Christmas with the Saints 2*
December 11, 2017
Giving voice to the Church
December 15, 2017

Get on with building God’s Kingdom*

Fr Charles Dominique

BARBADOS

Bu Kaelanne Jordan

A Catholic priest is urging Barbadians to remain steadfast in their religious principles even though evildoers in the country appear to be “prospering”.

This was the message from Fr Charles Dominique OP, priest in charge of the St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, as he delivered a sermon during a service to mark the 60th anniversary of the Barbados Co-operative Credit Union League (BCCUL).

Fr Dominique, according to a December 4 report of Barbados Today, said “Why are the evil people, the bad people prospering while the good people aren’t? When you look around in the world sometimes it is hard to remain faithful, but that is the challenge. We are waiting for the Lord to come but in the meantime, we have to get on with the work of building up God’s Kingdom and we also have to be prepared.”

He told the gathering that while they are all blessed with the gift of life and talents that they must use, it is not about building up their own self-esteem or thinking that they are better than other people. He insisted, “It is really about building up the whole community.”

Noting that the work of credit unions was similar to the Church as it called for the collective to help the individual, the Catholic priest told the congregation that they should not become despondent even amid the difficult times, but remain faithful and trust in God even when bad things happen.

Also addressing the congregation was Anthony Pilgrim, general manager of the BCCUL, who said the work of credit unions was a labour of love. He said the league, which was the representative body for the country’s 31 credit unions, looked out for the interests of credit union members, and was involved in providing development services and capacity building for the movement.