Catholics must be willing to stand up for their faith and be witnesses to the values of Jesus Christ, stated the preacher at last Sunday’s devotions at the Marian Shrine in Laventille.

Delivering the sermon during the Mass, a fired-up Fr Michael Moses said the Church needed to speak out more.

“We have become a silent people…sometimes silence means consent,” he remarked. He described the Church as a “sleeping giant that needs to wake up again” and stand for Christian values. “We are the sons and daughters of a great God…We are chosen by God. We are special,” he said to the gathering.

In acknowledgement of Trinity Sunday, Fr Moses said we were all made in the image and likeness of God and “we are a reflection of the Trinity”.  Marriage, he continued, was the closest reflection of the triune God and “builds the cells of society”. But he said society had lost its way and declared, “Every child has a right to married parents.”

He argued that today many people demanded rights but ignored their duties and responsibilities. “We have a right to obey God, to love God…,” he added.

Fr Moses noted that the Church had more than 2,000 years of tradition and said Catholics “are called by God to go and tell the truth of Jesus Christ”. “We are called to know our faith, to proclaim it, and to live it with courage.” the parish priest of San Rafael said.

Fr Michael Moses delivers the homily

Cross-section of pilgrims at last Sunday’s Fatima Devotions

Entertaining the faithful by singing a cappella a few verses of a Chalkdust calypso on societal ills, Fr Moses reiterated that Catholics must go and tell “our neighbours, our workmates” and the people around us about Jesus Christ.

He lamented, however, that some members of the Church had become “grocery-shopping Catholics” who select only the Catholic traditions and doctrines they desire.

He gave as an example Catholics who justify condom use. “It is a sin!” he stated, adding that the only way to avoid contracting HIV/AIDS was to change one’s behaviour.

Fr Moses, chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice, also commented briefly on the ongoing controversy over the name of the highest national award.

Without calling any names, he said those who accuse the Church of discriminating against the East Indian community should remember what the Church has done, referring to the 12 Catholic nuns who cared for East Indian lepers in the 1880s and 90s.

He noted that there were those who were trying to divide society along racial lines, and added that while the Church might have “its shadows - it also has light”. Citing papal apologies in recent years for atrocities committed by the Church, Fr Moses said there were very few leaders in the world today following this example.

To the approval of the pilgrims, Fr Moses declared that the cross of Christ was planted in this land and would remain so, and added that the blood of Christ must flow in Trinidad and Tobago. “We can’t have a just society unless we have the right virtues,” he ended.

Last Sunday’s devotions began with a procession from Piccadilly Greens to the shrine, led by Word of Life Community.

Teachers and students of San Fernando-based St Gabriel’s Girls’ RC School led the singing and the recitation of the Glorious Mysteries. The Chaplet of the Divine Mercy followed.

Fr Dwight Merrick, parish priest for Laventille-Morvant Pastoral Area, led prayers - in the form of an Execution of the Word – for the communities and schools of the area.

Prayers were offered for an end to such ills as “incest, insanity, witchcraft, abortion and drug abuse” and for the gift of a spirit of “hope, acceptance, love, appreciation, respect for human beings, security and patience”.

Visiting American Deacon Steve Zehler conducted Benediction in the absence of Archbishop Edward Gilbert, who was out of the country.

Deacon Zehler also read the Gospel during the Mass, which was concelebrated by Frs Moses, Merrick, Taylor, Stowers (Samoa) and Msgr Peschier.

Devotions will next be held on July 16, with the starting point of the procession being St Martin’s RC Church, Gonzales.
- RS