by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI
My father, Balgobin Ramdeen, is 87 years old today (July22). Pa and Tajmool Hosein SC, are the only two surviving members of the Opposition Party in the 1961-1966 Parliament when we gained ourIndependence. Happy Birthday, Pa! In many ways you are an icon in this blessed land of ours. May God continue to bless you.
The Responsorial Psalm in today’sReadingis taken from Psalm 23. On Friday, July 13, it was sung at Michael Bedasie’s funeral at St Philip and St James Church in Chaguanas. Here was a Catholic man; an exemplar and role model who truly integrated his faith with is life.
God truly blessed him with many talents which he freely and generously shared with the wider community. Inter alia, he was a devoted husband, father, teacher, School Supervisor and stalwart in the Society of St Vincent de Paul. If we are to revitalise our Catholic Culture and Identity, we must strive to nurture more Catholics like Michael to work in God’s vineyard.
Let’s heed the words of Pope Benedict XVI who said in 2009: “…the future of Christianity and of the Church inRome… depends on the commitment and witness of each one of us.” The laity, he said, must be recognised as “ ‘co-responsible’, for the Church’s being and action, thereby fostering the consolidation of a mature and committed laity.” Parishes should be centres where “it is possible to experience faith, to put charity into practice and to organise hope.”
It is people like Michael who put charity into practice in our parishes. Michael, you made your home in the Lord, may you now rest in peace in the bosom of the Lord. We remember in our prayers Michael’s wife Joycelyn, his children and family in their time of grief.
While people are alive we must pay tribute to the way in which they put charity into practice. Thank you, Deborah de Rosia for your act of mercy in standing surety for Kezi Doughty and in welcoming her into one of your homes at Eternal Light Community. Something is seriously wrong with a society that fails to use its human ingenuity to find innovative ways of promoting human development; of assisting parents in the task of parenting; of working to lift citizens to a “higher, more noble place” (Martin Luther King Jr).
In his encyclical, On the Development of Peoples, Pope Paul VI stated that development must be integral; we must work to take people from less human conditions to more human conditions. Pope Benedict XVI takes up this concern in Charity in Truth.
On July 1 Fr Harvey challenged us in his address at the March for Jesus: “Who will march with Jesus into the lives of the mothers imprisoned because they failed as parents…. We put Kezi in a cell and think that we are solving the problems of her family. Surely we can do better.”
Last Thursday, the Judicial Education Institute hosted its Second Distinguished Jurist lecture entitled “The Role of the Court of Appeal in Developing and Preserving an Independent and Just Society”. It was delivered by CCJ Judge Adrian Saunders. He rightly suggested that judges should occasionally sit around the table with sociologists and political economists to try to better understand the societies in which they operate. He said: “Understanding a society, informs judicial discretion…while the law must be certain, predictable and stable, it must also be just, and must evolve with the changing times.” The entire judiciary should follow his advice.
When we notice our brothers and sisters in our communities who are struggling to fulfil their roles as parents do we reach out to assist them? On July 11 CCSJ held its Annual General Meeting covering the period Jan 1, 2011 to Dec 31, 2011. It can be accessed on our website under “Reports”. In it, we state, inter alia: “The list of social ills in TT is long. In our land of plenty, there are tens of thousands who live on the margins. We can and must do more for them. As Catholics, we cannot afford to walk on the other side and ignore their plight. We must stand in solidarity with them and speak out on their behalf…
“Archbishop Harris has said we must move from veneration to imitation. If we imitate Christ; if we ‘put’ on Christ, we will see Him in our neighbour and embrace Works of Mercy…There is an urgent need for personal witness to make visible the presence of Catholics in society…It is time for us to re-discover our vocation to be Catholic and to remember that discipleship and social justice go hand in hand. Let us embrace our mission with renewed vigour…Justice is at the heart of who we are and what we believe.”
