Commenting on the controversy caused by Maha Sabha Secretary General Sat Maharaj’s recent statements about Tobagonians, a Roman Catholic priest based on the island said people can choose to ignore the negativity.
“Often people use derogatory statements, but we often have a choice to let it affect us or to ignore it,” Fr Leslie Tang Kai said yesterday after leading a Good Friday procession through the streets of Mason Hall, Tobago.
“Christ in his own time was rejected by his own Jewish people and pained by the Roman authority, but Christ was faithful to what God called him to be. God sent his son into the world to suffer, to die and to rise again that we, each one of us, might become God’s goodness and so love is the means to God’s goodness.”
During the procession, which ended at the St Anthony’s RC Church, Fr Tang Kai called for an end in violence and appealed to citizens to love one another as Christ loved. Appealing for an end to hatred, he said many say the words ‘I love you’ but rarely understand the meaning.
“I want to share with us what love symbolises, L-O-V-E Let Our Violence End. Very often we fail to love because our love is so self-centred, we think about ourselves and what is in it for me. Often, a young man may say to a young lady, ‘I love you’ and promise the earth, the sky, the stars, but in reality, he can’t even afford a plane ticket,” he said.
“Love is not about romance, it’s not about passion, love is about truth and value. If we love one another, we will value each other’s personage. If we will put down the hatred because God is love and in God, there is no violence, there’s no hatred” he said.
Fr Tang Kai said the Archdiocese in Trinidad and Tobago is set to assist with refurbishment efforts at the historic monument Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, which was partially damaged by fire on Monday. He described the event as a great loss to Catholics around the world and said a call would be made for a special collection in T&T to aid in refurbishment efforts
“It is a great loss, and while we here in the Archdiocese of Port of Spain gathered on that Monday afternoon to celebrate and to renew our priestly commitment to God’s people, there’s the Cathedral in Paris being destroyed by fire and so it is a great loss, a great loss, not just for the church, but the universal world.
“More than likely, the Archbishop of Port of Spain the Reverend Charles Jason Gordon will call for a special collection or something to aid the church of Notre Dame Cathedral.”
