St Paul's goes to Salt Spring

BY HORACE HINES Observer West reporter hinesh@jamaicaobserver.com

Thursday, May 20, 2010

GLENDEVON, St James — The newly-constructed St Paul's Roman Catholic church and community centre, last Sunday opened up its doors along the Salt Spring main road.

Donated by Food For the Poor, the facility which is located on land owned by the Catholic church, will employ a holistic approach in improving the lives of residents in the area.

"The vision and mission for this centre goes beyond the nourishment of spiritual needs of the individual. Education will be playing a pivotal role in this effort because the need to offer remedial learning for both youth and adults is critical. We will work closely with the relevant agencies such as HEART, Jamaica for Lifelong Learning, 4 H Clubs and the Social Development Commission to facilitate this process," said Charles H Dufour, Roman Catholic Bishop of Montego Bay.

Dufour said the facility will emulate the work of the Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Montego Bay, which has for years been associated with missionary work in the tough community of Glendevon.

" In the early days members of the church would meet in homes to pray and celebrate the Holy Mass. At one time Mass was celebrated at the nearby St Francis Anglican Church. Unfortunately, the transfer and shortage of priests, migration and death of many members led to practically no presence of the Catholic Church in the community," he said at Sunday's official opening.

Dufour said that over the past three years Reverend Carl Clarke, Rector of the Blessed Sacrament cathedral has been leading a team of evangelists in the gritty Salt Spring road, Rose Mount and Sun Valley communities " in an attempt to proclaim the good news".

"Their perseverance in this effort and with the generous support of benefactors particularly of Food for the Poor who donated the building; a dream has become a reality by the blessing of this church and community centre today," he added.

Sunday's opening service was attended by scores of community members along with a strong turnout by the Roman Catholic clerics.