the activities and programmes to be undertaken for the community / animators in the forthcoming month.

There are 117 families in the Community spread across St. Martins Road, St. Martin’s Cross Road, part of Turner Road, Waterfield Road, part of Hill Road and S.V. Road.
Each animator is in charge of approximately 10 families. The animator visits the families, keeps in touch with them, delivers any circulars, zonal bulletins, Parish Community Fund Envelopes and conveys any messages, etc. in regard to the zone/Parish.

The main programmes conducted by the zone in the past few months are –

Lenten Programme – This year the core group organized a Recollection that was conducted by Fr. Sebastian Fernandes, s.j. This was held at St. Peter’s Church, Bandra.

Annual Mass cum Get Together – is held within the community soon after Easter. The animators invite their respective families. Care is taken to also involve various members of the community in the various parts of the Mass. There are a number of sponsors towards the catering and prizes for the games.

Rosary – is said in May in a designated place. A number of members, both adults and youth gather and recite the Rosary every evening. On 31st May, they have a little get- together with snacks and games and a lot of fun and laughter.

Faith Enrichment Programme – Every year the animators go on a day out. In 2005, the visit was to “Vinayalaya” at Chakala, Andheri. This years visit was to Clergy Home, Bandra.

Visit to the sick and the housebound of the zone – This year during the Lenten Season the animators in smaller groups visited the sick and housebound. They either said the Rosary or a few Stations of the Cross or any short prayer, depending on the health of the person. They then spent some time with them and their family.

Pilgrimage to Mount Mary’s Basilica – Soon after the Bandra Feast, the community offers a Mass on a Sunday at the Basilica. A number of the members go as a pilgrimage. Those who cannot join the walking pilgrimage come by transport. Thereafter they attend the Mass which is followed by a little fellowship.

Patronal Feast – of both our Patron Saints (St. Martin de Porres on November 3 and St. Martin of Tours on November 11). Mass was offered by the Community, followed by a get-together at St. Sebastian’s Hall.

Christmas – The group mostly youth who were accompanied by a few adults went round the community singing carols and spreading the joy and happiness of Christmas. Our Santa gave away sweets to the children he met. From the collection received half the amount was given to the Ashagad Mission and half the amount given to the Handmaids of the Blessed Trinity, Vasai.

We plan to carry out the following Programmes during the remainder of this year:-
• Visit to the Clergy Home.
• Faith Enrichment Programme
• Pilgrimage to Mount Mary’s Basilica
• Patronal Feast
• Christmas Programme

We are also proud of our youth who involve themselves in a number of activities. There is a lot of talent too among our youth. Apart from zonal activities, the community also takes an active part in the various parish activities.

Parish Feast organized by the Parish – The youth and a few adults came forward with the spirit of participating and having fun. Quite a number of individual participants as well as groups won prizes. As a token of appreciation, the community gave the participants a little get-together.

We came out with our first Community Bulletin on January 2004 and continued bringing out the next issue every six months thereafter (our 4th Bulletin was recently distributed). The Bulletin included the various activities conducted within the community and the Parish, information on births, deaths, and new members who have come into the community.

Apart from the activities conducted by the entire zone, some of the animators also conduct programmes in smaller groups within their allotted families, e.g.

Lenten Programme – One of the animators conducts the Way of the Cross with her allotted families.

Get-togethers – during May, Diwali or Christmas.

Monthly Rosary – on the 3rd Monday conducted by the zonal priest.

Talk – This year during Lent a talk by Fr. Savio de Sales on ‘Sin and Reconciliation’.

Cooking competition – wherein each participant prepared a dish which was displayed and judged on the taste of the dish and also on the presentation.

Films – have been shown a number of times. During the last Lenten Season the film on “The Acts of The Apostles” was shown.

Prayer sessions – in small groups conducted within the allotted families.

We are grateful to all our animators for the endless work that they do in reaching out to their families during all the above programmes and at other times too. We are also thankful to the members of our community for participating in whatever way they do to make the community grow.