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From Vidal to Ramkissoon
MICHAEL BURKE
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Recently a papal bull from Pope Benedict XVI announced that three more priests working in the archdiocese of Kingston have been conferred with the title of Monsignor. They are Monsignor Kenneth Richards, rector of Holy Trinity Cathedral and vicar-general, Monsignor Michael Lewis, pastor of Stella Maris Church and judicial vicar, and Monsignor Gregory Ramkissoon, founder of Mustard Seed Communities. Monsignor Ramkissoon hails from Trinidad and so did the late Monsignor Adolphus Vidal who served in Jamaica and died in 1974.
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| MICHAEL BURKE |
The word "monsignor' is a title and not a rank in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. In other words, "monsignor" is not in itself an appointment. It is customary, however, that those who have been awarded this title hold certain important posts in the church. In many ways it is similar to a knighthood.
And as with knighthoods of which there are many categories, there are three categories of monsignori. The monsignori in Jamaica are all honorary prelates of the Vatican.
In Jamaica, the first priest to receive the title was the late Monsignor Gladstone Wilson. Born in Jamaica in Mavis Bank on the St Andrew side of the Blue Mountains, he was reputed to be the seventh most learned man in the world, and had four doctorates.
Ordained in 1931, he was a lecturer at a Roman University before his return to Jamaica in 1941. Wilson was bestowed the title of monsignor in 1950.
Monsignor Adolphus Marie-Joseph Vidal received his title in 1954. This former doctor was born in Trinidad and became a priest at the age of 47. He was the first pastor of St Peter Claver Church on Waltham Park Road (called "Pound Road" at the time). Born in 1880, Vidal lived until 1974 when he had passed the age of 94. He was reputedly a great social worker who would carry sweets for the sick children at Kingston Public Hospital decades before the Bustamante Children's Hospital existed.
Monsignor Vidal won Irish sweepstakes in the late 1940s and dedicated every penny of it to the education of black Jamaican priests. The Roman Catholic Church in Jamaica was entrusted to the Jesuits in 1837 and this arrangement continued until 1956 when the diocese of Kingston was established. The clergy at that time was mainly white foreigners whom many Jamaicans had difficulty relating to, especially as a sense of nationalism grew in Jamaica in the 1930s. It is against that background that we must understand Vidal's actions. By way of information, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that games of chance are not in and of themselves intrinsically evil. It is the use of funds in gambling that is needed for families that is evil.
Today the Roman Catholic clergy and religious sisters and brothers working in Jamaica are from all over the world with a significant number of priests from the continent of Africa. But Caribbean integration, especially in relation to Trinidad, has not come easy over the years to Jamaica. While the University of the West Indies has been in existence since 1948, and while the West Indies Cricket team has existed for perhaps a similar length of time, integration with Trinidad has been slow. And for that reason, the fact that two of the monsignori in Jamaica hailed from Trinidad is significant. One similarity between Ramkissoon and Vidal is that both were interested in social work. One difference between Vidal's era and that of Ramkissoon, Vidal had to struggle to get certain things done.
Gregory Ramkissoon was a Brother of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He came to Jamaica in 1972 and did a Master's Degree. By 1978 Ramkissoon was a lecturer at the University of the West Indies and later on did some studies at the John XXIII Seminary in Massachusetts, USA, a college for older men training for the priesthood. Joining up with Father Richard Ho Lung in 1981, Ramkissoon was a Missionary of the Poor for a time. Ordained in 1984, he resigned from MOP and continued his Mustard Seed Communities that he had started earlier.
While the Vatican has always been proactive about local vocations, Vidal had to endure a bishop in Jamaica who was more interested in keeping out of debt than training Jamaicans for the priesthood. Reliable sources have given that as the real reason for the change of bishop in 1950 (not ill-health), as the then bishop failed to open a local seminary. Nevertheless Vidal had regular meetings with poor Jamaican Roman Catholics who wanted to be priests and found a way to finance their education when he won the sweepstakes.
The work of Monsignor Gregory Ramkissoon is legendary for which several words have already been said and written. Protecting the disabled as well as orphans, Mustard Seed is the home of Roots FM where poor children from the streets are becoming radio announcers. This is only a part of the impact that two Trinidadian priests, elevated with the title of Monsignor 55 years apart, have had on Jamaica.
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