Interview with Michaeline O’Dwyer

Taking part in life at Caravita

I first came to Caravita in 2010 and I chose it as a place to worship because of its excellent, prayerful and participatory liturgies; and because of its diverse and welcoming community.

I’ve been on the pastoral council at Caravita since 2012 and have been the convener since 2014. One of our aims is to encourage people to take part in life at Caravita as fully as possible so we create a real sense of community among the people who choose to visit us. Members of the congregation have a chance to serve as liturgical ministers at all our Masses and other services. They serve as lectors, ministers of the Eucharist, acolytes, greeters and choir members. I often serve as an acolyte during Sunday Mass and it gives me great pleasure to be so deeply involved in the Mass.

We want people to feel as though they belong in our community. The pastoral council is attentive to the needs of the community and we focus on meeting these needs. We also encourage initiatives among the community which support the mission of Caravita.

As Caravita strongly focuses on ecumenism we organize opportunities throughout the year for our community to engage in prayerful ecumenical services, including the Ash Wednesday Ecumenical Service, with the parishes of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (known as St. Paul’s Within the Walls), All Saints Anglican Church, and Ponte Sant’Angelo Methodist Church  all of which are home to English-speaking congregations in Rome.

Something I really appreciate at our Masses at Caravita are the reflective Sunday homilies by our own pastoral staff and once in a while some local priests. On certain occasions we have guest homilists such as Archbishop David Moxon, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s representative in Rome and Bishop Donald Bolen when he is visiting in Rome from Saskatoon.