A long tradition of excellence—An Emancipation Day commentary by Fr Dexter Brereton CSSp
August 1, 2019
Vacay time is family bonding time NOT more screen time
August 1, 2019
Reaching out to God—Reaching out to others, was the theme of the 4th Annual Chaguanas Men’s Conference on Saturday, June 22 at Presentation College auditorium, Chaguanas.
The National Catholic Men’s Ministry (NCMM) as the commissioned body for the Archdiocese’s men’s ministry brought greetings to the over 100 men who came out to be challenged and encouraged to be the best version God made us to be.
This challenge came from the feature speaker, Archbishop Jason Gordon. Archbishop Jason began by pointing out that before any of us attempt to reach out to others we must firstly reach inward. We must look at ourselves as men and discover who we are, how we’ve been shaped and formed to become the men we are presently.
In his strikingly down-to-earth and real interaction with the men gathered, Archbishop Jason pointed out the genesis of many of our wounds and the lasting impact it has had on us men.
His Grace pointed out that “Sin is not an obstacle to God calling people to their vocation”. He identified the common false idea of many men that we are too sinful for God to call and to use us for the building-up of each other and for His Kingdom.
Archbishop Jason said too many Catholic men walk away from God saying and believing “Because of all the foolishness I’ve done God cyah use a man like me.”
The good news, he said, was that while we were still steeped in sin, our loving Father sent His son Jesus Christ into the world so that we could know the love the Father has for us in not holding our sins against us but in calling us to repentance and to live completely for Him.
Our Chief Shepherd said that the greatest lie the world says to us men is that we cannot be holy. He made us all repeat that “God has called me to be a holy man”.
It is a lie, he said, that men must first get rid of our weaknesses then they can work on being holy men of God. The truth is it is through these same weaknesses that men are called to become holy, and this he made very clear to all the men gathered.
We were also blessed with Deacons Derek Walcott and Sheldon Narine, and Patrick Jagessar sharing their wisdom on how men can reach out to God and to other men.
Every single man present on this fantastic Saturday was deeply moved by the impact of this talk on their lives and committed to battle-on to become holy men of God!—Allan Julien, NCMM
Archbishop Gordon speaks at the men’s conference
