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Tag Archives: roman catholic church

On the Making of My Convent Novel

14 Sunday May 2017

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Guyana, The Writer's Life

≈ 48 Comments

Tags

Catholic nuns and priests, Clerical sex abuse, Creating complex fictional characters, Dr. Walter Rodney, Mabaruma/Guyana, Religious life, roman catholic church

When my friend and poet, Angela Consolo Mankiewicz, told me that my second novel had to be about my life in the convent, I balked at the idea. To embark on a journey back to a time and place that caused me grief would require some meaningful purpose. The 2012 documentary film, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, exploring the first known public protest against clerical sex abuse in the US, gave me the impetus I needed.

My convent novel, inspired by real events that took place in Guyana in the 1970s, had to be relevant to the present. To bash the nuns and priests would be unjust. Most religious men and women that I lived and worked with had devoted their lives to their God and strove to live according to His teachings. I have long forgiven those who had betrayed or abandoned me when I needed them most. Continue reading →

Pope Francis: For the Common Good

27 Sunday Sep 2015

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in United States

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

For the Common Good, Politics and Religion, Politics and Society, Pope Francis Address to U.S. Congress, roman catholic church

Pope Francis addresses United States Congress - Washington DC - 24 September 2015

Pope Francis addresses U.S. Congress – Washington DC – September 24, 2015
Photo Credit: Catholic News Agency (L’Osservatore Romano)

Pope Francis, leader of the Roman Catholic Church headquartered in Vatican City, is the latest celebrity to hit the shores of America. When he arrived at Joint Base Andrews on September 22, President Obama received him with the honors due a Head of State. After his reception at the White House in Washington D.C. and engagements in New York City, the pope headed for Philadelphia on Saturday morning and will fly out on Sunday evening for Rome. For his seventy-eight years, he sure has a lot of stamina.

The Church’s first Latin American pope has brought much needed fresh air to an institution beset by internal political strife, sex abuse scandal, and rising secularism. Since taking over the leadership position, Pope Francis has called on all Catholics to focus on Jesus’ message of love, forgiveness, and care of the most vulnerable among us. In setting the example with a simple lifestyle and his concern for the poor of our world, the Holy Father has won many admirers inside and outside of the Catholic Church. Continue reading →

My First Love: A Seminarian in a Fallible Church

17 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Guyana, Religion

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, Pedophile and rapist priests, Pope Benedict XVI, Priesthood, roman catholic church, Sexual abuse in the Church

Newly-ordained Catholic priest - Georgetown - Guyana - August 2010Guyana gets new priest after 15 years – August 2010

Source: http://www.catholicnews-tt.net

 

At thirteen years of age, I fell under the spell of a handsome seminarian. David Johnson (fictitious name), our landlord’s nineteen-year-old son, returned home on a month-long holiday from the Benedictine seminary in Trinidad. He captivated our young group of siblings and friends with Bible stories and spoke to us about treating each other with kindness and being respectful and obedient to our elders. On Sunday mornings, he took us to Mass at our parish church. Following his example, I became a devout Christian and began attending daily morning Mass.

When I blossomed into a fifteen-year-old, my admiration for the seminarian evolved into infatuation. I was in heaven the morning he took me to Church on his bicycle. Seated on the middle bar, his arms encircled me. Before Mass, while I sat in the pew, he knelt down in the pew behind me and whispered: “You have a beautiful neck.”

I was just an innocent teenager to him. He preferred chatting with my mother while she worked at her sewing machine. As the landlord’s son, my father welcomed him into our home.

After David’s ordination to the priesthood – when I then had to address him as Father Johnson – adolescent girls flocked to hear him say Mass. He became a magnet for attracting young people to the Church.

Years later while visiting my father, I could hear the heated discussion between our landlord and Father Johnson coming from their neighboring residence.

“You leaving the priesthood for a married woman?” The words of our landlord exploded with anguish.

Father Johnson left the priesthood; the woman left her husband and children. They got married and left Guyana. My first love left me with feelings of deception and betrayal. What had happened to his love for God and to serving Him? How could he choose a woman my mother’s age, and not me?

In hindsight, I realize that Father Johnson had made the right decision in leaving the priesthood to marry the woman he loved. He chose not to maintain a sexual relationship with her under a cloak of priestly celibacy.

Ordination does not bestow Catholic priests with immunity from desires of the flesh. But a chasm exists between adults engaging in illicit, consensual sexual intercourse and the sexual abuse of young boys and girls. Theirs is not simply a sin of lust; of fornication and adultery. Their sin defiles innocent young souls: a crime punishable by law.

Pope Benedict XVI has decided to step down as pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church at the end of February. As a Cardinal, cover-ups of pedophile and rapist priests occurred under his watch. (See synopsis of the documentary film, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, released by HBO on February 4, 2013.)

With many other scandals plaguing the Catholic Church today, will the next pope have the courage and humility to do what is right in the sight of God and expose the criminals in their midst?

Guyana: Politics in the Workplace

05 Sunday Feb 2012

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Guyana, Working Life

≈ Comments Off on Guyana: Politics in the Workplace

Tags

Dictatorship government, Dr. Walter Rodney, Father Bernard Darke, Human rights violations, Jonestown Massacre, Political victimization of academics, roman catholic church, University of Guyana, Vincent Teekah

University of Guyana Library (Photo posted on http://www.koorneef.net)

After the Jonestown Massacre on 18 November 1978, it became increasingly dangerous to criticize or oppose our dictatorship government. A new opposition party emerged under the co-leadership of Dr. Walter Rodney, a distinguished Afro-Guyanese historian, threatening the Afro-Guyanese government – put in power since 1965.

On another front, the Roman Catholic Church, through its weekly newspaper, continued to expose and attack the government’s human rights violations.

On 14 July 1979, during an orderly public demonstration, three thugs in the crowd attacked the Assistant Editor of the Catholic newspaper. A short distance away, Father Bernard Darke – a British Jesuit, teacher, and photographer for the Catholic newspaper – photographed the beating. On seeing Fr. Darke, the three thugs turned on him. After beating him, one of them stabbed him. Later that day, he died in the hospital from ruptured lungs.

The night of 24 October 1979 marked the end for the Minister of Education, Vincent Teekah. His shooting remains a mystery. Then, the following month, on November 18, the police gunned down a prominent member of Dr. Rodney’s party. Three months later, on 18 February 1980, two other members of the party escaped death at the hands of an unknown gunman. Ten days later, another activist was not so lucky.

During this period, I was working as an Assistant Librarian Trainee (1979-1980) at the University of Guyana Library to gain my certification in Library Studies.

As Dr. Rodney enjoyed great support among the academic staff and students, the University of Guyana became a stage for political activism and dissension. As a government-run institution, the university also had a strong government presence. It soon became evident that I could not trust my work colleagues.

For upholding the library regulations, activists of the two major opposition parties labeled me a government supporter. This attitude mystified me. Caught in a photograph (published in a local newspaper) sitting next to a government minister at a cultural event did not help my precarious position. On the other hand, my criticisms of government policies made me an enemy of our Comrade Leader’s supporters in the Circulation Department under my supervision.

My tolerance limit reached its peak after I took a stand for fairness and justice in the workplace. I joined the strike of academic and other staff and students in protesting the contract termination of one of the university’s top lecturers, a vocal activist of Dr. Rodney’s party. As for other colleagues who participated in the strike, our workplace became treacherous – a political cesspool.

On 13 June 1980 came Dr. Walter Rodney’s turn to meet his maker. A remote controlled car bomb took his life. To this day, his assassination remains unresolved. I joined the procession of an estimated 15,000 Guyanese of all races to pay tribute to a man willing to risk his life to free us from tyranny and chart a new course.

My hope for a better Guyana – where individuals of all races could contribute their talents and skills towards building our nation – died with Dr. Walter Rodney. Four months after his assassination, I dropped out of the Library Training Program and returned to working as a secretary in the private sector. I joined the ranks of university graduates marginalized in our native land.

In January 2012, the University of Guyana Council terminated the contract of its most vocal academic critic of the ruling Indo-Guyanese party – in power since 1992. Academic staff, workers, and students are on strike against the victimization of academics for their political stance or opinions and the government’s infringement on the university’s academic and administrative freedom.

We change our shoes but continue to trample the same beaten paths.

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