Fr Paponette is in Duck Lake

By Felix Edinborough

Having been bitten by the travel bug, I found myself in Duck Lake, Canada, where I became the guest of Fr Roger Paponette, whose last parish in Trinidad was San Raphael.

Duck Lake is a small town with a population of about 600, located approximately 88 km north of Saskatoon, and 44 km south of Prince Albert, in the province of Saskatchewan. It is a three-and-a-half-hour flight from Toronto to Saskatoon.

He had come up a little more than a year ago, and so had experienced the four seasons, recalling that the summer was very hot, reaching a high of about 35˚C, and the winter was extremely cold, reaching as low as -40˚C.

Why leave Trinidad?

I asked what I was more interested in, what was his reason for choosing such a faraway place to migrate. His response was: “The situation in Trinidad has deteriorated, and it has seriously affected me. More and more, I began to feel a sense of what I grew up with and what I knew had been lost. I saw the imposition of a foreign culture that is violent, disrespectful, destructive and cares for nothing and no one.

“My worst experiences of that were the two occasions that I was held up. The first was when I was visiting a family around Christmas time, and a group of four young men held up the entire family, and I was there. That was the first horrible experience I had. You would have thought that in such a country area where people know each other, you would have been safe, but no place in Trinidad is safe.”

He was becoming very paranoid, he said. Every person who looked the part, and who dressed in the way that he considered disrespectful, became a potential bandit in his eyes.

He continued, “After a while, I couldn’t sleep properly. I felt very afraid to go out, and if I had to, I went out under duress. When they held up a few people of the parish, I went to see them, and I was cold and afraid inside. I tried to console them and let them know that we are all together, but after a while, I could not keep up. My health started to deteriorate, and I knew I had to seek help.”

Fr Paponette said he went through counselling, and it did help, but he felt that he also needed a little time out. He added that he realised that he needed some space where he could recover. “I felt sorry that I had left, but I knew I had to because it would have been far worse for me if I had stayed.”

Duck Lake was chosen “…because it is a place that is not well-known. The whole diocese of Prince Albert (where Duck Lake is situated) is not very well known. Even this province is known as the agricultural province. It is still a country diocese. It is in the prairies, and I will be dealing with farmers who are very practical, very humble, very generous. All of those things appealed to me.”

His first visit was in 2023, and when he saw that place, he decided to work there. He had had offers from the US, where close relatives lived, but he found that Duck Lake offered him a quiet place to work.

He continued: “I knew this place because of my work as a canon lawyer and the head of the Eastern Caribbean Tribunal. We had some people from Ontario and from here who worked for us sometimes as Defender of the Bond. One we had as a judge. We are part of their Canon Law Society, and they are part of ours. Then the priest who worked here asked me if I wouldn’t try here.”

Responsibilities and challenges

Fr Paponette was appointed parish priest of three churches, but even though it’s just three churches, the distance between them is vast. His weekday responsibilities are in the nursing homes and old-age homes. “There are three of those that I visit and celebrate Mass every week for them. I visit the hospital as well and take communion to the sick. On top of that, I have a shrine that belongs to the three parishes. It’s a very big shrine and a national shrine and very busy during the months of July, August, and September. They just appointed me Dean of this area.”

One of the major challenges he identified is secularism. Many people, he said, don’t understand their faith, and it is seen in some of the requests that they make for Baptisms, funerals, and weddings. “I think most of the rituals, the meaning of them has been lost. Last year, I introduced a retreat for Advent, and they loved that,” he said.

Another challenge identified is within the native communities. “I have one of my parishes within the native territory, and that one is difficult to deal with. The native peoples, you have to spend a lot of time with them for them to trust you. I think that is starting now, for I am getting a lot more calls. They would call to make arrangements for funerals. You can’t just go and visit; it’s not as easy as that, but if they invite you in, it is ok. I went to one of their smoke ceremonies, for instance and had a little talk, and they were very gracious.”

His initial idea was to be away for three years. After that, a decision will have to be made among himself, his present bishop, and the Archbishop of Port of Spain. If they are all happy with his work, he can either stay or return to Trinidad.

He does miss his people in Trinidad but, unfortunately, thinks that the country is not what it used to be. He has kept in touch with people back home and gets calls almost every day.